A housing unit is owner occupied if the owner or co-owner lives in the unit even if it is mortgaged or not fully paid for. The owner or co-owner must live in the unit and usually is Person 1 on the questionnaire. The unit is "Owned by you or someone in this household with a mortgage or loan" if it is being purchased with a mortgage or some other debt arrangement such as a deed of trust, trust deed, contract to purchase, land contract, or purchase agreement. The unit also is considered owned with a mortgage if it is built on leased land and there is a mortgage on the unit. Mobile homes occupied by owners with installment loan balances also are included in this category.
A housing unit is "Owned by you or someone in this household free and clear (without a mortgage)" if there is no mortgage or other similar debt on the house, apartment, or mobile home including units built on leased land if the unit is owned outright without a mortgage.

All occupied housing units which are not owner occupied, whether they are rented or occupied without payment of rent, are classified as renter occupied. "No cash paid" units are separately identified in the rent tabulations. Such units are generally provided free by friends or relatives or in exchange for services such as resident manager, caretaker, minister, or tenant farmer. Housing units on military bases also are classified in the "No cash paid" category. "Rented for cash rent" includes units in continuing care, sometimes called life care arrangements. These arrangements usually involve a contract between one or more individuals and a health services provider guaranteeing the individual shelter, usually a house or apartment, and services, such as meals or transportation to shopping or recreation. (For more information, see " Meals Included in Rent .")

From 1996-2007 the American Community Survey questions were the same. Starting in 2007, the instruction Mark (X) ONE box was added following the question, and the instruction . Include home equity loans was added following the response category "Owned by you or someone in this household with a mortgage or loan?" Additional changes introduced in 2007 included revising the wording of two of the response categories from "Rented for cash rent?" to "Rented?" and "Occupied without payment of cash rent?" to "Occupied without payment of rent?"

The primary legal divisions of Puerto Rico are termed "municipios." For data presentation purposes, the U.S. Census Bureau treats a municipio as the equivalent of a county in the United States.

Each municipio is assigned a unique three-digit Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) code in alphabetical order within Puerto Rico.

The U.S. Census Bureau recognizes barrios and barrios-pueblo as the primary legal divisions of municipios. These entities are similar to the minor civil divisions (MCDs) used for reporting decennial census data in 28 states of the United States. Subbarrios in 23 municipios are the primary legal subdivisions of the barrios-pueblo and some barrios. The U.S. Census Bureau presents the same types of Census 2000 data for these "sub-MCDs" as it does for the barrios and barriospueblo. (There is no geographic entity in the United States equivalent to the subbarrio.) Each barrio, barrio-pueblo, and subbarrio is assigned a five-digit Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) code in alphabetical order within Puerto Rico.

There are no incorporated places in Puerto Rico; instead, the U.S. Census Bureau provides decennial census data for two types of census designated places (CDPs): (1) zonas urbanas, representing the governmental center of each municipio, and (2) comunidades, representing other settlements. For Census 2000, there are no minimum population size requirements for CDPs. (For the 1990 census, the U.S. Census Bureau had required comunidades to have at least 1,000 people.)

Each zona urbana and comunidad is assigned a five-digit Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) code in alphabetical order within Puerto Rico.
Some types of geographic entities do not apply in Puerto Rico. For instance, Puerto Rico is not in any census region or census division. In addition, the U.S. Census Bureau does not tabulate data for state legislative districts and traffic analysis zones in Puerto Rico. (See also Congressional District (CD).)