American Housing Survey - Topics

Topics

Each AHS includes a variety of data on topics such as the following:

• Introductory Characteristics (such as owner tenure, race and origin of household, year built)

• Height and Condition of Building (such as the number of stories, foundation type, external building conditions)

• Size of Unit and Lot (such as number of rooms, bedrooms, square feet per person, lot size)

• Selected Equipment and Plumbing (such as the types of heating and cooling systems, type of plumbing, water source)

• Fuels (such as fuel type by usage: heating, cooking, water heating, clothes dryer)

• Failures in Equipment (such as toilet breakdowns, heating and electrical problems)

• Additional Indicators of Housing Quality (such as the presence of porches, owner/managers on property, evidence of rodents)

• Neighborhood (such as opinions of neighborhood, presence of such things as crime, odors, schools, noise, community security, parking lots)

• Household Composition (such as age, gender, marital status of householders, education levels, move-in dates)

• Previous Unit of Recent Movers (such as type of unit came from, number of people in previous residence)

• Reasons for Move and Choice of Current Residence (such as why left previous unit, why chose the current unit)

• Income Characteristics (such as total household income, whether financial assistance is part of income)

• Selected Housing Costs (such as monthly utility costs for electricity, piped gas, fuel oil, whether rent is paid, monthly costs of taxes, condo/cooperative fees)

• Journey to Work (such as type of transportation, travel time, distance to work, whether worked at home)

• Value, Purchase Price, and Source of Down Payment (such as year unit purchased, purchase price, source of down payment)

• Mortgage Characteristics (such as type of mortgage(s), payment plan for mortgage(s), interest rate, outstanding principal)