There are two types of boundary files: cartographic and digital. Cartographic boundary files portray the geographic areas using only the major land mass of Canada and its coastal islands. Digital boundary files portray the full extent of the geographic areas, including the coastal water area.

According to Statistics Canada, Census Metropolitan Areas consisting of one or more neighbouring municipalities situated around a core. A census metropolitan area must have a total population of at least 100,000 of which 50,000 or more live in the core.Statistics Canada Census Metropolitan Area boundary for 2021, lcma000b21a_e (cartographic boundary file)Metadata

Annual population estimates as of July 1st, by census metropolitan area and census agglomeration, single year of age, five-year age group and gender, based on the Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) 2021.

Metropolitan DivisionsThis feature layer, utilizing National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) data from the U.S. Census Bureau (USCB), displays Metropolitan Divisions within the United States. According to the USCB, "Metropolitan Divisions subdivide a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) containing a single core urban area that has a population of at least 2.5 million to form smaller groupings of counties or equivalent entities. Not all MSAs with urban areas of this size will contain Metropolitan Divisions. Not all MSAs with urban areas of this size will contain Metropolitan Divisions. Metropolitan Division are defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and consist of one or more main counties or equivalent entities that represent an employment center or centers, plus adjacent counties associated with the main county or counties through commuting ties."Nassau County-Suffolk County, NY Metro Division & New Brunswick-Lakewood, NJ Metro DivisionData currency: This cached Esri federal service is checked weekly for updates from its enterprise federal source (Metropolitan Divisions) and will support mapping, analysis, data exports and OGC API – Feature access.NGDAID: 83 (Series Information for Metropolitan Division National TIGER/Line Shapefiles, Current)OGC API Features Link: (Metropolitan Divisions - OGC Features) copy this link to embed it in OGC Compliant viewersFor more information, please visit: Geographic LevelsFor feedback please contact: Esri_US_Federal_Data@esri.comNGDA Data SetThis data set is part of the NGDA Governmental Units, and Administrative and Statistical Boundaries Theme Community. Per the Federal Geospatial Data Committee (FGDC), this theme is defined as the "boundaries that delineate geographic areas for uses such as governance and the general provision of services (e.g., states, American Indian reservations, counties, cities, towns, etc.), administration and/or for a specific purpose (e.g., congressional districts, school districts, fire districts, Alaska Native Regional Corporations, etc.), and/or provision of statistical data (census tracts, census blocks, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, etc.). Boundaries for these various types of geographic areas are either defined through a documented legal description or through criteria and guidelines. Other boundaries may include international limits, those of federal land ownership, the extent of administrative regions for various federal agencies, as well as the jurisdictional offshore limits of U.S. sovereignty. Boundaries associated solely with natural resources and/or cultural entities are excluded from this theme and are included in the appropriate subject themes."For other NGDA Content: Esri Federal Datasets

The boundary files portray the geographic limits used for census dissemination. They are available for download in two types: cartographic and digital. Cartographic boundary files depict the geographic areas using only the shorelines of the major land mass of Canada and its coastal islands. Digital boundary files depict the full extent of the geographic areas, including the coastal water area. The files provide a framework for mapping and spatial analysis using commercially available geographic information systems (GIS) or other mapping software.

In 2023, the metropolitan area of New York-Newark-Jersey City had the biggest population in the United States. Based on annual estimates from the census, the metropolitan area had around 19.5 million inhabitants, which was a slight decrease from the previous year. The Los Angeles and Chicago metro areas rounded out the top three. What is a metropolitan statistical area? In general, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a core urbanized area with a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants – the smallest MSA is Carson City, with an estimated population of nearly 56,000. The urban area is made bigger by adjacent communities that are socially and economically linked to the center. MSAs are particularly helpful in tracking demographic change over time in large communities and allow officials to see where the largest pockets of inhabitants are in the country. How many MSAs are in the United States? There were 421 metropolitan statistical areas across the U.S. as of July 2021. The largest city in each MSA is designated the principal city and will be the first name in the title. An additional two cities can be added to the title, and these will be listed in population order based on the most recent census. So, in the example of New York-Newark-Jersey City, New York has the highest population, while Jersey City has the lowest. The U.S. Census Bureau conducts an official population count every ten years, and the new count is expected to be announced by the end of 2030.

