diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d27f11f..402e230 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,15 +1,16 @@
 **/*.h5
-**/*.pyc
+**/*.npy
+**/*.csv
 **/*.csv.zip
 **/*.csv.gz
-**/*.csv
+**/*.pyc
 **/*.egg-info
 **/_build/
 **/*tfevents*
+tmd/storage/output/cached_files
 tmd/storage/output/tax_expenditures
 !tmd/storage/input/*.csv
 !tmd/areas/targets/*.csv
-tmd/areas/weights/*.log
 **demographics_2015.csv
 **puf_2015.csv
 *.DS_STORE
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index d909153..f73f7d9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ install:
 
 .PHONY=clean
 clean:
-	rm -f tmd/storage/output/tmd*
+	rm -f tmd/storage/output/tmd* tmd/storage/output/cached_files
 
 tmd/storage/output/tmd.csv.gz: \
   setup.py \
@@ -36,10 +36,17 @@ tmd/storage/output/tmd_weights.csv.gz: \
   tmd/create_taxcalc_sampling_weights.py
 	python tmd/create_taxcalc_sampling_weights.py
 
+tmd/storage/output/cached_files: \
+  tmd/storage/output/tmd.csv.gz \
+  tmd/storage/output/tmd_growfactors.csv \
+  tmd/storage/output/tmd_weights.csv.gz
+	python tmd/create_taxcalc_cached_files.py
+
 .PHONY=tmd_files
 tmd_files: tmd/storage/output/tmd.csv.gz \
   tmd/storage/output/tmd_growfactors.csv \
-  tmd/storage/output/tmd_weights.csv.gz
+  tmd/storage/output/tmd_weights.csv.gz \
+  tmd/storage/output/cached_files
 
 .PHONY=test
 test: tmd_files
diff --git a/tmd/areas/create_area_weights.py b/tmd/areas/create_area_weights.py
index dee7422..01c5166 100644
--- a/tmd/areas/create_area_weights.py
+++ b/tmd/areas/create_area_weights.py
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@
 GFFILE_PATH = STORAGE_FOLDER / "output" / "tmd_growfactors.csv"
 POPFILE_PATH = STORAGE_FOLDER / "input" / "cbo_population_forecast.yaml"
 
-# taxcalc calculated variable cache files:
-TAXCALC_AGI_CACHE = AREAS_FOLDER / "cache_agi.npy"
+# Tax-Calcultor calculated variable cache files:
+TAXCALC_AGI_CACHE = STORAGE_FOLDER / "output" / "cached_c00100.npy"
 
 PARAMS = {}
 
@@ -166,26 +166,12 @@ def valid_area(area: str):
     return all_ok
 
 
-def all_taxcalc_variables(write_cache):
+def all_taxcalc_variables():
     """
     Return all read and needed calc Tax-Calculator variables in pd.DataFrame.
     """
     vdf = pd.read_csv(INFILE_PATH)
-    if TAXCALC_AGI_CACHE.exists():
-        vdf["c00100"] = np.load(TAXCALC_AGI_CACHE)
-    else:
-        input_data = tc.Records.tmd_constructor(
-            data_path=INFILE_PATH,
-            weights_path=WTFILE_PATH,
-            growfactors_path=GFFILE_PATH,
-            exact_calculations=True,
-        )
-        sim = tc.Calculator(records=input_data, policy=tc.Policy())
-        sim.calc_all()
-        agi = sim.array("c00100")
-        vdf["c00100"] = agi
-        if write_cache:
-            np.save(TAXCALC_AGI_CACHE, agi, allow_pickle=False)
+    vdf["c00100"] = np.load(TAXCALC_AGI_CACHE)
     assert np.all(vdf.s006 > 0), "Not all weights are positive"
     return vdf
 
@@ -432,7 +418,6 @@ def create_area_weights_file(
     area: str,
     write_log: bool = True,
     write_file: bool = True,
-    write_cache: bool = True,
 ):
     """
     Create Tax-Calculator-style weights file for FIRST_YEAR through LAST_YEAR
@@ -501,7 +486,7 @@ def create_area_weights_file(
             out.write(f"USING CUSTOMIZED PARAMETERS IN {pfile}\n")
 
