DOI: 10.3886/icpsr39462
title: Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, United States, 2023
title: Archival Version

description: In December 2017, the Urban Institute launched the Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS), a nationally representative, internet-based survey of non-elderly adults designed to monitor changes in individual and family well-being during a time when policymakers are considering significant changes to federal safety net programs serving low-income families. The 2023 round of the survey collects information on a broad array of topics related to health, material hardship, and the safety net, including health insurance, housing, food security, employment, family income, program participation, family financial security, disability, Long COVID, experiences of discrimination, exposure to extreme heat at work, renewal of Medicaid coverage, use of buy now pay later options and other forms of credit to pay for groceries, impact of criminal legal fines and fees, exposure to environmental disasters and extreme weather events, and immigration issues.
description: The Urban Institute launched the Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS) to monitor changes in individual and family health and well-being as policymakers make changes to federal safety net programs and the labor market continues to evolve.
description: Current recruitment into the KnowledgePanel is based on an address-based sampling frame that covers nearly all residential addresses in the United States. In earlier periods, recruitment was carried out by telephone based on random-digit dialing sampling techniques. Approximately 60,000 individuals participate in the panel, including those with and without internet access. Web-enabled devices and internet access are provided to panel members if needed, and respondents can complete the online surveys in English or Spanish.
description: The WBNS weights reflect the probability of sample selection from the KnowledgePanel and post-stratification to the characteristics of nonelderly adults in the United States based on benchmarks from the Current Population Survey and American Community Survey for the following measures: age by gender; race and ethnicity; educational attainment; presence of children in the household; census region; residence in a metropolitan area; homeownership status; family income as a percentage of the federal poverty level; family composition (married or living with a partner by presence of children in the family); primary language; and internet access by age
description: Response Rates: The WBNS cumulative response rate is roughly three to four percent each round.
description: For each round, a stratified random sample of approximately 7,500 adults ages 18 to 64 is drawn from the KnowledgePanel, a probability-based, nationally representative Internet panel maintained by Ipsos. The WBNS includes an oversample of adults with household incomes under 150 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) to improve the precision of estimates for this group. The 2023 round includes an additional oversample of Black adults with household incomes between 150-250 percent of FPL.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Public-Use Data
DS2: Restricted-Use Data
description: Household population aged 18-64. Smallest Geographic Unit: Census region
description: web-based surveyAdditional information about the survey is available at the Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey
website.