Boundary Changes

Some areas of the nation may have reduced comparability, or non-comparability. Changes are based on a variety of reasons including annexation, disincorporation, and geocoding updates. Generally, this occurs:

• In states that have nonfunctioning county subdivisions that are redistricted after the census, as are found in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska (precincts), Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
• In states that have less restrictive annexation or consolidation laws, such as in most states outside the Northeast Region.
• Due to boundary or school district changes.

For those entities that experienced changes, making comparisons between an entity in its previous form to its current form should be done cautiously and with good understanding that the entity may be substantially different. TIGER Line Shapefile products are one tool used to perform detailed comparisons of the inventory and boundaries of geographic areas, by year. Information about these files and links to the mapping files themselves can be found at: TIGER Data Products Guide. Reference files for change can be located here: Relationship Files.

New Counties or County Equivalent Entities

The state of Connecticut previously proposed the adoption of the State’s nine Councils of Governments (COGs) as the county-equivalent geographic unit. This change is reflected in the 2022 ACS data products. For more information see: Proposed Change to County Equivalents in Connecticut [PDF] and the Federal Register Notice, Change to County Equivalents in the State of Connecticut. For more information about various 2022 ACS entity types and the new 2022 county equivalents in Connecticut, see Special 2022 Relationship Files for the New County Equivalents in Connecticut.

New School District Administrative Areas

2016 ACS and TIGER Line data products for Vermont school districts included many districts that had been consolidated and extensively redefined. Starting in 2022, the state of Vermont requested the addition of a geographic unit called School District Administrative Areas be included in TIGER Line and in special ACS products.

The 2022 ACS data products for Vermont school districts are based on the traditional January 1, 2022 school district delineations rather than the newly defined School District Administrative Areas. For more information about school district boundaries, the Census School District Review Program and, specifically, Vermont’s School Districts see:

About the School District Review Program (SDRP)

Home Page | Agency of Education

Merger Activity | Agency of Education

Discontinuation of NECTAs Geography in ACS Products

Updates to the New England city and town areas (NECTAs), NECTA Divisions, PCI NECTAs, and Combined NECTAs will be discontinued. This change will not be reflected in 2022 ACS data products this year but will be seen in 2023 products. For more information see: 2021-15159 [PDF] and the Federal Register Notice, 2020 Standards for Delineating Core Based Statistical Areas.

­­­­­­Release of 118^th Congressional Districts

The Census Bureau collected the 118^th Congressional District (CD) boundaries from all states following the post-2020 Census redistricting process. The 118^th CD boundaries were in effect for the 2022 election cycle. For more information see: Redistricting Data Program Congressional Districts.

Release of 2022 State Legislative Districts

The Census Bureau collected the 2022 State Legislative District boundaries from all states following the post-2020 Census redistricting process. The 2022 State Legislative District boundaries were in effect for the 2022 election cycle. For more information see: Redistricting Data Program State Legislative Districts.

Release of 2020 Urban Areas

The 2020 Census Urban Areas (UAs) were announced in December 2022. UAs were delineated based on 2020 Census of Population and Housing counts and density calculations. There are 2,644 urban areas that meet the 2020 Census UA criteria: 2,611 urban areas in the United States, 26 in Puerto Rico, and 7 in the Island Areas. For more information see: Urban and Rural, the Federal Register Notice, Urban Area Criteria for the 2020 Census-Final Criteria & the Federal Register Notice, 2020 Census Qualifying Urban Areas and Final Criteria Clarifications.

Release of 2020 Public Use Microdata Areas

The 2020 Census Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) were released in August 2022. PUMAs are non-overlapping, statistical geographic areas that partition each state or equivalent entity into geographic areas containing no fewer than 100,000 people each. Following the 2020 Census, the Census Bureau partnered with State Data Centers (SDCs) from each state, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to delineate PUMAs for the 2020 PUMA program. For more information see: Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs).