diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8fa255a0..b6d52182 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## v1.6.2
+* (#236) Add data key to breakdown documents if missing
+
 ## v1.6.1
 * (#234) Allow Numpy arrays to be deeply nested in Store schemas
 * (#233) Fix some bugs in `emitter.py`
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b638cb31..5a11c1e7 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 from setuptools import setup
 
 
-VERSION = '1.6.1'
+VERSION = '1.6.2'
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
diff --git a/vivarium/core/emitter.py b/vivarium/core/emitter.py
index 5aeb54be..d4c7f042 100644
--- a/vivarium/core/emitter.py
+++ b/vivarium/core/emitter.py
@@ -388,8 +388,8 @@ def write_emit(self, table: Any, emit_data: Dict[str, Any]) -> None:
                 assoc_path(d, path, datum)
                 d['assembly_id'] = assembly_id
                 d['experiment_id'] = experiment_id
+                d.setdefault('data', {})
                 if time:
-                    d.setdefault('data', {})
                     d['data']['time'] = time
                 table.insert_one(d)