System and Method for Improving Computational Efficiency of Consumer Databases Utilizing Household Links

A method for automatically identifying households to which individual consumers belong, the method comprising the steps of:

• a. accessing a plurality of data sources each comprising consumer records, wherein each consumer record comprises a consumer link (CL) from a plurality of consumer links, wherein each CL is uniquely associated with a particular consumer;
• b. utilizing the plurality of data sources, picking a best address for each CL from a set of addresses, wherein each address from the set of addresses is uniquely associated with an address link (AL) from a set of ALs;
• c. for one or more of the ALs, identifying each household group associated with the AL, wherein each of the household groups corresponds to a household of consumers having the address associated with such AL;
• d. generating a persistent household link (HHL) for each new household group not previously identified;
• e. for each HHL, picking a best HHL for each AL;
• and
• f. creating a cross-reference file matching each CL to an HHL and each HHL to an AL.