Statistics, Demographics and Census: ZIP Code > Census Tracts

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• Census Tracts

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General Information

• More current data -- ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) data from 2000 was the most recent detailed census data available for ZIP Codes until the American Community Survey's 2007-2011 five-year estimates were released in early 2013.
• More specific geographic values -- There are approximately 50% more census tracts than ZIP Codes.
• More accurate geographic match -- census tracts are one of the specific geographic units by which census counts are presented; ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are used to approximate the geographic boundaries of ZIP Codes.
• Better aggregation of geographic boundaries for comparisons with municipal and county data -- Census tracts do not cross county lines and typically break out data for incorporated places. ZIP Codes frequently cross city and county boundaries; in 2010 there were at least 103 ZIP Codes which crossed state lines.
• Standard aggregation of data -- each of the following groups cleanly aggregates into the next group in the chain:
      blocks -> block groups -> census tracts -> counties -> states -> nation
• More complete coverage -- Collectively census tracts describe the entire U.S., even remote areas; ZIP Codes cover most of the U.S., but not areas where mail delivery is not available.
• Less frequent boundary changes -- Census tracts tend to be stable for 10 years or more. Some changes in ZIP Codes may occur monthly as areas grow and the U.S. Postal Service adjusts to maintain efficient delivery zones. 
• Understandable boundary changes -- Changes in ZIP Codes may make it difficult to determine whether a change in a data value over time is due to actual changes in the population or because lines were redrawn. If the boundaries of a census tract change then the tract number changes as well. Examples:
  • If census tract 116 is divided in half then 116 disappears and the new parts become 116.01 and 116.02.
  • If the population grows in census tract 211 so that it is subdivided into three parts and the redrawn census boundaries incorporate part of census tract 183, then 183 and 211 disappear and the new tracts are 183.01, 211.01, 211.02, and 211.03; however, census tract 183 might not be renumbered if the change in its boundary was minor.

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) "are generalized area representations of U.S. Postal Service (USPS) ZIP Code service areas. They represent the most frequently occurring five-digit ZIP Code found in a given area. Simply put, each ZCTA is built by aggregating 2010 Census blocks, whose addresses use a given ZIP Code."

There is a single, really big CSV file for viewing the relationships between ZIP Codes and census tracts for the entire United States. It includes over 60,000 census tracts and over 40,000 ZIP Codes, and there are multiple lines for many of the census tracts, resulting in a 22 MB Excel file with 25 columns and 148,898 rows.

The boundaries of ZIP Codes and census tracts often don't match. If looking up which census tracts relate to a single ZIP Code, that overlap of boundaries doesn't create a major problem in terms of relative social and economic characteristics, but the counts won't be precise. If the analysis is being done for an area larger than a single ZIP Code, then just add up the data directly from the census tracts rather than converting their data to ZIP Codes.

Don't add up the ZIP Code data by allocating all of the data for each census tract to each ZIP Code which overlaps with each census tract and then summing the results; many of the census tracts would be counted multiple times unless additional steps were taken to deduplicate them. The example below shows the results for all of the ZIP Codes in Lake County, Florida; each of the Lake County census tracts in red appears in more than one ZIP Code (0301.02 would be counted five times). Instead, leave ZIP Codes out of the calculation and just add up the data for the selected area by census tract.

