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AHS: 2003 Weight Corrections and Clarifications

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The new 2003 American Housing Survey public use file that was
released recently has new values for both the WEIGHT and WT90GEO
variables. I was originally under the impression that only
WEIGHT had changed. My apologies for this mistake. I will send
out new update files containing both variables to all who have
asked me for an update file. I will also update the spreadsheet
in the documentation archive on our web site to examine the
effect of changes in both weights. Unfortunately, due to
existing commitments, I will not be able to send out the updates
until early next week.

Several people have sent me emails concerning the use of "1980"
and "1990" in the Census statement concerning the new weights,
asking if these should be "1990" and "2000," respectively. They
should not. Let me try to explain.

Both WEIGHT and WT90GEO are ratio-adjusted to housing unit
control counts based on the 2000 decennial census. They differ
in their treatment of metropolitan areas. WEIGHT provides
accurate tabulations by metropolitan areas, based on 1980
definitions. These are the definitions used to assign units to
metro areas in the public use file. This weight is compatible
with previous AHS datasets, back to 1985. WT90GEO provides
accurate tabulations for metropolitan areas using the 1990
definitions. The tables in the 2003 AHS publication are based on
WT90GEO. Note that both weights should give the same results
when you do regional or national tabulations. Their differences
matter only when you are concerned with metropolitan areas.

I hope this clears up matters.

Dav Vandenbroucke
Senior Economist
U.S. Dept. HUD
david_a._vandenbroucke@hud.gov
202-708-1060 ext. 5890