Mapchats - Pushing Boundaries; Defining Boundaries at the Census Bureau (Mike Ratcliffe)

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Michael Ratcliffe

Geography Division

US Census Bureau

Defining Boundaries

at the Census Bureau

Pushing

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Defining Boundaries

In this presentation:

• Types of Census Bureau geographic areas.

• Who establishes or defines boundaries for various entities?

• What geographic programs does the Census Bureau manage to collect and/or define boundaries?

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Defining Boundaries

• The Census Bureau has been a leader in the collection, production, use, and dissemination of geospatial data.

• The Census Bureau’s TIGER database was the first nationwide digital map of the US, and provided base geographic data for use by state and local government, other organizations, and the public.

• Accurate and current geospatial data are critical to successful statistical data collection, tabulation, and dissemination programs. Accurate and meaningful boundaries are a critical part of the geospatial framework.

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Hierarchy of Census Geographic Entities

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Legal Entities Statistical Entities

Nation

American Indian Reservation

American Indian Tribal Subdivision

County, Parish, Borough, etc.

Minor Civil Division

Alaska Native villages (not collected)

Incorporated Place

Special Purpose District (Census of Gov’ts)

Region

Division

Oklahoma Tribal Statistical Area

American Indian Tribal Subdivision

Tribal Designated Statistical Area

State Designated Tribal Statistical Area

Combined Statistical Area

Core Based Statistical Area (Metro/Micro Areas)

Metropolitan Division

Urbanized Area and Urban Cluster

Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA)

Census Area

Combined NECTA

New England City and Town Area (NECTA)

NECTA Division

Census County Division/Unorganized Territory

Alaska Native village statistical areas

Census Designated Place

Census Designated Place

Traffic Analysis Zone

ZIP Code Tabulation Area

Census Tract

Block Group

Census Block

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Sources of Boundaries

• Legal Entities– Boundaries are collected from tribal, state, and

local governments.

– The Census Bureau is not responsible for establishing boundaries for legal entities.

• Statistical Entities– Boundaries are defined in cooperation with tribal,

state, and local officials, based on criteria issued by the Census Bureau.

– For a limited set of statistical areas, boundaries are defined by Census Bureau staff without external input, but based on published criteria.

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Legal Geography

• States and Equivalents

• Counties and Equivalents

• Incorporated Places • Cities, towns, boroughs, villages

• Minor Civil Divisions• Towns, townships, election districts

• Alaska Native Regional Corporations

• American Indian/Alaska Native Areas• Reservations

• Off-reservation trust lands

• Congressional Districts

• School Districts

Legal entities originate from legal actions,

treaties, statutes, ordinances, etc.

Mason-Dixon Line separating the states of Maryland

and Pennsylvania. Photo: Michael Ratcliffe, 2015

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Legal Entities: American Indian Areas

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Maintaining boundaries for

American Indian Reservations,

off-reservation trust lands, and

tribal subdivisions.

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Legal Entities: Incorporated Places

Colonial Beach, VA

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What is the Boundary and Annexation

Survey (BAS)?• Annual, voluntary survey to collect legal status

and boundary information for local governments

• Review the legal boundaries the Census Bureau has on file.

• Boundaries must be legally in

effect on or before January 1st

of each year

• Make corrections and updates

to their boundaries

• Boundary updates submitted by

deadline are reflected in the

American Community Survey

and Population Estimates

Geographic Partnership ProgramsBoundary and Annexation Survey

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Geographic Partnership ProgramsBoundary and Annexation Survey Schedule

Activity Date(s)

Annual Response information emailed December 2016/January

2017

Annexations must be effective by this date in order to be

processed

January 1, 2017

Deadline for BAS submission to be included in Population

Estimates Program and the American Community Survey

March 1, 2017

State Data Center non-response follow up March/April 2017

Deadline for BAS submission to be reflected in 2017 BAS

Materials

May 31, 2017

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Legal Relationships: Places and Townships

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This hierarchical

relationship of

places dependent

within county

subdivisions is

typical of most

states.

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Legal Relationships: Cities and Townships

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Vermilion city is independent from Vermilion

township in Erie County, but dependent within

Brownhelm township in Lorain County.

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Defining Statistical Areas

• Published criteria, generally in the Federal Register.

• Boundaries often follow visible features.

• Statistical areas may be aggregations of other geographic entities.– Metropolitan Areas defined based on counties

– Urban Areas based on census tracts and census blocks

– Rural-Urban Commuting Areas based on census tracts

• Work with local government agencies, such as planning department, regional planning organizations, etc.– Examples: census tracts, block groups, traffic analysis

zones

• Defined solely by agency staff.– Examples: Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical

Areas, urbanized areas and urban clusters 17

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What do statistical areas represent?

• Commonly understood areas or communities that lack legally defined boundaries

– ZIP Code tabulation areas

– Census designated places (CDPs– unincorporated places)

– Tribal designated statistical areas, state designated tribal statistical areas

• Geographic, demographic, economic concepts– Metropolitan, micropolitan, urban, rural

• Representations of entities that have (or had) a legal existence, but may lack clear boundaries or may not fit within an agency’s definition of legal entities

– Oklahoma tribal statistical areas (former reservations), Alaska Native Village statistical areas

• Areas defined specifically for data presentation and analysis– Census tracts, block groups, census county divisions, public use microdata

areas (PUMAs)

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• Update and create the boundaries for census tracts, block groups, census designated places (CDPs), and census county divisions (21 states).

• Encourage state as well as regional commissions and councils of government to participate in the data review and update.

• These areas are a critical part for tabulation, dissemination, and analysis of data for small geographic areas

Geographic Partnership ProgramsParticipant Statistical Areas Program (PSAP)

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• Census Tracts:• Population between 1,200 and 8,000; optimum, 4,000.

• Stable boundaries; comparability over time.

• Boundaries tend to follow visible features.

• Can be split or merged to meet population criteria.

• Block Groups:• Populations between 600 and 3,000.

• Boundaries can change.

• Boundaries tend to follow visible features.

• Census Designated Places (CDPs): • Unincorporated places with characteristics similar to

those found in incorporated places of similar size and context.

• No minimum population threshold.

Geographic Partnership ProgramsParticipant Statistical Areas Program (PSAP)

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Census Tract

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Census Tract

Block Group

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Census Designated Places

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Savage, MD CDPCensus

designated

places are

unincorporated

communities

that generally

have a

commonly

agreed upon

geographic

extent.

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Conclusion• Census Bureau geographic areas and their

boundaries fall into two categories: legal and statistical.

• Legal entities’ boundaries are described in treaties, charters, and other legal documents.– The Census Bureau collects and maintains legal

entity boundaries, but does not establish them.

– Boundaries may follow a variety of features or may be non-visible.

• Statistical entities’ boundaries generally are defined in cooperation with tribal, state, and local officials, following criteria and guidelines issued by the Census Bureau.– Boundaries generally follow visible features or are

contiguous with non-visible boundaries for adjacent or higher level legal areas.

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Questions?

Michael Ratcliffe

Geography Division

301-763-8977

[email protected]

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Mapchats - Pushing Boundaries; Defining Boundaries at the Census Bureau (Mike Ratcliffe)

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