The 2023 cartographic boundary shapefiles are simplified representations of selected geographic areas from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database (MTDB). These boundary files are specifically designed for small-scale thematic mapping. When possible, generalization is performed with the intent to maintain the hierarchical relationships among geographies and to maintain the alignment of geographies within a file set for a given year. Geographic areas may not align with the same areas from another year. Some geographies are available as nation-based files while others are available only as state-based files. Census tracts are small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a county or equivalent entity, and were defined by local participants as part of the 2020 Census Participant Statistical Areas Program. The Census Bureau delineated the census tracts in situations where no local participant existed or where all the potential participants declined to participate. The primary purpose of census tracts is to provide a stable set of geographic units for the presentation of census data and comparison back to previous decennial censuses. Census tracts generally have a population size between 1,200 and 8,000 people, with an optimum size of 4,000 people. When first delineated, census tracts were designed to be homogeneous with respect to population characteristics, economic status, and living conditions. The spatial size of census tracts varies widely depending on the density of settlement. Physical changes in street patterns caused by highway construction, new development, and so forth, may require boundary revisions. In addition, census tracts occasionally are split due to population growth, or combined as a result of substantial population decline. Census tract boundaries generally follow visible and identifiable features. They may follow legal boundaries such as minor civil division (MCD) or incorporated place boundaries in some states and situations to allow for census tract-to-governmental unit relationships where the governmental boundaries tend to remain unchanged between censuses. State and county boundaries always are census tract boundaries in the standard census geographic hierarchy. In a few rare instances, a census tract may consist of noncontiguous areas. These noncontiguous areas may occur where the census tracts are coextensive with all or parts of legal entities that are themselves noncontiguous. For the 2010 Census and beyond, the census tract code range of 9400 through 9499 was enforced for census tracts that include a majority American Indian population according to Census 2000 data and/or their area was primarily covered by federally recognized American Indian reservations and/or off-reservation trust lands; the code range 9800 through 9899 was enforced for those census tracts that contained little or no population and represented a relatively large special land use area such as a National Park, military installation, or a business/industrial park; and the code range 9900 through 9998 was enforced for those census tracts that contained only water area, no land area.
The Decennial Census provides population estimates and demographic information on residents of the United States.
The Census Summary Files contain detailed tables on responses to the decennial census. Data tables in Summary File 1 provide information on population and housing characteristics, including cross-tabulations of age, sex, households, families, relationship to householder, housing units, detailed race and Hispanic or Latino origin groups, and group quarters for the total population. Summary File 2 contains data tables on population and housing characteristics as reported by housing unit.
Researchers at NYU Langone Health can find guidance for the use and analysis of Census Bureau data on the Population Health Data Hub (listed under "Other Resources"), which is accessible only through the intranet portal with a valid Kerberos ID (KID).
2020 Census data for the city of Boston, Boston neighborhoods, census tracts, block groups, and voting districts. In the 2020 Census, the U.S. Census Bureau divided Boston into 207 census tracts (~4,000 residents) made up of 581 smaller block groups. The Boston Planning and Development Agency uses the 2020 tracts to approximate Boston neighborhoods. The 2020 Census Redistricting data also identify Boston’s voting districts.
For analysis of Boston’s 2020 Census data including graphs and maps by the BPDA Research Division and Office of Digital Cartography and GIS, see 2020 Census Research Publications
For a complete official data dictionary, please go to 2020 Census State Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File, Chapter 6. Data Dictionary. 2020 Census State Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File
2020 Census Block Groups In Boston
Boston Neighborhood Boundaries Approximated By 2020 Census Tracts
2019 US Census All Counties and County Equivalents geospatial data
U.S. Census Bureau; TIGER/Line Shapefiles 2019 Data accessed from: https://www.census.gov/geographies/mapping-files/time-series/geo/tiger-line-file.2019.html
TIGER/Line Shapefiles do not include demographic data, but they do contain geographic entity codes (GEOIDs) that can be linked to the Census Bureau’s demographic data.
