Gyourko-Mayer-Sinai Superstar Cities database

The Superstar Cities database is the long-run, MSA-level house-price data assembled by Joseph Gyourko, Christopher Mayer and Todd Sinai for their paper “Superstar Cities.” It tracks real house-price growth across US metropolitan areas back to 1950, the basis for ranking “superstar” MSAs (those with the highest long-run real price appreciation) against the rest. It is a standard free source for cross-MSA long-run housing-return work. Used in, for example, Amaral et al. (2025), which extends the Gyourko-Mayer-Sinai MSA database to 2018 via the American Community Survey for a 316-MSA cross-section.

• Cost: free (data behind a no-cost openICPSR sign-in; the appendix PDF is fully open).
• Replication package: openICPSR project 114839, deposited with the AEA, distributed by ICPSR (2019).
• Coverage: decadal MSA-level house prices and related series, reaching back to 1950; the public file ends at the published vintage.
• Paper: American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 5(4), 2013, 167-199.

Access

The replication data is on openICPSR; the journal also posts an open appendix PDF (documentation, not the panel).

# Replication package (data behind a free openICPSR / ICPSR sign-in; Google
# login works). Scripted requests get HTTP 403, so a human signs in once:
#   https://doi.org/10.3886/E114839V1
#   -> https://www.openicpsr.org/openicpsr/project/114839/version/V1/view

# Open AEA online appendix PDF (documentation only, ~1.48 MB), no login:
#   https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=20254

The data files are typically Stata .dta plus Excel and a readme; the MSA-by-year panels are inside the openICPSR deposit, not in the appendix PDF.

Gotchas (the ones that bite pipelines)

• openICPSR is a login wall for automation. Scripted access returns HTTP 403; a human must sign in once (free; Google login works) and download. There is no anonymous direct-file URL.
• The open PDF is not the data. The AEA content/file?id=20254 appendix is documentation; do not mistake it for the MSA panel. The Wharton and Columbia faculty pages host the paper PDF, also not the data.
• Stata-format deposit. Expect .dta files plus a readme, not a single tidy CSV; read the readme for variable definitions and the MSA coding.
• Decadal, long-run frequency. The series are decadal MSA house prices back to 1950, not annual; align carefully if joining to annual data.
• The public file ends at the published vintage. Later studies (for example Amaral et al. 2025) extend it to 2018 via the ACS themselves; the deposit does not include that extension, so you build it or use the authors’ replication.
• Do not confuse versions. “Superstar Cities” is the AEJ: Economic Policy 2013 article; an earlier NBER working-paper version circulated from 2006. The replication package is the AEA deposit (project 114839).

Reference

Field	Value
Authors	Joseph Gyourko, Christopher Mayer, Todd Sinai
Replication host	openICPSR project 114839, doi 10.3886/E114839V1
Open appendix	AEA aeaweb.org/content/file?id=20254 (PDF, documentation)
Format	Stata .dta plus Excel and readme
Coverage	Decadal MSA house prices, back to 1950, to the published vintage
Access	Free openICPSR sign-in (no fee); scripted access blocked
Key required	No (but sign-in)

Citation

Cite Gyourko, Joseph, Christopher Mayer, and Todd Sinai, “Superstar Cities,” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 5(4), 2013, 167-199, together with the replication package (openICPSR project 114839, doi 10.3886/E114839V1) and the retrieval date. If you use an extension of the series (for example to 2018 via the ACS), describe that construction separately.