Hierarchical Diagrams of Census Bureau Geography

• American Indian Area/Alaska Native Area/Hawaiian Home Lands diagram [PDF]
• Census Bureau Legal and Statistical Geographic Entities [PDF]

Census Regions and Divisions of the United States

• [PDF] or [Text]

Geographic Glossaries and Guides

• Geographic Terms and Concepts
  • 2010 [PDF] [HTML]
  • 2008 [PDF] [TXT]
  • 2000 [PDF] [HTML]
• Guide to State and Local Census Geography
• 2007 Economic Census Geography Definitions
• Geographic Changes for Census 2000 + Glossary
• Geographic Areas Reference Manual (GARM) (1990 Census)
• Guide to Online Cartographic and Geographic Resources [PDF]
• Substantial County Changes 1970-Present
• Geographic Boundary Change Notes 2000 - Present

Geographic Presentations and How-To Guides

• Census Tract Presentation [PPT]  |  [PDF]
  
  • Learn the definition and history of census tracts, how they are updated and how to compare census tract boundaries decade to decade.
• Working with TIGER/Line Shapefiles How-To Guides

Geography Related Census Blog Postings

• How Do We Measure Urban Areas
• Mapping the 2010 Census
• U.S. Census Bureau Releases 2010 Guide to State and Local Census Geography
• What Are Census Blocks?
• Why Geography Is Important

Geographic Area Criteria, Geographic Codes and Census Tract Resources

• Urban and Rural Classification
  
  • 2010, 2000 and 1990 Census Federal Register Notices; Urban Area Files; Urban Cluster Files; Major Airports
• County Adjacency File
• 2008 County Subdivision and Place Information
• Census Tract Locating Resources
• American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Codes (formerly FIPS)
• Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas
• ZCTAs™ (ZIP Code^® Tabulation Areas)
  
  • Area representations of USPS ZIP Code service areas.
• U.S. Postal Service ZIP Code data
  
  • Information on the Census Bureau's position regarding ZIP Code data

Cartographic and Geographic Information Systems

• Map Image Metafile (MIM)
  
  • ASCII coded, device independent, cartographic data format
• Cartographic Boundary Files
  
  • Generalized boundary files in ARC/INFO EXPORT (.e00), ArcView Shapefile (.shp) and ARC/INFO Ungenerate (ASCII) formats

Census 2000 Reference Files

• 2000 U.S. Gazetteer
  
  • Places, ZIP Code Tabulation AreasTM, County Subdivision and County files extracted from Census 2000 SF1.
• Census 2000 Tabulation Tallies
  
  • Number of Census Tracts, Block Groups and Blocks by State and State Equivalent Area for Census 2000.

1990 Census Reference Files

• 1990 Area and Population Density using Land Area
  
  • For States, Counties, Metropolitan Areas, and Places.
• 1990 Urbanized Area Codes and Names [PDF]
• 1990 Census Tract/Block Numbering Areas
  
  • CensusTracts/BNA codes listed by County within State

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Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Geography Division
Created: January 18, 2002
Last revised: April 05, 2012
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