The Geographic Areas Reference Manual (GARM) describes in great detail the basic geographic entities the Census Bureau uses (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/geography-acs.html).
TIGER Data Products Guide (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/guidance/tiger-data-products-guide.html)
The TIGER/Line shapefiles and related database files (.dbf) are an extract of selected geographic and cartographic information from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database (MTDB). The MTDB represents a seamless national file with no overlaps or gaps between parts, however, each TIGER/Line shapefile is designed to stand alone as an independent data set, or they can be combined to cover the entire nation. Census tracts are small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a county or equivalent entity, and were defined by local participants as part of the 2020 Census Participant Statistical Areas Program. The Census Bureau delineated the census tracts in situations where no local participant existed or where all the potential participants declined to participate. The primary purpose of census tracts is to provide a stable set of geographic units for the presentation of census data and comparison back to previous decennial censuses. Census tracts generally have a population size between 1,200 and 8,000 people, with an optimum size of 4,000 people. When first delineated, census tracts were designed to be homogeneous with respect to population characteristics, economic status, and living conditions. The spatial size of census tracts varies widely depending on the density of settlement. Physical changes in street patterns caused by highway construction, new development, and so forth, may require boundary revisions. In addition, census tracts occasionally are split due to population growth, or combined as a result of substantial population decline. Census tract boundaries generally follow visible and identifiable features. They may follow legal boundaries such as minor civil division (MCD) or incorporated place boundaries in some States and situations to allow for census tract-to-governmental unit relationships where the governmental boundaries tend to remain unchanged between censuses. State and county boundaries always are census tract boundaries in the standard census geographic hierarchy. In a few rare instances, a census tract may consist of noncontiguous areas. These noncontiguous areas may occur where the census tracts are coextensive with all or parts of legal entities that are themselves noncontiguous. For the 2010 Census and beyond, the census tract code range of 9400 through 9499 was enforced for census tracts that include a majority American Indian population according to Census 2000 data and/or their area was primarily covered by federally recognized American Indian reservations and/or off-reservation trust lands; the code range 9800 through 9899 was enforced for those census tracts that contained little or no population and represented a relatively large special land use area such as a National Park, military installation, or a business/industrial park; and the code range 9900 through 9998 was enforced for those census tracts that contained only water area, no land area.
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The 2010 Census Production Settings Redistricting Data (P.L. 94-171) Demonstration Noisy Measurement Files are an intermediate output of the 2020 Census Disclosure Avoidance System (DAS) TopDown Algorithm (TDA) (as described in Abowd, J. et al [2022], and implemented in https://github.com/uscensusbureau/DAS_2020_Redistricting_Production_Code). The NMF was produced using the official "production settings," the final set of algorithmic parameters and privacy-loss budget allocations that were used to produce the 2020 Census Redistricting Data (P.L. 94-171) Summary File and the 2020 Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics File. The NMF consists of the full set of privacy-protected statistical queries (counts of individuals or housing units with particular combinations of characteristics) of confidential 2010 Census data relating to the redistricting data portion of the 2010 Demonstration Data Products Suite - Redistricting and Demographic and Housing Characteristics File - Production Settings (2023-04-03). These statistical queries, called "noisy measurements" were produced under the zero-Concentrated Differential Privacy framework (Bun, M. and Steinke, T [2016]; see also Dwork C. and Roth, A. [2014]) implemented via the discrete Gaussian mechanism (Cannone C., et al., [2023]), which added positive or negative integer-valued noise to each of the resulting counts. The noisy measurements are an intermediate stage of the TDA prior to the post-processing the TDA then performs to ensure internal and hierarchical consistency within the resulting tables. The Census Bureau has released these 2010 Census demonstration data to enable data users to evaluate the expected impact of disclosure avoidance variability on 2020 Census data. The 2010 Census Production Settings Redistricting Data (P.L. 94-171) Demonstration Noisy Measurement Files (2023-04-03) have been