The CLUSTER statement names variables that identify the clusters in a clustered sample design. The combinations of categories of CLUSTER variables define the clusters in the sample. If there is a STRATA statement, clusters are nested within strata.

If you provide replicate weights for BRR or jackknife variance estimation with the REPWEIGHTS statement, you do not need to specify a CLUSTER statement.

If your sample design has clustering at multiple stages, you should identify only the first-stage clusters (primary sampling units (PSUs)), in the CLUSTER statement. See the section Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) for more information.

The CLUSTER variables are one or more variables in the DATA= input data set. These variables can be either character or numeric. The formatted values of the CLUSTER variables determine the CLUSTER variable levels. Thus, you can use formats to group values into levels. See the FORMAT procedure in the Base SAS Procedures Guide and the FORMAT statement and SAS formats in SAS Language Reference: Dictionary for more information.

When determining levels of a CLUSTER variable, an observation with missing values for this CLUSTER variable is excluded, unless you specify the MISSING option. For more information, see the section Missing Values.

You can use multiple CLUSTER statements to specify cluster variables. The procedure uses variables from all CLUSTER statements to create clusters.