Description

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 from Census 2000. The Census Bureau creates ZCTAs for the United States, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands for the 2010 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. For the 2010 Census, ZCTAs should more accurately represent the actual ZIP Codes at the time of their delineation than they did for Census 2000. This is because that before the tabulation blocks, which the ZCTAs are built from, were delineated for the 2010 Census, the Census Bureau undertook the process of inserting lines that could be used as 2010 Census tabulation block boundaries, and these lines split polygons where the result would be that a significant number of addresses would occur on either one or both sides of the line associated with a single ZIP Code. Each 2010 Census tabulation block that contains addresses is assigned to a single ZCTA, usually to the ZCTA that reflects the most frequently occurring ZIP Code for the addresses within that tabulation block. As a result, ZIP Codes associated with address ranges found in the Address Ranges relationship file may not always match the ZCTA. Blocks that do not contain addresses but are completely surrounded by a single ZCTA (enclaves) are assigned to the surrounding ZCTA. 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 were it exists. The Census Bureau uses the addresses stored within MTDB to delineate ZCTAs, and at the time of the 2010 Census the MTDB primarily included addresses for residential or at least potentially residential structures, so ZCTAs representing only non-residential structures are infrequent. Also, in each tabulation block, if a choice existed between using a potential city-style mail delivery ZIP Code for an address or a post office box ZIP Code, the city-style mail delivery ZIP Code was preferred for the 2010 Census ZCTA delineation. The Census Bureau identifies 5-digit ZCTAs using a five-character numeric code that represents the most frequently occurring USPS ZIP Code within that ZCTA, and this code may contain leading zeros.

General Information

• This data is described at

  http://catalog.data.gov/dataset/tiger-line-shapefile-2012-series-information-file-for-the-2010-nation-2010-census-5-digit-zip-c Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• This data is published by

  US Census Bureau, Department of Commerce Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

Legal Information

• The rights statement is at

  http://catalog.data.gov/dataset/tiger-line-shapefile-2012-series-information-file-for-the-2010-nation-2010-census-5-digit-zip-c Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• Outside the US, this data is available under

  Creative Commons CCZero Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• There are

  yes, and the rights are all held by the same person or organisation Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The content is available under

  Creative Commons CCZero Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• This data contains

  no data about individuals Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

Practical Information

• The data appears in this collection

  http://catalog.data.gov/organization/census-gov Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The accuracy or relevance of this data will

  go out of date but it is timestamped Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The data is

  backed up offsite Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

Social Information

• The documentation includes machine-readable data for

  title Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The documentation includes machine-readable data for

  description Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The documentation includes machine-readable data for

  identifier Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The documentation includes machine-readable data for

  landing page Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The documentation includes machine-readable data for

  release frequency Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The documentation includes machine-readable data for

  publisher Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The documentation includes machine-readable data for

  theme(s) Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The documentation includes machine-readable data for

  distribution(s) Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The documentation includes machine-readable data for

  release date Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The documentation includes machine-readable data for

  modification date Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The documentation includes machine-readable data for

  temporal coverage Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The documentation includes machine-readable data for

  spatial/geographical coverage Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The documentation about each distribution includes machine-readable data for

  release date Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The documentation about each distribution includes machine-readable data for

  a URL to access the data Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The documentation about each distribution includes machine-readable data for

  a URL to download the dataset Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• Find out how to contact someone about this data at

  http://catalog.data.gov/dataset/tiger-line-shapefile-2012-series-information-file-for-the-2010-nation-2010-census-5-digit-zip-c Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• Find out how to suggest improvements to publication at

  http://www.data.gov/issue/?media_url=http://catalog.data.gov/dataset/tiger-line-shapefile-2012-series-information-file-for-the-2010-nation-2010-census-5-digit-zip-c Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know