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. After each decennial census, the Census Bureau delineates urban areas that represent densely developed territory, encompassing residential, commercial, and other nonresidential urban land uses. In general, this territory consists of areas of high population density and urban land use resulting in a representation of the urban footprint. There are 2,645 Urban Areas (UAs) in this data release with either a minimum population of 5,000 or a housing unit count of 2,000 units. Each urban area is identified by a 5-character numeric census code that may contain leading zeroes.

This table presents the 2021 and 2016 population and dwelling counts, land area, population density and population ranking for census metropolitan areas or census agglomerations. It also shows the percentage change in the population and dwelling counts between 2016 and 2021.

IMPORTANT NOTICE This item has moved to a new organization and entered Mature Support on February 3rd, 2025. This item is scheduled to be Retired and removed from ArcGIS Online on June 27th, 2025. We encourage you to switch to using the item on the new organization as soon as possible to avoid any disruptions within your workflows. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below or email our Living Atlas Curator (livingatlascurator@esri.ca) The new version of this item can be found here A census metropolitan area (CMA) or a census agglomeration (CA) is formed by one or more adjacent municipalities centred on a population centre (known as the core). A CMA must have a total population of at least 100,000, based on data from the current Census of Population Program, of which 50,000 or more must live in the core based on adjusted data from the previous Census of Population Program. A CA must have a core population of at least 10,000 also based on data from the previous Census of Population Program. To be included in the CMA or CA, other adjacent municipalities must have a high degree of integration with the core, as measured by commuting flows derived from data on place of work from the previous Census Program.If the population of the core of a CA falls below 10,000, the CA is retired from the next census. However, once an area becomes a CMA, it is retained as a CMA even if its total population declines below 100,000 or the population of its core falls below 50,000. All areas inside the CMA or CA that are not population centres are rural areas. When a CA has a core of at least 50,000, based on data from the previous Census of Population, it is subdivided into census tracts. Census tracts are maintained for the CA even if the population of the core subsequently falls below 50,000. All CMAs are subdivided into census tracts.The CMA boundaries were obtained from the Statistics Canada website.

Components of population change by census metropolitan area and census agglomeration, single year of age, five-year age group and gender for the period from July 1 to June 30, annual, based on the Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) 2021. The components include births, deaths, immigrants, net emigration, emigrants, returning emigrants, net temporary emigration, net interprovincial migration, net intraprovincial migration, net non-permanent residents and residual deviation.

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. Metropolitan Divisions subdivide a Metropolitan Statistical Area containing a single core urban area that has a population of at least 2.5 million to form smaller groupings of counties or equivalent entities. Not all Metropolitan Statistical Areas with urban areas of this size will contain Metropolitan Divisions. Metropolitan Division are defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and consist of one or more main counties or equivalent entities that represent an employment center or centers, plus adjacent counties associated with the main county or counties through commuting ties. Because Metropolitan Divisions represent subdivisions of larger Metropolitan Statistical Areas, it is not appropriate to rank or compare Metropolitan Divisions with Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas. The Metropolitan Divisions boundaries are those defined by OMB based on the 2010 Census, published in 2013, and updated in 2017.

