Congressional Districts Cartographic Boundary Files Descriptions and Metadata

Congressional Districts
Cartographic Boundary Files Descriptions and Metadata

Boundary File Titles	110th Congressional Districts
	109th Congressional Districts
	108th Congressional Districts
	107th Congressional Districts
	106th Congressional Districts
	105th Congressional Districts
	104th Congressional Districts
	103rd Congressional Districts

Geographic Area Description

Congressional districts (CDs) are the 435 areas from which people are elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. After the apportionment of congressional seats among the states, based on census population counts, each state is responsible for establishing CDs for the purpose of electing representatives. Each CD is to be as equal in population to all other CDs in the state as practicable.

The CDs in effect at the time of Census 2000 were those of the 106th Congress, whose session began in January 1999. The boundaries were identical to those reflected in the 107th CD boundary files. The CDs for the 103rd Congress (January 1993 to 1995) were the first to reflect redistricting based on the 1990 census. The 103rd CDs remained in effect through Census 2000, except where a state initiative or a court-ordered redistricting required a change. Six states redistricted for the 104th Congress (Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, South Carolina, and Virginia), five states redistricted for the 105th Congress (Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Texas), and three states (New York, North Carolina, and Virginia) redistricted for the 106th Congress. In North Carolina the "1998 Congressional Plan A" was used for the 1998 congressional elections. It was created in response to a court ruling which held the 1997 plan, "97 House/Senate Plan A," unconstitutional. These boundaries are reflected in the 106th CD boundary files. The Supreme Court has since reversed that lower court ruling and the 1997 plan, "97 House/Senate Plan A," (reflected in the 107th CD boundary files) was used for the 2000 North Carolina congressional elections. The 108th Congress is the first to reflect reapportionment and redistricting based on Census 2000 data.

CDs are identified with a two-digit Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) code. The code "00" is used for states with a single representative.

American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands (U.S.), and the District of Columbia are represented in the House of Representatives by a delegate, and Puerto Rico by a resident commissioner, all of whom may not vote on the floor of the House of Representatives, but may vote on legislation as it is considered by committees to which they have been named. The two-digit FIPS code "98" is used to identify such representational areas. The Northern Mariana Islands does not have representation in Congress. The FIPS code "99" identifies areas with no representation in Congress.

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Title	110th Congressional Districts
Location	http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cob/cd110.html
Geography	Each State, D.C., Puerto Rico, National File
Vintage	January 1, 2007
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