Aggregate rooms is calculated by adding all of the rooms for housing units in an area. (For more information on aggregates, see "Derived Measures.")

Question/Concept History

The 1996-1998 American Community Survey question provided a space for a write-in entry on the number of rooms. From 1999-2007 the question provided response categories from "1 room" to "9 or more rooms." Starting in 2008, the response categories were removed and a write-in box was added for the respondent to enter the number of rooms. Additional changes introduced in 2008 included adding the word "separate" to the question stem, adding an instruction that defines a "room," adding an inclusion instruction to include bedrooms and kitchens in the count of rooms, and changing the current exclusion instruction by removing the word "half-room" and adding the phrase "unfinished basements."

Limitation of the Data

The Census Bureau tested the changes introduced to the 2008 version of the rooms question in the 2006 ACS Content Test. The results of this testing show that the changes may introduce an inconsistency in the data produced for this question as observed from the years 2007 to 2008, see "2006 ACS Content Test Evaluation Report Covering Rooms and Bedrooms" on the ACS website (http://www.census.gov/acs).

Comparability

Caution should be used when comparing American Community Survey data on rooms from the years 2008 and after with both pre-2008 ACS and Census 2000 data. Changes made to the rooms question between the 2007 and 2008 ACS involving the wording as well as the response option resulted in an inconsistency in the ACS data. This inconsistency in the data was most noticeable as an increase in "1 room" response and as a decrease in "2 rooms" to "6 rooms" responses.

The data for tenure were obtained from Housing Question 17 in the 2013 American Community Survey. The question was asked at occupied housing units. Occupied housing units are classified as either owner-occupied or renter-occupied.

Tenure provides a measurement of home ownership, which has served as an indicator of the nation's economy for decades. These data are used to aid in the distribution of funds for programs such as those involving mortgage insurance, rental housing, and national defense housing. Data on tenure allows planners to evaluate the overall viability of housing markets and to assess the stability of neighborhoods. The data also serve in understanding the characteristics of owner-occupied and renter-occupied units to aid builders, mortgage lenders, planning officials, government agencies, etc., in the planning of housing programs and services.