Important Note: This item is in mature support as of June 2023 and will retire in December 2025. A new version of this item is available for your use.The layers going from 1:1 to 1:1.5M present the 2010 Census Urbanized Areas (UA) and Urban Clusters (UC). A UA consists of contiguous, densely settled census block groups (BGs) and census blocks that meet minimum population density requirements (1000 people per square mile (ppsm) / 500 ppsm), along with adjacent densely settled census blocks that together encompass a population of at least 50,000 people. A UC consists of contiguous, densely settled census BGs and census blocks that meet minimum population density requirements, along with adjacent densely settled census blocks that together encompass a population of at least 2,500 people, but fewer than 50,000 people. The dataset covers the 50 States plus the District of Columbia within United States. The layer going over 1:1.5M presents the urban areas in the United States derived from the urban areas layer of the Digital Chart of the World (DCW). It provides information about the locations, names, and populations of urbanized areas for conducting geographic analysis on national and large regional scales. To download the data for this layer as a layer package for use in ArcGIS desktop applications, refer to USA Census Urban Areas.

Contained within the 3rd Edition (1957) of the Atlas of Canada is a main map that shows fifteen condensed maps of geostatistical units used by the 1951 Census. The main map shows the census divisions as used in that census to gather, compile and publish many of the results of the censuses of Canada. Census divisions normally correspond to counties, but the Dominion Bureau of Statistics (which is now Statistics Canada) had to create equivalent units for counties in each of Newfoundland, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. The main map has a table listing all of the census divisions. Around the main map are individual maps for each of the 15 census metropolitan areas as used in the 1951 Census. Each of these small maps shows the component municipalities in the metropolitan area and also shows the built-up area. These small maps are all at the same scale, which is about 1:650 000.

U.S. Core Based Statistical Areas represents geographic entities, defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for use by Federal statistical agencies, based on the concept of a core area with a large population nucleus, plus adjacent communities having a high degree of social and economic integration with that core. A Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA) consists of a U.S. county or counties or equivalent entities associated with at least one urban core (urbanized area or urban cluster) with a population of at least 10,000 along with any adjacent counties having a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured through commuting ties with the counties containing the core. CBSAs are categorized as being either Metropolitan or Micropolitan. Each Metropolitan Statistical Area must have at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more inhabitants. Each Micropolitan Statistical Area must have at least one urban cluster with a population of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000.Estimated 2018 total population is included along with many demographic attributes from the 2010 Census. CBSA features that are new since the 2010 Census have null demographic attributes values.

The U.S. Census Grids (Summary File 1), 1990: Metropolitan Statistical Areas data set contains grids of demographic and socioeconomic data from the year 1990 U.S. census in ASCII andGeoTIFF formats for 39 metropolitan statistical areas with at least one million in population. The grids have a resolution of 7.5 arc-seconds (0.002075 decimal degrees), or approximately 250 square meters. The gridded variables are based on census block geography from Census 1990 TIGER/Line Files and census variables (population, households, and housing variables). This data set is produced by the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN).

U.S. Census Block GroupsThis feature layer, utilizing National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) data from the U.S. Census Bureau (USCB), displays Census block groups in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Per the USCB, "Block Groups (BGs) are clusters of blocks within the same census tract. Each census tract contains at least one BG, and BGs are uniquely numbered within census tracts. BGs have a valid code range of 0 through 9. BGs have the same first digit of their 4-digit census block number from the same decennial census. BGs coded 0 are intended to only include water area, no land area, and they are generally in territorial seas, coastal water, and Great Lakes water areas. Block groups generally contain between 600 and 3,000 people. A BG usually covers a contiguous area but never crosses county or census tract boundaries. They may, however, cross the boundaries of other geographic entities like county subdivisions, places, urban areas, voting districts, congressional districts, and American Indian / Alaska Native / Native Hawaiian areas".Block Group 2 - Census Tract 010400 (Santa Fe, NM area)Data version: This cached Esri federal service is checked weekly for updates from its enterprise federal source (Census Block Groups) and will support mapping, analysis, data exports and OGC API – Feature access.NGDAID: 70 (Series Information for Block Group State-based TIGER/Line Shapefiles, Current)OGC API Features Link: (U.S. Census Block Groups - OGC Features) copy this link to embed it in OGC Compliant viewersFor more information, please visit: What are census blocks?For feedback please contact: Esri_US_Federal_Data@esri.comNGDA Data SetThis data set is part of the NGDA Governmental Units, and Administrative and Statistical Boundaries Theme Community. Per the Federal Geospatial Data Committee (FGDC), this theme is defined as the "boundaries that delineate geographic areas for uses such as governance and the general provision of services (e.g., states, American Indian reservations, counties, cities, towns, etc.), administration and/or for a specific purpose (e.g., congressional districts, school districts, fire districts, Alaska Native Regional Corporations, etc.), and/or provision of statistical data (census tracts, census blocks, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, etc.). Boundaries for these various types of geographic areas are either defined through a documented legal description or through criteria and guidelines. Other boundaries may include international limits, those of federal land ownership, the extent of administrative regions for various federal agencies, as well as the jurisdictional offshore limits of U.S. sovereignty. Boundaries associated solely with natural resources and/or cultural entities are excluded from this theme and are included in the appropriate subject themes."For other NGDA Content: Esri Federal Datasets

