RAND HRS CAMS Data File 2021 (V1), supported by NIA and SSA

The RAND HRS CAMS Data File 2021 (V1) is a user-friendly version of Part B of the CAMS survey. It contains annualized, cleaned, imputed, and aggregated spending and consumption variables with consistent and intuitive naming conventions across waves. Specifically, total household spending and household consumption are calculated across all categories and for these subsets of spending: nondurables, durables, housing and transportation. This data file can be easily merged to the RAND HRS Longitudinal File and other HRS files as described in the data codebook. The RAND HRS CAMS Data File 2021 (V1) is based on 2001 (V3), 2003 (V2), 2005 (V1), 2007 (V1), 2009 (V1), 2011 (V2), 2013 (V2), 2015 (V1), 2017 (V1), 2019 (V1), and 2021 (V1) final data releases.

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) provided funding and support for the development of this file.

To access the data:

  • All RAND HRS data products are available at: https://hrsdata.isr.umich.edu/data-products/rand.
  • The RAND HRS CAMS Data File 2021 (V1) can be found in the "Longitudinal and Cross-Wave Data Products" section.
  • You will be able to see the data descriptions and documentation without an account, but you will need to register with HRS to access the data.
  • User note: This is a new data downloads system as of September 1st, 2020. If you have an account on the old system but have not created a new account since September 1st, 2020, you will need to create a new account. You can use the same email address as your previous account. (You will not need to create a new account if you have used this system to apply for or manage an HRS Restricted Data Agreement since November 2019.)
  • Once your account is active and you have logged in, you will be able to see the data download links for each RAND HRS data product (and other public HRS data products).

For more detailed information, please see the documents:

RAND HRS CAMS Data File 2021 (V1) Data Description (PDF) RAND HRS CAMS Data File 2021 (V1) Data Codebook (PDF)

Helpful Resources

For more information, questions or comments please see our FAQ or email us at RANDHRSHelp@rand.org.

Before doing so, however, we kindly request that users first consult the documentation that accompanies our data products, as we have found that our responses often point users to specific sections of the documentation that provide further detail on the variables mentioned in the users’ queries.

In addition, we recommend that users become familiar with some of the information provided on the HRS website, such as the HRS questionnaires and codebooks for the key variables under study.

We have also found the concordance tool extremely useful to help find available variables across waves:

More resources for users