     # construct variable matrix and target array and weights_scale
-    vdf = all_taxcalc_variables(write_cache)
+    vdf = all_taxcalc_variables()
     target_matrix, target_array, weights_scale = prepared_data(area, vdf)
     wght_us = np.array(vdf.s006 * weights_scale)
     out.write("INITIAL WEIGHTS STATISTICS:\n")
@@ -672,6 +657,5 @@ def create_area_weights_file(
         area_code,
         write_log=False,
         write_file=True,
-        write_cache=False,
     )
     sys.exit(RCODE)
diff --git a/tmd/areas/make_all.py b/tmd/areas/make_all.py
index 8cbc690..e14cc83 100644
--- a/tmd/areas/make_all.py
+++ b/tmd/areas/make_all.py
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 from tmd.areas.create_area_weights import (
     valid_area,
     create_area_weights_file,
-    TAXCALC_AGI_CACHE,
 )
 from tmd.areas import AREAS_FOLDER
 from tmd.storage import STORAGE_FOLDER
@@ -87,7 +86,6 @@ def create_area_weights(area: str):
         area,
         write_log=True,
         write_file=True,
-        write_cache=True,
     )
     time1 = time.time()
     print(f"... {area} exectime(secs)= {(time1 - time0):.1f}")
@@ -101,7 +99,6 @@ def make_all_areas(num_workers):
     Call create_area_weights(area) for each out-of-date or non-existent
     area weights file for which there is an area targets file.
     """
-    TAXCALC_AGI_CACHE.unlink(missing_ok=True)
     todo_areas = to_do_areas()
     # show processing plan
     if todo_areas:
@@ -119,7 +116,6 @@ def make_all_areas(num_workers):
     # process each target file for which the weights file is not up-to-date
     with Pool(num_workers) as pool:
         pool.map(create_area_weights, todo_areas)
-    TAXCALC_AGI_CACHE.unlink(missing_ok=True)
     return 0
 
 
diff --git a/tmd/create_taxcalc_cached_files.py b/tmd/create_taxcalc_cached_files.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ed13fbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tmd/create_taxcalc_cached_files.py
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+"""
+Generate tmd/storage/output/cached_*.npy files for TAX_YEAR.
+"""
+
+import numpy as np
+import taxcalc as tc
+from tmd.storage import STORAGE_FOLDER, CACHED_TAXCALC_VARIABLES
+
+TAX_YEAR = 2021
+
+INFILE_PATH = STORAGE_FOLDER / "output" / "tmd.csv.gz"
+WTFILE_PATH = STORAGE_FOLDER / "output" / "tmd_weights.csv.gz"
+GFFILE_PATH = STORAGE_FOLDER / "output" / "tmd_growfactors.csv"
+
+
+def create_cached_files():
+    """
+    Create a Numpy binary file containing FIRST_YEAR values
+    for each variable in the CACHED_TAXCALC_VARIABLES list.
+    """
+    # calculate all Tax-Calculator variables for TAX_YEAR
+    pol = tc.Policy()
+    rec = tc.Records.tmd_constructor(
+        data_path=INFILE_PATH,
+        weights_path=WTFILE_PATH,
+        growfactors_path=GFFILE_PATH,
+        exact_calculations=True,
+    )
+    calc = tc.Calculator(policy=pol, records=rec)
+    calc.advance_to_year(TAX_YEAR)
+    calc.calc_all()
+
+    # write each variable in CACHED_TAXCALC_VARIABLES list to a binary file
+    for vname in CACHED_TAXCALC_VARIABLES:
+        varray = calc.array(vname)
+        fpath = STORAGE_FOLDER / "output" / f"cached_{vname}.npy"
+        np.save(fpath, varray, allow_pickle=False)
+    fpath = STORAGE_FOLDER / "output" / "cached_files"
+    with open(fpath, "w", encoding="utf-8") as cfiles:
+        cfiles.write("  ")  # provides timestamp for Makefile
+
+    return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    create_cached_files()
diff --git a/tmd/storage/__init__.py b/tmd/storage/__init__.py
index 111a973..21c7019 100644
--- a/tmd/storage/__init__.py
+++ b/tmd/storage/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 
 STORAGE_FOLDER = Path(__file__).parent
+
+CACHED_TAXCALC_VARIABLES = [
+    "c00100",  # AGI
+    "iitax",  # individual income tax liability (including refundable credits)
+]