Provides regional identifiers for county based regions of various types. These can be combined with other datasets for visualization, mapping, analyses, and aggregation. These regions include:Metropolitan Statistical Areas (Current): MSAs as defined by US OMB in 2023Metropolitan Statistical Areas (2010s): MSAs as defined by US OMB in 2013Metropolitan Statistical Areas (2000s): MSAs as defined by US OMB in 2003Region: Three broad regions in North Carolina (Eastern, Western, Central)Council of GovernmentsProsperity Zones: NC Department of Commerce Prosperity ZonesNCDOT Divisions: NC Dept. of Transportation DivisionsNCDOT Districts (within Divisions)Metro Regions: Identifies Triangle, Triad, Charlotte, All Other Metros, & Non-MetropolitanUrban/Rural defined by:NC Rural Center (Urban, Regional/Suburban, Rural) - 2020 Census designations2010 Census (Urban = Counties with 50% or more population living in urban areas in 2010)2010 Census Urbanized (Urban = Counties with 50% or more of the population living in urbanized areas in 2010 (50,000+ sized urban area))Municipal Population - State Demographer (Urban = counties with 50% or more of the population living in a municipality as of July 1, 2019)Isserman Urban-Rural Density Typology

General overview map showing Alberta's census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations as of the 2016 Census of Canada. The map is available in three sizes: A1, tabloid and letter.

A public map service depicting Census Urban Areas. Layers in the map service include Core-based Statistical Areas, Micropolitan statistical areas, and census places. All data are collected and maintained by the US Census Bureau. Current down load locations are: Core-based Statistical Areas: https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/tiger-line-shapefile-2016-nation-u-s-current-metropolitan-statistical-area-micropolitan-statistThe Urban Areas dataset is composed of three feature classes from the US Census Bureau to describe urban areas across the US.

The Census Places layer shows polygon areas for cities and towns.

Core-based Statistical Areas: Comprised of metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas: Metropolitan statistical areas have at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties.

Micropolitan statistical areas are statistical areas that have at least one urban cluster of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000 population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties.

Both are defined in terms of whole counties or county equivalents.

CBSA areas display at all scales, Urban areas display at 1:5,000,000. Populated places display at 1:1,000,000.

This dataset contains the boundaries of all 3,302 Census Tracts (CT) in Canada for the 1981 Census.

Census tracts are small, relatively stable geographic areas that usually have a population of 2,500 to 8,000. They are located in census metropolitan areas and in census agglomerations with an urban core population of 50,000 or more from the previous census.

These files were digitized at the University of Toronto Map & Data Library to improve accuracy over the original 1981 CARTLIB files from Statistics Canada. They were digitized by tracing 2011 census tract polygons where boundaries have not changed, and using georeferenced Statistics Canada 1981 census tract maps where boundaries have changed. All maps were georeferenced using first order polynomial transformation. The digitized dataset contains CMAUID, CTNAME and CTUID fields containing the identifiers for each census metropolitan area and each census tract. These fields can be used to join associated tabular data.