The Taxable Property Values Survey is conducted every five years in conjunction with the census of governments. Officials of each State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands are surveyed in order to obtain real property tax assessments information as well as data on tangible and intangible personal property for States, counties, and cities having a population of 50,000 or more. In order to get assessed values and parcel counts by property use, a sample of parcels is selected from assessment rolls or equivalent public record. The 1987 survey is a two-stage stratified sample of locally assessed real property parcels designed to give State estimates of property tax assessments and number of parcels by use of property (residential, commercial, industrial, etc.). As a second part of this survey in years prior to the 1987 survey, real estate sales prices were also collected. For 1987 this phase of the survey and calculations of SMSA estimates were excluded due to budget constraints. The real estate sales phase of the previous surveys is documented in the Taxable Property Values and Assessment-Sales Price Ratios volumes for census years prior to 1987.