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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Consumer Expenditure Survey > Data > Geographic Data

Geographic Data

The Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CE) program provides data for the following geographic areas: National, regions, divisions, selected States, selected Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), and by Population Size of Area. See the categories in Table 1 for information on what data are available for the geographic areas.

In order to protect respondent confidentiality, CE public data cannot provide additional geographic details, including Census tracts, Census blocks, or zip codes. Note that the CE sample only includes a subset of states.

Table 1: Available Geographic Data in the CE program
Geographic data	PUMD	Tables	Databases
National	✔	✔	✔
Regions	✔	✔	✔
Divisions	✔	✔
Selected States	✔	✔
Selected MSAs	✔	✔	✔
Population Size of Area	✔	✔	✔

See Table 2 for information on how regions, divisions, and states are related.

Table 2: Categories for Regions, Divisions, and States
Region	Division	States
Northeast	New England	Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont
Northeast	Middle Atlantic	New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania
Midwest	East North Central	Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin
Midwest	West North Central	Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota
South	South Atlantic	Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia
	East South Central	Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee
	West South Central	Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas
West	Mountain	Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Montana, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming
West	Pacific	Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington

National

The CE national population represents the total non-institutionalized residents of the United States, both urban and rural. National tables can be found in the regular tables section and on the research products page.

Regions

Regions are large areas of the United States. There are four regions - Northeast, South, Midwest, and West. The public-use microdata (PUMD) provides the variable Region to identify the regions. Region tables can be found here.

Divisions

Divisions are geographic subsets within the four regions in the United States. Divisions contain a number of states, and each region contains two or three divisions. Beginning with the 2015 data, the PUMD provides the variable Division to identify the divisions. Information on the geographic divisions used by the CE program is on the U.S. Census geography page. Division tables can be found here.

Selected States

Currently there are estimates available for 5 states. State tables can be found here.

The PUMD provides the variable State to identify the states. As of December 2017, the CE program provides experimental weights that allow for statistically valid computation of selected states. Please see the PUMD documentation for further information on state identifiers and the research products page for access to the current experimental weighting files for selected states. Please note that for confidentiality reasons some state codes have been suppressed for some or all sampled consumer units in that state.

Selected MSAs

Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) are areas with a high population density and close economic ties throughout, and are included in the CE survey's sample design as Primary Sampling Units (PSUs). Currently there are 23 MSAs for which estimates can be produced. The PUMD provides the variable PSU to identify the MSAs. MSA definitions are available on the MSA Definitions (2015-2016) page (PDF). MSA tables can be found here.

Population Size of Area

Estimates for all urban CUs by different population size categories are produced. There are six defined population size categories. The PUMD provides the variable popsize to identify the population size of a primary sampling unit (PSU). Population size of area tables can be found here for annual calendar year tables and midyear tables.

Last Modified Date: February 15, 2023