cleared for public dissemination by the Census Bureau Disclosure Review Board (CBDRB-FY22-DSEP-004). The data include zero-Concentrated Differentially Private (zCDP) (Bun, M. and Steinke, T [2016]) noisy measurements, implemented via the discrete Gaussian mechanism. These are estimated counts of individuals and housing units included in the 2010 Census Edited File (CEF), which includes confidential data initially collected in the 2010 Census of Population and Housing. The noisy measurements included in this file were subsequently post-processed by the TopDown Algorithm (TDA) to produce the 2010 Census Production Settings Privacy-Protected Microdata File - Redistricting (P.L. 94-171) and Demographic and Housing Characteristics File (2023-04-03) (https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2020/program-management/data-product- planning/2010-demonstration-data-products/04 Demonstration_Data_Products_Suite/2023-04-03/). As these 2010 Census demonstration data are intended to support study of the design and expected impacts of the 2020 Disclosure Avoidance System, the 2010 CEF records were pre-processed before application of the zCDP framework. This pre-processing converted the 2010 CEF records into the input-file format, response codes, and tabulation categories used for the 2020 Census, which differ in substantive ways from the format, response codes, and tabulation categories originally used for the 2010 Census. The NMF provides estimates of counts of persons in the CEF by various characteristics and combinations of characteristics, including their reported race and ethnicity, whether they were of voting age, whether they resided in a housing unit or one of 7 group quarters types, and their census block of residence, after the addition of discrete Gaussian noise (with the scale parameter determined by the privacy-loss budget allocation for that particular query under zCDP). Noisy measurements of the counts of occupied and vacant housing units by census block are also included. Lastly, data on constraints--information into which no noise was infused by the Disclosure Avoidance System (DAS) and used by the TDA to post-process the noisy measurements into the 2010 Census Production Settings Privacy-Protected Microdata File - Redistricting (P.L. 94-171) and Demographic and Housing Characteristics File (2023-04-03) --are provided. These data are available for download (i.e. not restricted access). Due to their size, they must be downloaded through the link on this
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Household type, Education, Disability, Language, Computer/Internet Use, and more. This service is updated annually with American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year data. Contact: District of Columbia, Office of Planning. Email: planning@dc.gov. Geography: Census Tracts. Current Vintage: 2019-2023. ACS Table(s): DP02. Data downloaded from: Census Bureau's API for American Community Survey. Date of API call: January 2, 2025. National Figures: data.census.gov. Please cite the Census and ACS when using this data. Data Note from the Census: Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability. The degree of uncertainty for an estimate arising from sampling variability is represented through the use of a margin of error. The value shown here is the 90 percent margin of error. The margin of error can be interpreted as providing a 90 percent probability that the interval defined by the estimate minus the margin of error and the estimate plus the margin of error (the lower and upper confidence bounds) contains the true value. In addition to sampling variability, the ACS estimates are subject to nonsampling error (for a discussion of nonsampling variability, see Accuracy of the Data). The effect of nonsampling error is not represented in these tables. Data Processing Notes: This layer is updated automatically when the most current vintage of ACS data is released each year, usually in December. The layer always contains the latest available ACS 5-year estimates. It is updated annually within days of the Census Bureau's release schedule. Boundaries come from the US Census TIGER geodatabases. Boundaries are updated at the same time as the data updates (annually), and the boundary vintage appropriately matches the data vintage as specified by the Census. These are Census boundaries with water and/or coastlines clipped for cartographic purposes. For census tracts, the water cutouts are derived from a subset of the 2020 AWATER (Area Water) boundaries offered by TIGER. For state and county boundaries, the water and coastlines are derived from the coastlines of the 500k TIGER Cartographic Boundary Shapefiles. The original AWATER and ALAND fields are still available as attributes within the data table (units are square meters). Field alias names were created based on the Table Shells file available from the American Community Survey Summary File Documentation page. Data processed using R statistical package and ArcGIS Desktop. Margin of Error was not included in this layer but is available from the Census Bureau. Contact the Office of Planning for more information about obtaining Margin of Error values.
