Current Population Survey (CPS) Basic Demographics

The CPS demographic data include age, marital status, sex, Armed Forces status, education, race, Hispanic origin, and country of birth. The data are used for subject specific (labor-force and supplement) analytic research, for internal analytic research, for evaluating other surveys, and for selecting other survey samples. The Census Bureau, in conjunction with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), is proposing an experimental collection in the Current Population Survey (CPS) of Race and Ethnicity information using the new SPD15 standard. The main goal of the study is to assess the effect of the new race and ethnicity standard (2024 SPD15) on estimates obtained from the CPS. The study will also aid in the implementation of the new standard for interviewer-administered data collections (both in-person and by phone). The study will examine the impact of differences in reporting using the new 2024 standard and the 1997 standard (which CPS currently is using) on race distributions, labor force estimates, weighting, and missing data.

The latest form for Current Population Survey (CPS) Basic Demographics expires 2026-04-30 and can be found here.