ACS Data Users Group

Dear All,

Relatively new to the ACS but have managed to pull a few key variables I need at the zip code level from the API. One variable I have not been able to access, however, has been property tax payments --- the IPUMS variable PROPTX99. Can anyone point me to the API variable name or know this is available?

Many thanks in advance,

Jake

If you’re looking at PUMS data, I think you want TAXAMT. Here are the details from the PUMS data dictionary (https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/tech_docs/pums/data_dict/PUMS_Data_Dictionary_2015-2019.txt)

TAXAMT Numeric 5 Property taxes (yearly real estate taxes, use ADJHSG to adjust TAXAMT to constant dollars) bbbbb .N/A (GQ/vacant/not owned or being bought) 0..22500 .$0 to $22500 (rounded and top-coded)

Hi Jake,

Best place to find these things is in the Table Shells file, available here: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/summary_file/2019/documentation/user_tools/ACS2019_Table_Shells.xlsx

Table B25103 "MORTGAGE STATUS BY MEDIAN REAL ESTATE TAXES PAID (DOLLARS)" has as its first variable, B25103_001, Median real estate taxes paid, for all owner-occupied housing units. You can also calculate the average by using table B25090, which has the aggregate real estate taxes paid.

Since you're looking for a relatively simple variable, you don't need to use PUMS. You can use a summary file, which lets you get the data at the zip code tabulation area (ZCTA) level.

Woah-- that's awesome Bernie, exactly what I was looking for. Many thanks!

I agree, at this point I don't need the micro data and for now I will just pull the zip-code level data from the API. I hadn't heard of the summary files but I will look into these as well.

One follow up to this question --- I'm trying to pull real estate taxes in 2009 by county, but I'm getting an error that the variable doesn't exist, even though the table shells and documentation says it should.

For 2009, total property tax data should be stored in B25102_001E (see documentation in the table shells https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/summary_file/2009/documentation/5_year/user_tools/ACS2009_5-Year_TableShells.xls ), but my API pull isn't working.

The URL I'm using is as follows: https://api.census.gov/data/`year'/acs/acs5?get=NAME,B25102_0021&for=county:*

Anyone have any ideas what's going on?

Small correction: the URL should be

The URL I'm using is as follows: https://api.census.gov/data/`year'/acs/acs5?get=NAME,B25102_001E&for=county:*