With coverage for the entire continental USA, this county-level shapefile is based on the FIPS codes used by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Different than other governmental agencies, the BEA combines the independent cities in Virginia with their adjacent counties (https://www.bea.gov/regional/docs/statelist.cfm). This shapefile is to be used when analyzing county-level data from the BEA.

This data collection contains estimates of the population of all counties and county equivalents in the United States in each of the years from 1973 to 1975. The units of analysis are counties and county equivalents, of which there are 3,150. In addition to annual estimates of the total population of the counties, this file contains estimates of the components of population change, e.g., total numbers of births, deaths, and net migration, for the period 1970-1975. Identification data include Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) codes, state and country codes, names of the counties, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) region within which each county is located. BEAs are functional urban regions established by the United States Department of Commerce. A related interdecennial population estimate was collected in POPULATION ESTIMATES OF COUNTIES IN THE UNITED STATES, 1971-1974 (ICPSR 7500).