About the Survey of Consumer Finances
The Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) is conducted every three years to provide detailed information on the finances of U.S. families. No other study for the country collects comparable information. Data from the SCF are widely used, from analysis at the Federal Reserve and other branches of government to scholarly work at the major economic research centers.
The study is sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board in cooperation with the Department of the Treasury. Since 1992, data have been collected by the National Organization for Research at the University of Chicago (NORC).
To ensure the representativeness of the study, respondents are selected randomly using procedures described in the technical working papers on this web site. A strong attempt is made to select families from all economic strata.
Participation in the study is strictly voluntary. However, because only about 4,500 families are interviewed in the main study, every family selected is very important to the results. To maintain the scientific validity of the study, interviewers are not allowed to substitute respondents for families that do not participate. Thus, if a family declines to participate, it means that families like theirs may not be represented clearly in national discussions.
The confidentiality of the information provided in the study is of the highest importance to NORC and the Federal Reserve. Strenuous efforts are made to protect the privacy of participants, and in the history of the survey, there has never been a leak. The names of the participants in the survey are known only to NORC, which has more than 50 years of successful experience in collecting confidential information.
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