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Census tracts are created by the U.S. Census Bureau to be small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a county. Census tracts average about 4,000 inhabitants: minimum population –1,200 and maximum population –8,000. Census tracts are split or merged every 10 years, depending on population change, with local feedback through the Participant Statistical Areas Program (PSAP).
This dataset contains model-based census tract level estimates for the PLACES 2022 release in GIS-friendly format. PLACES covers the entire United States—50 states and the District of Columbia (DC)—at county, place, census tract, and ZIP Code Tabulation Area levels. It provides information uniformly on this large scale for local areas at 4 geographic levels. Estimates were provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Population Health, Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch. PLACES was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in conjunction with the CDC Foundation. Data sources used to generate these model-based estimates include Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2020 or 2019 data, Census Bureau 2010 population estimates, and American Community Survey (ACS) 2015–2019 estimates. The 2022 release uses 2020 BRFSS data for 25 measures and 2019 BRFSS data for 4 measures (high blood pressure, taking high blood pressure medication, high cholesterol, and cholesterol screening) that the survey collects data on every other year. These data can be joined with the census tract 2015 boundary file in a GIS system to produce maps for 29 measures at the census tract level. An ArcGIS Online feature service is also available for users to make maps online or to add data to desktop GIS software. https://cdcarcgis.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=3b7221d4e47740cab9235b839fa55cd7
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Early Postwar Canadian Census Data Creation Project Files. Contains digitized census tract boundary files and associated tabular data, with codebooks, for Census years 1951, 1956, 1961, and 1966.
The TIGER/Line Files are shapefiles and related database files (.dbf) that are an extract of selected geographic and cartographic information from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database (MTDB). The MTDB represents a seamless national file with no overlaps or gaps between parts, however, each TIGER/Line File is designed to stand alone as an independent data set, or they can be combined to cover the entire nation. Census tracts are small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a county or equivalent entity, and were defined by local participants as part of the 2010 Census Participant Statistical Areas Program. The Census Bureau delineated the census tracts in situations where no local participant existed or where all the potential participants declined to participate. The primary purpose of census tracts is to provide a stable set of geographic units for the presentation of census data and comparison back to previous decennial censuses. Census tracts generally have a population size between 1,200 and 8,000 people, with an optimum size of 4,000 people. When first delineated, census tracts were designed to be homogeneous with respect to population characteristics, economic status, and living conditions. The spatial size of census tracts varies widely depending on the density of settlement. Physical changes in street patterns caused by highway construction, new development, and so forth, may require boundary revisions. In addition, census tracts occasionally are split due to population growth, or combined as a result of substantial population decline. Census tract boundaries generally follow visible and identifiable features. They may follow legal boundaries such as minor civil division (MCD) or incorporated place boundaries in some States and situations to allow for census tract-to-governmental unit relationships where the governmental boundaries tend to remain unchanged between censuses. State and county boundaries always are census tract boundaries in the standard census geographic hierarchy. In a few rare instances, a census tract may consist of noncontiguous areas. These noncontiguous areas may occur where the census tracts are coextensive with all or parts of legal entities that are themselves noncontiguous. For the 2010 Census, the census tract code range of 9400 through 9499 was enforced for census tracts that include a majority American Indian population according to Census 2000 data and/or their area was primarily covered by federally recognized American Indian reservations and/or off-reservation trust lands; the code range 9800 through 9899 was enforced for those census tracts that contained little or no population and represented a relatively large special land use area such as a National Park, military installation, or a business/industrial park; and the code range 9900 through 9998 was enforced for those census tracts that contained only water area, no land area.
