The data on rooms were obtained from Housing Question 7 in the 2007 American Community Survey. The question was asked at both occupied and vacant housing units. The statistics on rooms are in terms of the number of housing units with a specified number of rooms. The intent of this question is to count the number of whole rooms used for living purposes. For each unit, rooms include living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, finished recreation rooms, enclosed porches suitable for year-round use, and lodger's rooms. Excluded are strip or pullman kitchens, bathrooms, open porches, balconies, halls or foyers, half-rooms, utility rooms, unfinished attics or basements, or other unfinished space used for storage. A partially divided room is a separate room only if there is a partition from floor to ceiling, but not if the partition consists solely of shelves or cabinets.
This measure divides the room distribution into two equal parts: one-half of the cases falling below the median number of rooms and one-half above the median. In computing median rooms, the whole number is used as the midpoint of the interval; thus, the category "3 rooms" is treated as an interval ranging from 2.5 to 3.5 rooms. Median rooms is rounded to the nearest tenth. (For more information on medians, see the discussion under "Derived Measures.")
"Aggregate rooms" is calculated by adding all of the rooms for housing units in an area. A value of "10" is assigned to rooms for units falling within the terminal category, "9 or more rooms." (For more information on aggregates, see "Derived Measures.")
Since 1999, the American Community Survey provided response categories from "1 room" to "9 or more rooms." The 1996-1998 American Community Survey question provided a space for a write-in entry.
