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US Census Householder

US Census "The householder refers to the person (or one of the people) in whose name the housing unit is owned or rented (maintained) or, if there is no such person, any adult member, excluding roomers, boarders, or paid employees. If the house is owned or rented jointly by a married couple, the householder may be either the husband or the wife. The person designated as the householder is the "reference person" to whom the relationship of all other household members, if any, is recorded.

"The number of householders is equal to the number of households. Also, the number of family householders is equal to the number of families.

"Head versus householder. Beginning with the 1980 CPS, the Bureau of the Census discontinued the use of the terms "head of household" and "head of family." Instead, the terms "householder" and "family householder" are used. Recent social changes have resulted in greater sharing of household responsibilities among the adult members and, therefore, have made the term "head" increasingly inappropriate in the analysis of household and family data. Specifically, beginning in 1980, the Census Bureau discontinued its longtime practice of always classifying the husband as the reference person (head) when he and his wife are living together." http://www.census.gov/cps/about/cpsdef.html

  • Sufficient condition - being the only person who maintains (owns or rents) the housing unit in their name.

  • Necessary conditions: adult, member of the household, not paying another member of the household to live there; not a paid employee of the household.

Notes: There is one householder to household. The householder role is individuated by households. Can one person by the householder of many households? (Look at Utah census data.) The householder also plays the role of US Census reference person.

Proposed definition: A US Census householder role is a human social role that inheres in a Homo sapiens and is realized by that person being a member of a household and either owning or renting the housing unit in which that household resides and being designated as the householder. If there is only one member of the household who owns or rents the housing unit, that person is designated the householder by default.

US Census Reference Person

"The reference person is the person to whom the relationship of other people in the household is recorded. The household reference person is the person listed as the householder (see definition of "Householder"). The subfamily reference person is either the single parent or the husband/wife in a married-couple situation."

Do we need to model "US Census reference person"?