| Data Dictionary: | ACS 2009 (1-Year Estimates) |
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Survey: ACS 2009 (1-Year Estimates)
| Data Source: | U.S. Census Bureau |
Data set: American Community Survey 2009 (ACS09)
| Table: | B25051. Kitchen Facilities for All Housing Units [3] |
Universe: Housing units
Table Details
| B25051. | Kitchen Facilities for All Housing Units | ||||||||
| Universe: Housing units | |||||||||
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Relevant Documentation:
| Excerpt from: | Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey 2009 Summary File: Technical Documentation. |
| ACS 2009-1yr Summary File: Technical Documentation -> Appendix A. Supplemental Documentation -> 2009 Subject Definitions -> Housing Variables -> Kitchen Facilities |
Data on kitchen facilities were obtained from Housing Question 8d-f in the 2009 American Community Survey. The question was asked at both occupied and vacant housing units. A unit has complete kitchen facilities when it has all three of the following facilities: (d) a sink with a faucet, (e) a stove or range, and (f) a refrigerator. All kitchen facilities must be located in the house, apartment, or mobile home, but they need not be in the same room. A housing unit having only a microwave or portable heating equipment such as a hot plate or camping stove should not be considered as having complete kitchen facilities. An icebox is not considered to be a refrigerator. Kitchen facilities provide an indication of living standards and assess the quality of household facilities within the housing inventory. These data provide assistance in determining areas that are eligible for programs and funding, such as Meals on Wheels. The data also serve to aid in the development of policies based on fair market rent, and to identify areas in need of rehabilitation loans or grants.
The 1996-1998 American Community Survey questions asked whether the house or apartment had complete kitchen facilities, requiring that the three facilities all be in the same unit. In 1999, "mobile home" was added to the question, along with the capitalization of the word "COMPLETE" for emphasis. Starting in 2008, the structure of the question changed and combined kitchen facilities with plumbing facilities and telephone service availability 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. Also in 2008, the component "sink with piped water" was changed to "sink with a faucet."
Caution should be used when comparing American Community Survey data on kitchen facilities from the years 2008 and after with both pre-2008 ACS and Census 2000 data. Changes made to the kitchen facilities question between the 2007 and 2008 ACS involving the wording, the response option, and translation to the Spanish questionnaire resulted in an inconsistency in the ACS data. This inconsistency in the data was most noticeable as an increase in housing units "lacking complete kitchen facilities."
| Excerpt from: | Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey 2009 Summary File: Technical Documentation. |
| ACS 2009-1yr Summary File: Technical Documentation -> Appendix A. Supplemental Documentation -> 2009 Subject Definitions -> Living Quarters -> 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.
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.
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.
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.