https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/ICPSR/studies/8093/termshttps://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/ICPSR/studies/8093/terms
Summary Tape File (STF) 1 consists of four sets of computer-readable data files containing detailed tabulations of the nation's population and housing characteristics produced from the 1980 Census. This series is comprised of STF 1A, STF 1B, STF 1C, and STF 1D. All files in the STF 1 series are identical, containing 321 substantive data variables organized in the form of 59 "tables," as well as standard geographic identification variables. All of the data items contained in the STF 1 files were tabulated from the "complete count" or "100-percent" questions included on the 1980 Census questionnaire. All four groups of files within the STF 1 series have identical record formats and technical characteristics and differ only in the types of geographical areas for which the summarized data items are presented. STF 1D provides summaries for state or state equivalent, congressional district (as constituted for the 98th Congress), county or county equivalent, places of 10,000 or more people, and minor civil divisions (MCD) or census county divisions (CCD). Housing items tabulated include occupancy/vacancy status, tenure, contract rent, value, condominium status, number of rooms, and plumbing facilities. Population items include demographic information such as age, sex, race, marital status, Spanish origin, household relationship, and household type. Selected aggregates, means, and medians are also provided. See the related collection, CENSUS OF POPULATION AND HOUSING, 1980 [UNITED STATES]: SUMMARY TAPE FILE 1H (ICPSR 8401).
PLACES is the expansion of the original 500 Cities project and covers the entire United States—50 states and the District of Columbia (DC). Estimates were provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Population Health, Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch. PLACES provides health data for small areas across the country. This allows local health departments and jurisdictions, regardless of population size and rurality, to better understand the burden and geographic distribution of health measures in their areas and assist them in planning public health interventions. PLACES provides model-based, population-level analysis and community estimates of health measures to all counties, places (incorporated and census designated places), census tracts, and ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) across the United States.
U.S. Government Workshttps://www.usa.gov/government-works
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2017, 2016. Data were provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Population Health, Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch. The project was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in conjunction with the CDC Foundation. 500 cities project census tract-level data in GIS-friendly format can be joined with census tract spatial data (https://chronicdata.cdc.gov/500-Cities/500-Cities-Census-Tract-Boundaries/x7zy-2xmx) in a geographic information system (GIS) to produce maps of 27 measures at the census tract level. There are 7 measures (all teeth lost, dental visits, mammograms, Pap tests, colorectal cancer screening, core preventive services among older adults, and sleep less than 7 hours) in this 2019 release from the 2016 BRFSS that were the same as the 2018 release.
The TIGER/Line shapefiles and related database files (.dbf) are an extract of selected geographic and cartographic information from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database (MTDB). The MTDB represents a seamless national file with no overlaps or gaps between parts, however, each TIGER/Line shapefile is designed to stand alone as an independent data set, or they can be combined to cover the entire nation. ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) are approximate area representations of U.S. Postal Service (USPS) ZIP Code service areas that the Census Bureau creates to present statistical data for each decennial census. The Census Bureau delineates ZCTA boundaries for the United States, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands once each decade following the decennial census. Data users should not use ZCTAs to identify the official USPS ZIP Code for mail delivery. The USPS makes periodic changes to ZIP Codes to support more efficient mail delivery. The Census Bureau uses tabulation blocks as the basis for defining each ZCTA. Tabulation blocks are assigned to a ZCTA based on the most frequently occurring ZIP Code for the addresses contained within that block. The most frequently occurring ZIP Code also becomes the five-digit numeric code of the ZCTA. These codes may contain leading zeros. Blocks that do not contain addresses but are surrounded by a single ZCTA (enclaves) are assigned to the surrounding ZCTA. Because the Census Bureau only uses the most frequently occurring ZIP Code to assign blocks, a ZCTA may not exist for every USPS ZIP Code. Some ZIP Codes may not have a matching ZCTA because too few addresses were associated with the specific ZIP Code or the ZIP Code was not the most frequently occurring ZIP Code within any of the blocks where it exists. The ZCTA boundaries in this release are those delineated following the 2010 Census.
