Urban Areas
Description | Graphic | Spatial | Data Structure | Data Quality | Data Distribution | Metadata
Description
Citation
Title: Urban Areas
Publication date: 2025
Data type: vector digital data
Larger Work Citation
Title: Series Information for 2020 Census Urban Area National TIGER/Line Shapefiles, Current
Publication date: 2025
Data type: map
Description
Abstract:
This resource is a member of a series. The TIGER/Line geodatabase 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) System (MTS). The MTS represents a seamless national file with no overlaps or gaps between parts, however, each TIGER/Line geodatabase layer 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 2,644 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 five-character numeric census code that may contain leading zeros.
Purpose:
The Census Bureau releases extracts of the MAF/TIGER database in the form of TIGER/Line Geodatabase for others to use in geographic information systems (GIS) or for other geographic applications.
Time Period of Data
Beginning date: 202506
Ending date: 202610
Currentness reference:
Unknown
Status
Data status: Complete
Update frequency: None planned
Key Words
Theme:
Keywords: Nation, Polygon, Urban Area, UA
Keyword thesaurus: None
Theme:
Keywords: boundaries
Keyword thesaurus: ISO 19115 Topic Categories
Place:
Keywords: United States, U.S.
Keyword thesaurus: ISO 3166 codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions.
Data Constraints and Credit
Access constraints:
NoneUse Constraints: The TIGER/Line Shapefile products are not copyrighted however TIGER/Line and Census TIGER are registered trademarks of the U.S. Census Bureau. These products are free to use in a product or publication, however acknowledgement must be given to the U.S. Census Bureau as the source.
The boundary information in the TIGER/Line Shapefiles are for statistical data collection and tabulation purposes only; their depiction and designation for statistical purposes does not constitute a determination of jurisdictional authority or rights of ownership or entitlement and they are not legal land descriptions. Coordinates in the TIGER/Line shapefiles have six implied decimal places, but the positional accuracy of these coordinates is not as great as the six decimal places suggest.
Use constraints:
None
Point Of Contact
Organization: U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division
Phone: 301-763-1128
Fax: 301-763-4710
Email: geo.geography@census.gov
Address type: unknown
Address:
4600 Silver Hill Road, Stop 7400
City: Washington
State or Province: DC
Postal code: 20233-7400
County: US
Point Of Contact
Organization: U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division
Phone: 301-763-1128
Fax: 301-763-4710
Email: geo.geography@census.gov
Address type: unknown
Address:
4600 Silver Hill Road, Stop 7400
City: Washington
State or Province: DC
Postal code: 20233-7400
County: US
Graphic Example
Browse Graphic
Browse graphic 1
Open - URL for the TIGERWeb Mapping Service
Spatial Reference Information
Spatial Domain
Below are the western, eastern, northern, and southern geographic limits of data coverage.
Bounding Coordinates
In Unprojected coordinates (geographic)
Boundary Coordinate
West -178.443593 (latitude)
East 146.154418 (latitude)
North 71.439786 (longitude)
South -14.601813 (longitude)
Data Structure and Attribute Information
Name and Format
Data type: vector digital data
Native dataset environment: The TIGER/Line geodatabase contains geographic data only and do not include display mapping software or statistical data. For information on how to use the TIGER/Line shapefile data with specific software package users shall contact the company that produced the software.
Overview
Direct spatial reference method: Vector
Data Quality and Accuracy Information
General
Logical consistency report:
The Census Bureau performed automated tests to ensure the logical consistency and limits of the shapefiles and relationship files. These tests ensure preestablished rules of the MAF/TIGER System for data completeness and connectivity, geographic hierarchies and relationships, and standardization of attribution and codes were met.
Data Distribution Information
General
Distribution liability:
See access and use constraints information.
Distribution Point of Contact
Organization: U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division
Phone: 301-763-1128
Fax: 301-763-4710
Email: geo.geography@census.gov
Address type: unknown
Address:
4600 Silver Hill Road, Stop 7400
City: Washington
State or Province: DC
Postal code: 20233-7400
County: US
Standard Order Process
Fees: The online copy of the TIGER/Line Shapefiles may be accessed without charge.
Metadata Reference
Metadata Date
Last updated: 20260610
Metadata Point of Contact
Organization: U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division
Phone: 301-763-1128
Fax: 301-763-4710
Email: geo.geography@census.gov
Address type: unknown
Address:
4600 Silver Hill Road, Stop 7400
City: Washington
State or Province: DC
Postal code: 20233-7400
County: US
Metadata Standards
Standard name: FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata
Standard version: FGDC-STD-001-1998
Time convention: local time
FGDC Plus Metadata Stylesheet
Stylesheet: FGDC Plus Stylesheet
File name: FGDC Plus.xsl
Version: 1.7
Description: This metadata is displayed using the FGDC Plus Stylesheet, which is an XSL template that can be used with ArcGIS software to display metadata. It shows metadata elements defined in the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) standard and the ESRI Profile of the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (ESRI Profile). This stylsheet is in the public domain and may be freely used, modified, and redistributed. It is provided "AS-IS" without warranty or techical support.
Instructions: Click the title on the top of the page to toggle opening and closing all metadata content sections. Or tab to individual sections by clicking the section links listed horizontally below the title. Section names are centered and shown in white with a blue background. Click on a section name (e.g. Description) to open and close all section content, or individually click terms listed on the left (Status, Key Words, etc.) to individually open and close section content items. Note, some section content items (Citation, Description, etc.) are intentionally opened by default due to their importance.
Key features: Supports W3C DOM compatible browsers such as IE6, Netscape 7, and Mozilla Firefox. Metadata content organized into sections that expand and collapse. Click on title to toggle opening and closing all content (metadata sections). Page header includes menu links that tab to invidual metadata sections. Page footer links to http://www.fgdc.gov/ web site. Ignores metadata XML elements that contain all whitespace (spaces, carriage returns, tabs, line feeds, etc). Over 40 metadata elements are parsed to respect line breaks introduced by metadata author to either start a new line or a new paragraph, depending on number of consecutive line breaks and white space characters present. Over 40 metadata elements are searched for internal URL strings (that contain a "://" or "www.") and converts each one to a hypertext link. Browse graphic image and description displayed together on same page if image is JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG, or BMP. Other browse graphic file types such as PDF popup in separate window. Enumerated attribute domain values listed in HTML table, which can be opened and closed. All FGDC metadata elements supported. FGDC Process Steps include full descriptions of each Data Source Used and Produced as long as the value of Process Step's Source Citation Used (srcused) and Source Citation Produced (srcprod) metadata element match a Data Source Citation (srccitea) metadata element value. All ESRI metdata elements supported except for Binary elements used to include thumbnail image. Includes ESRI Geoprocessing History, ESRI Feature Terms, ESRI Geometric Network, ESRI Subtype, ESRI Relationship Class, ESRI Topology, and ESRI Raster elements. Topology rules are named and described as shown on the ESRI topology_rules_poster.pdf included with ArcGIS software.
Download: FGDC Plus Stylesheet is available from the ArcScripts downloads at www.esri.com.
NEPAssist: Metadata