The Short Answer
The first rule of reading the public file: rows are not always people.
Missing answers need a careful approach
A family may not answer every question. The SCF uses multiple imputation: a way to fill gaps while keeping track of uncertainty. Each public family record appears in five completed versions called implicates.
Count families correctly
The 2025 public file contains 21,800 records for 4,360 families. Those records are not 21,800 separate family interviews. Seven completed interviews were removed from the public file for disclosure protection.
Use the weights
Researchers must account for survey weights, all five implicates, and the survey's methods for measuring uncertainty. A plain average of all rows is not a replacement for the required survey analysis.
What our download contains
Our free CSV copies selected published summary measures into tidy columns. It is not household microdata and does not recalculate the Federal Reserve's estimates.
Frequently asked questions
Are five implicates five different families?
No. They are five completed versions of one family’s public record.
How many records and families are in the public file?
The 2025 public file has 21,800 records representing 4,360 families.
Is this site’s free data pack the full SCF file?
No. It is a tidy table of selected published summary measures. The Federal Reserve provides the official public microdata and methods.
The Long Answer · A deeper look
Multiple imputation represents uncertainty in incomplete survey responses by creating several completed datasets. In the SCF public file, each family has five implicates. The 21,800 rows in the 2025 public file represent 4,360 families, not that many independent interviews. Treating them as independent observations can misstate sample size and understate uncertainty.
Researchers must follow the survey’s weighting and variance procedures and combine results across implicates appropriately. Disclosure protection also means the public family count differs from the completed interview count. Our cleaned summary pack avoids claiming a new household-level analysis: it records selected published aggregate estimates with their units, reference years, population labels, and source locations.
Federal Reserve Board · SCF data and documentation ↗
Our guide explains the source. Consumer Magazine and NDS did not conduct the official survey.