The 2023 cartographic boundary shapefiles are simplified representations of selected geographic areas from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database (MTDB). These boundary files are specifically designed for small-scale thematic mapping. When possible, generalization is performed with the intent to maintain the hierarchical relationships among geographies and to maintain the alignment of geographies within a file set for a given year. Geographic areas may not align with the same areas from another year. Some geographies are available as nation-based files while others are available only as state-based files. Census tracts are small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a county or equivalent entity, and were defined by local participants as part of the 2020 Census Participant Statistical Areas Program. The Census Bureau delineated the census tracts in situations where no local participant existed or where all the potential participants declined to participate. The primary purpose of census tracts is to provide a stable set of geographic units for the presentation of census data and comparison back to previous decennial censuses. Census tracts generally have a population size between 1,200 and 8,000 people, with an optimum size of 4,000 people. When first delineated, census tracts were designed to be homogeneous with respect to population characteristics, economic status, and living conditions. The spatial size of census tracts varies widely depending on the density of settlement. Physical changes in street patterns caused by highway construction, new development, and so forth, may require boundary revisions. In addition, census tracts occasionally are split due to population growth, or combined as a result of substantial population decline. Census tract boundaries generally follow visible and identifiable features. They may follow legal boundaries such as minor civil division (MCD) or incorporated place boundaries in some states and situations to allow for census tract-to-governmental unit relationships where the governmental boundaries tend to remain unchanged between censuses. State and county boundaries always are census tract boundaries in the standard census geographic hierarchy. In a few rare instances, a census tract may consist of noncontiguous areas. These noncontiguous areas may occur where the census tracts are coextensive with all or parts of legal entities that are themselves noncontiguous. For the 2010 Census and beyond, the census tract code range of 9400 through 9499 was enforced for census tracts that include a majority American Indian population according to Census 2000 data and/or their area was primarily covered by federally recognized American Indian reservations and/or off-reservation trust lands; the code range 9800 through 9899 was enforced for those census tracts that contained little or no population and represented a relatively large special land use area such as a National Park, military installation, or a business/industrial park; and the code range 9900 through 9998 was enforced for those census tracts that contained only water area, no land area.
Census geographic areas are used by the Census Bureau to collect, tabulate, and aggregate decennial census data, and are also used in more frequent demographics reports like the annual American Community Survey (ACS). Three levels of areal geography are available from MassGIS (with layer name in parentheses): Blocks, Block Groups, and TractsSee the datalayer metadata for full details.Map service also available.
The TIGER/Line shapefiles and related database files (.dbf) are an extract of selected geographic and cartographic information from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database (MTDB). The MTDB represents a seamless national file with no overlaps or gaps between parts, however, each TIGER/Line shapefile is designed to stand alone as an independent data set, or they can be combined to cover the entire nation.Census tracts are small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a county or equivalent entity, and were defined by local participants as part of the 2020 Census Participant Statistical Areas Program. The Census Bureau delineated the census tracts in situations where no local participant existed or where all the potential participants declined to participate. The primary purpose of census tracts is to provide a stable set of geographic units for the presentation of census data and comparison back to previous decennial censuses. Census tracts generally have a population size between 1,200 and 8,000 people, with an optimum size of 4,000 people. When first delineated, census tracts were designed to be homogeneous with respect to population characteristics, economic status, and living conditions. The spatial size of census tracts varies widely depending on the density of settlement. Physical changes in street patterns caused by highway construction, new development, and so forth, may require boundary revisions. In addition, census tracts occasionally are split due to population growth, or combined as a result of substantial population decline. Census tract boundaries generally follow visible and identifiable features. They may follow legal boundaries such as minor civil division (MCD) or incorporated place boundaries in some States and situations to allow for census tract-to-governmental unit relationships where the governmental boundaries tend to remain unchanged between censuses. State and county boundaries always are census tract boundaries in the standard census geographic hierarchy. In a few rare instances, a census tract may consist of noncontiguous areas. These noncontiguous areas may occur where the census tracts are coextensive with all or parts of legal entities that are themselves noncontiguous. For the 2010 Census and beyond, the census tract code range of 9400 through 9499 was enforced for census tracts that include a majority American Indian population according to Census 2000 data and/or their area was primarily covered by federally recognized American Indian reservations and/or off-reservation trust lands; the code range 9800 through 9899 was enforced for those census tracts that contained little or no population and represented a relatively large special land use area such as a National Park, military installation, or a business/industrial park; and the code range 9900 through 9998 was enforced for those census tracts that contained only water area, no land area.
