Urbanized Areas Cartographic Boundary Files Descriptions and Metadata

An urbanized area (UA) consists of densely settled territory that contains 50,000 or more people. A UA may contain both place and nonplace territory. The U.S. Census Bureau delineates UAs to provide a better separation of urban and rural territory, population, and housing in the vicinity of large places. At least 35,000 people in a UA must live in an area that is not part of a military reservation.

For Census 2000, UA delineations constitute a "zero-based" approach that requires no "grandfathering" of UA boundaries from the 1990 census. Because of the more stringent density requirements (and the less restrictive extended place criteria), some territory that was classified as urbanized for the 1990 census has been reclassified as rural. In addition, some areas that were identified as UAs for the 1990 census have been reclassified as urban clusters.

The title of a UA may contain up to three incorporated place names, and will include the two-letter U.S. Postal Service abbreviation for each state into which the UA extends. However, if the UA does not contain an incorporated place, the UA title will include the single name of the geographic entity that occurs first from the following list: census designated place, minor civil division, or populated place recognized by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Each UA is assigned a five-digit census code in alphabetical sequence on a nationwide basis, interspersed with the codes for urban clusters (UCs), also in alphabetical sequence. For the 1990 census, the U.S. Census Bureau assigned a four-digit UA code based on the MA codes. For Census 2000, a separate flag is included in data tabulation files to differentiate between UAs and UCs. In printed reports, this differentiation is included in the name.

Title	2000 Urbanized Areas
Location	http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cob/ua2000.html
Geography	National File
Vintage	January 1, 2000
Formats	ARC/INFO Export (.e00), Arcview Shapefile, and ARC/INFO Ungenerate (ASCII)
Projection	Geographic (Lat/Lon)
Datum	NAD83
Distributor	Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Geography Division
Originator	Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Geography Division

For further information on the Cartographic Boundary Files click HERE.

Title	1990 Urbanized Areas
Location	http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cob/ua1990.html
Geography	Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, National File
Vintage	January 1, 1990
Formats	ARC/INFO Export (.e00), Arcview Shapefile, and ARC/INFO Ungenerate (ASCII)
Projection	Geographic (Lat/Lon)
Datum	NAD27
Distributor	Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Geography Division
Originator	Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Geography Division

For further information on the Cartographic Boundary Files click HERE.