ABS: Unlock the full power of household sampling

ABS is a probability-based sampling frame built from the USPS Computerized Delivery Sequence File (CDSF), which contains the vast majority of U.S. residential and business postal delivery addresses. MSG enhances this raw file by geocoding each address, and — where possible — appending household and contact data to enable effective sampling.

MSG’s ABS includes over 158 million addresses, covering nearly 100% of U.S. households. That spans city-style addresses, rural, P.O. boxes, drop-points, seasonal homes, and vacant units.

Yes. With geocoded addresses tied to Census geography and appended demographic/contact data, you can stratify or target by age, gender, household composition, region, ZIP-plus-4, Census Block/Tract — or even define custom areas such as trade areas or radius zones.

ABS supports mail, web, phone, and in-person surveys — or mixed-mode designs combining multiple approaches. It works equally well for short consumer surveys, long-form interviews, panel recruitment, longitudinal studies, and more.

Yes. ABS eliminates the need for costly field listing for area-based sampling. It also bypasses many of the coverage and bias issues associated with RDD (especially as phone-only households rise). For many studies, ABS delivers a better balance of coverage, precision, flexibility, and cost.

Because MSG offers a secure “virtual ABS” platform available 24/7, you can draw probability-based samples on demand — with your specified geographic and demographic criteria — eliminating long lead times.

MSG has built processes to identify potential coverage issues. In some cases, undeliverable or simplified addresses can be resolved. For no-stat or newly planned housing, MSG can help you assess coverage quality — and if needed, recommend supplemental enumeration or alternate sampling strategies.