This collection identifies changes in United States census tracts between 1980 and 1990. The data were derived from the Census Bureaus's TIGER database. Counties with 1980 and 1990 census tracts are not included if there were no changes in the census tract boundaries and/or census tract numbers between 1980 and 1990. Also excluded are counties with census tracts defined for the first time in 1990. (Source: downloaded from ICPSR 7/13/10)
Please Note: This dataset is part of the historical CISER Data Archive Collection and is also available at ICPSR at https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09810.v1. We highly recommend using the ICPSR version as they may make this dataset available in multiple data formats in the future.
UNI-CEN Standardized Census Data Tables contain Census data that have been reformatted into a common table format with standardized variable names and codes. The data are provided in two tabular formats for different use cases. "Long" tables are suitable for use in statistical environments, while "wide" tables are commonly used in GIS environments. The long tables are provided in Stata Binary (dta) format, which is readable by all statistics software. The wide tables are provided in comma-separated values (csv) and dBase 3 (dbf) formats with codebooks. The wide tables are easily joined to the UNI-CEN Digital Boundary Files. For the csv files, a .csvt file is provided to ensure that column data formats are correctly formatted when importing into QGIS. A schema.ini file does the same when importing into ArcGIS environments. As the DBF file format supports a maximum of 250 columns, tables with a larger number of variables are divided into multiple DBF files. For more information about file sources, the methods used to create them, and how to use them, consult the documentation at https://borealisdata.ca/dataverse/unicen_docs. For more information about the project, visit https://observatory.uwo.ca/unicen.
The 2023 cartographic boundary shapefiles are simplified representations of selected geographic areas from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database (MTDB). These boundary files are specifically designed for small-scale thematic mapping. When possible, generalization is performed with the intent to maintain the hierarchical relationships among geographies and to maintain the alignment of geographies within a file set for a given year. Geographic areas may not align with the same areas from another year. Some geographies are available as nation-based files while others are available only as state-based files. Census tracts are small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a county or equivalent entity, and were defined by local participants as part of the 2020 Census Participant Statistical Areas Program. The Census Bureau delineated the census tracts in situations where no local participant existed or where all the potential participants declined to participate. The primary purpose of census tracts is to provide a stable set of geographic units for the presentation of census data and comparison back to previous decennial censuses. Census tracts generally have a population size between 1,200 and 8,000 people, with an optimum size of 4,000 people. When first delineated, census tracts were designed to be homogeneous with respect to population characteristics, economic status, and living conditions. The spatial size of census tracts varies widely depending on the density of settlement. Physical changes in street patterns caused by highway construction, new development, and so forth, may require boundary revisions. In addition, census tracts occasionally are split due to population growth, or combined as a result of substantial population decline. Census tract boundaries generally follow visible and identifiable features. They may follow legal boundaries such as minor civil division (MCD) or incorporated place boundaries in some states and situations to allow for census tract-to-governmental unit relationships where the governmental boundaries tend to remain unchanged between censuses. State and county boundaries always are census tract boundaries in the standard census geographic hierarchy. In a few rare instances, a census tract may consist of noncontiguous areas. These noncontiguous areas may occur where the census tracts are coextensive with all or parts of legal entities that are themselves noncontiguous. For the 2010 Census and beyond, the census tract code range of 9400 through 9499 was enforced for census tracts that include a majority American Indian population according to Census 2000 data and/or their area was primarily covered by federally recognized American Indian reservations and/or off-reservation trust lands; the code range 9800 through 9899 was enforced for those census tracts that contained little or no population and represented a relatively large special land use area such as a National Park, military installation, or a business/industrial park; and the code range 9900 through 9998 was enforced for those census tracts that contained only water area, no land area.