The TIGER/Line Shapefiles are an extract of selected geographic and cartographic information from the
Census MAF/TIGER database. The Census MAF/TIGER database 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 the shapefiles can be combined to cover the whole nation.
In order for others to use the information in the Census MAF/TIGER database in a geographic information
system (GIS) or for other geographic applications, the Census Bureau releases to the public extracts
of the database in the form of TIGER/Line Shapefiles.
Publication Date
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.
4600 Silver Hill Road, Stop 7400
Accurate against Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS), FIPS Publication 6-4, and FIPS-55
at the 100% level for the codes and base names. The remaining attribute information has been examined
but has not been fully tested for accuracy.
The Census Bureau performed automated tests to ensure logical consistency and limits of shapefiles.
Segments making up the outer and inner boundaries of a polygon tie end-to-end to completely enclose the
area. All polygons are tested for closure.
The Census Bureau uses its internally developed geographic update system to enhance and modify spatial
and attribute data in the Census MAF/TIGER database. Standard geographic codes, such as FIPS codes for
states, counties, municipalities, county subdivisions, places, American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian
areas, and congressional districts are used when encoding spatial entities. The Census Bureau performed
spatial data tests for logical consistency of the codes during the compilation of the original Census
MAF/TIGER database files. Most of the codes for geographic entities except states, counties, urban areas,
Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs), American Indian Areas (AIAs), and congressional districts were
provided to the Census Bureau by the USGS, the agency responsible for maintaining FIPS 55. Feature
attribute information has been examined but has not been fully tested for consistency.
For the TIGER/Line Shapefiles, the Point and Vector Object Count for the G-polygon SDTS Point and
Vector Object Type reflects the number of records in the shapefile attribute table. For multi-polygon
features, only one attribute record exists for each multi-polygon rather than one attribute record per
individual G-polygon component of the multi-polygon feature. TIGER/Line Shapefile multi-polygons are
an exception to the G-polygon object type classification. Therefore, when multi-polygons exist in a
shapefile, the object count will be less than the actual number of G-polygons.
Data completeness of the TIGER/Line Shapefiles reflects the contents of the Census MAF/TIGER database
at the time the TIGER/Line Shapefiles were created.
The selected geographic and cartographic information (line segments) are derived from the U.S.
Census Bureau's Master Address File Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing
(MAF/TIGER) database.
TIGER/Line Shapefiles are extracted from the Census MAF/TIGER database by nation, state, county,
and entity. Census MAF/TIGER data for the nation, state, county, and entity are then distributed
among 58 shapefiles each containing attributes for line, polygon, or landmark geographic data.
Internal feature number.
ESRI
Feature geometry.
ESRI
Current state Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) code
U.S. Census Bureau
Current county Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) code
U.S. Census Bureau
Census 2000 state Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) codes
U.S. Census Bureau
Census 2000 county Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) code
U.S. Census Bureau
Census 2000 census tract code
U.S. Census Bureau
Water tract in some coastal and Great Lakes water and territorial sea
U.S. Census
Census tract number
U.S. Census Bureau
Census 2000 tabulation block number
U.S. Census Bureau
tabulation block number
U.S. Census Bureau
Current census block suffix 1
U.S. Census Bureau
Current census block suffix 1
U.S. Census Bureau
Current block identifier; a concatenation of Census 2000 state Federal Information Processing
Standards (FIPS) code, Census 2000 county FIPS code, Census 2000 census tract code, Census 2000
tabulation block number, and current block suffix 1.
U.S. Census Bureau
Current tabulation block name; a concatenation of 'Block', the current tabulation block number,
and the block suffix 1
U.S. Census Bureau
MAF/TIGER feature class code
U.S. Census Bureau
Tabulation Block
U.S. Census Bureau
Corrected Census 2000 urban/rural indicator
U.S. Census Bureau
Mixed - part of the land area is classified as urban and part is classified as rural
U.S. Census Bureau
Not Applicable (water-only and international areas)
U.S. Census Bureau
Area is classified as rural
U.S. Census Bureau
Area is classified as urban
U.S. Census Bureau
Corrected Census 2000 urban area code
U.S. Census Bureau
Urban Area Code
U.S. Census Bureau
Current functional status
U.S. Census Bureau
Statistical entity
U.S. Census Bureau
4600 Silver Hill Road, Stop 7400
No warranty, expressed or implied is made with regard to the accuracy of these data, and no
liability is assumed by the U.S. Government in general or the U.S. Census Bureau in specific as to
the spatial or attribute accuracy of the data. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such
warranty and no responsibility is assumed by the U.S. government in the use of these files.
The boundary information in the TIGER/Line Shapefiles is for statistical data collection and
tabulation purposes only; their depiction and designation for statistical purposes do not constitute
a determination of jurisdictional authority or rights of ownership or entitlement and they are not
legal land descriptions.
To obtain more information about ordering TIGER/Line shapefiles visit http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger
4600 Silver Hill Road, Stop 7400