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Data Dictionary: ACS 2017 (1-Year Estimates)
you are here: choose a survey survey data set table variable details
Data Source: Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau
Universe: Universe: Occupied housing units
Variable Details
A10029. Housing Units by Telephone Service Available by Age of Householder
Universe: Universe: Occupied housing units
A10029_005 Householder 65 Years and Over
Percent base:
Occupied Housing Units (SE:A10029_001)
Aggregation method:
Addition
Formula used to compute this variable:
#ReturnType oretval = new #ReturnType(); oretval = ACS17:B25043006 + ACS17:B25043015; return oretval;
Variables used in the formula:
ACS17:B25043006
Occupied Housing Units: Owner Occupied: With Telephone Service Available: Householder 65 Years and Over
ACS17:B25043015
Occupied Housing Units: Renter Occupied: With Telephone Service Available: Householder 65 Years and Over
Relevant Documentation:
Excerpt from: Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau; 2017 ACS 1-year and 2013-2017 ACS 5-year Data Releases : Technical Documentation.
  2017 ACS 1-year and 2013-2017 ACS 5-year Data Releases: Technical Documentation -> Appendix A: Supplemental Documentation -> 2014 Subject Definitions -> Living Quarters -> Housing Unit
Housing Unit
A housing unit may be a house, an apartment, a mobile home, a group of rooms or a single room that is occupied (or, if vacant, intended for occupancy) as separate living quarters. Separate living quarters are those in which the occupants live separately from any other individuals in the building and which have direct access from outside the building or through a common hall. For vacant units, the criteria of separateness and direct access are applied to the intended occupants whenever possible. If that information cannot be obtained, the criteria are applied to the previous occupants.

Both occupied and vacant housing units are included in the housing unit inventory. Boats, recreational vehicles (RVs), vans, tents, railroad cars, and the like are included only if they are occupied as someone's current place of residence. Vacant mobile homes are included provided they are intended for occupancy on the site where they stand. Vacant mobile homes on dealers' sales lots, at the factory, or in storage yards are excluded from the housing inventory. Also excluded from the housing inventory are quarters being used entirely for nonresidential purposes, such as a store or an office, or quarters used for the storage of business supplies or inventory, machinery, or agricultural products.

Occupied Housing Unit
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A housing unit is classified as occupied if it is the current place of residence of the person or group of people living in it at the time of interview, or if the occupants are only temporarily absent from the residence for two months or less, that is, away on vacation or a business trip. If all the people staying in the unit at the time of the interview are staying there for two months or less, the unit is considered to be temporarily occupied and classified as "vacant." The occupants may be a single family, one person living alone, two or more families living together, or any other group of related or unrelated people who share living quarters. The living quarters occupied by staff personnel within any group quarters are separate housing units if they satisfy the housing unit criteria of separateness and direct access; otherwise, they are considered group quarters.

Occupied rooms or suites of rooms in hotels, motels, and similar places are classified as housing units only when occupied by permanent residents, that is, people who consider the hotel as their current place of residence or have no current place of residence elsewhere. If any of the occupants in rooming or boarding houses, congregate housing, or continuing care facilities live separately from others in the building and have direct access, their quarters are classified as separate housing units.

Vacant Housing Unit
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A housing unit is vacant if no one is living in it at the time of interview. Units occupied at the time of interview entirely by persons who are staying two months or less and who have a more permanent residence elsewhere are considered to be temporarily occupied, and are classified as "vacant."

New units not yet occupied are classified as vacant housing units if construction has reached a point where all exterior windows and doors are installed and final usable floors are in place. Vacant units are excluded from the housing inventory if they are open to the elements, that is, the roof, walls, windows, and/or doors no longer protect the interior from the elements. Also, excluded are vacant units with a sign that they are condemned or they are to be demolished.

Excerpt from: Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau; 2017 ACS 1-year and 2013-2017 ACS 5-year Data Releases : Technical Documentation.
  2017 ACS 1-year and 2013-2017 ACS 5-year Data Releases: Technical Documentation -> Appendix A: Supplemental Documentation -> 2014 Subject Definitions -> Housing Variables -> Telephone Service Available
Telephone Service Available
The data on telephones were obtained from Housing Question 8g in the 2013 American Community Survey. The question was asked at occupied housing units.
The question asked whether telephone service was available in the house, apartment, or mobile home. A telephone must be in working order and service available in the house, apartment, or mobile home that allows the respondent to both make and receive calls. Households whose service has been discontinued for nonpayment or other reasons are not counted as having telephone service available.

The availability of telephone service provides information on the isolation of households. These data help assess the level of communication access amongst elderly and low-income households. The data also serve to aid in the development of emergency telephone, medical, or crime prevention services.

Question/Concept History

For the 1996-1998 American Community Survey, the question asked whether there was a telephone in the house or apartment. A telephone must be inside the house or apartment for the unit to be classified as having a telephone. Units where the respondent used a telephone located inside the building, but not in the respondent's living quarters, were classified as having no telephone. In 1999, the words "or mobile home" were added question to be more inclusive of the structure type. In 2004, instructions that accompanied the ACS mail questionnaire advised respondents that if the household members used cell phones to answer that the house, apartment, or mobile home had telephone service. Starting in 2008, the structure of the question changed and combined telephone service availability with plumbing facilities and kitchen facilities into one question to ask, "Does this house, apartment, or mobile home have -" and provided the respondent with a "Yes" or "No" checkbox for each component needed for complete facilities. In 2008 the instruction "Include cell phones" was added.

Limitation of the Data

The Census Bureau tested the changes introduced to the 2008 version of the telephone service available 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 Facilities" on the ACS website (http://www.census.gov/acs).

Comparability

Caution should be used when comparing American Community Survey data on telephone service availability from the years 2008 and after with both pre-2008 ACS and Census 2000 data. Changes made to the telephone service availability question between the 2007 and 2008 ACS involving the structure of the question as well as the introduction of an instruction to include cell phones resulted in an inconsistency in the ACS data. This inconsistency in the data was most noticeable as an increase in the number of respondents answering "Yes" to the question.