Evaluation of A New Approach to Estimating Migration: Matching Tax Returns for All Individuals

Hyo C. Park, U.S. Census Bureau
Andrew J Reese, U.S. Census Bureau

The U.S. Bureau produces annual domestic migration data using the Internal Revenue Service administrative records for the post-censal population estimates program. We match individual income tax returns for the filers only for two consecutive years to create migration data. The spouse and the dependents on the same return are assigned the same migration status as the filer. By matching on the filers only, the migration data omit the information for those who file a tax return as a primary filer in only one of the two years. This paper presents a new way of creating migration data by matching all individuals on the tax return. The paper discusses the differences between the results from the current method and the new method.