• 32102 - 0301.02 (plus 1 external tract)
• 32134 - 0301.02 (plus 9 external tracts)
• 32159 - 0304.07, 0304.08, 0304.09, 0304.10, 0304.11 (plus 4 external tracts)
• 32195 - 0304.11 (plus 2 external tracts)
• 32702 - 0301.02, 0301.04, 0301.05 (plus 1 external tract)
• 32720 - 0301.02, 0301.06, 0301.07 (plus 13 external tracts)
• 32726 - 0301.05, 0302.03, 0302.04, 0302.06, 0302.07, 0302.08, 0302.09, 0308.07
• 32735 - 0302.07, 0303.05, 0303.06
• 32736 - 0301.05, 0301.06, 0301.07, 0301.08, 0302.03, 0302.06, 0309.02
• 32757 - 0302.03, 0308.07, 0309.02, 0309.12, 0309.13, 0309.14, 0310.00 (plus 2 external tracts)
• 32767 - 0301.02, 0301.07
• 32776 - 0301.08, 0309.02 (plus 2 external tracts)
• 32778 - 0303.08, 0307.02, 0308.03, 0308.04, 0308.05, 0308.06, 0308.07, 0310.00
• 32784 - 0301.04, 0301.05, 0301.07 (plus 1 external tract)
• 34705 - 0310.00, 0313.01
• 34711 - 0312.02, 0312.04, 0313.05, 0313.06, 0313.07, 0313.08, 0313.09, 0313.10, 0313.11
• 34714 - 0312.02, 0313.11 (plus 1 external tract)
• 34715 - 0312.04, 0313.01, 0313.07, 0313.09
• 34731 - 0304.05, 0304.06, 0304.07, 0305.04, 0306.01
• 34736 - 0311.01, 0312.02, 0312.03, 0312.04, 0312.05, 0313.11
• 34737 - 0311.02, 0311.03, 0313.01
• 34748 - 0303.02, 0305.02, 0305.03, 0305.04, 0306.01, 0306.02, 0307.01, 0307.02, 0311.01, 0311.02, 0312.03, 0312.04
• 34753 - 0312.03, 0312.04, 0312.05
• 34756 - 0313.01
• 34762 - 0311.01, 0311.02
• 34787 - 0313.06, 0313.07, 0313.08 (plus 6 external tracts)
• 34788 - 0303.02, 0303.05, 0303.06, 0303.07, 0303.08, 0307.02
• 34797 - 0311.02

10 states with no ZIP Codes crossing into other states: AK, CT, FL, HI, NC, NJ, NY, PA, SC, VT

40 States with one or more ZIP Codes crossing into other states: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, DE, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, ND, NE, NH, NM, NV, OH, OK, OR, RI, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI, WV, WY

(Verified using the 2010 ZCTA-Census Tract Relationship File, but there may be more than these, and these may have changed)

• 02861, 03579 (MA, ME, NH, RI)
• 20135, 21912, 24604 (DE, MD, VA, WV)
• 30165, 31905, 38079, 38326, 38769, 38852 (AL, AR, GA, KY, MS, TN)
• 42223, 42602, 45053 (IN, KY, OH, TN)
• 51001, 51023, 51360, 51557, 51640, 52542, 52573, 52626, 54540, 54554, 56027, 56144, 56164, 56219, 56744, 57026, 57030, 57068, 57078, 57638, 57641, 57642, 57645, 57648, 57660, 57717, 57724, 58225, 58439, 58623, 58649, 58653, 59221, 59270, 59275, 59847 (IA, ID, MI, MN, MO, MT, ND, NE, SD, WI, WY)
• 63673, 65729, 65733, 65761, 66541, 67950, 68325, 68719, 68978, 69201, 69212, 69216 (AR, IL, KS, MO, NE, OK, SD)
• 71749, 72338, 72644, 73949, 75556, 79837 (AR, LA, MO, NM, OK, TN, TX)
• 80758, 81137, 81324, 82063, 82082, 82701, 82801, 82930, 83111, 83120, 83312, 83342, 84034, 84531, 84536, 86044, 86504, 86514, 86515, 87328, 88063, 88220, 88430, 89010, 89019, 89060, 89061, 89421, 89439, 89832 (AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NE, NM, NV, OR, SD, TX, UT, WY)
• 97635, 97910, 97913, 99128, 99362 (CA, ID, OR, WA)

In the four-county Orlando metropolitan area multiple ZIP Codes exist in the census tracts 270 times. For example, Lake County census tract 0301.02 includes portions of ZIPs 32102, 32134, 32702, 32720, and 32767.

The tables below provide all of the ZIP Codes (actually ZCTAs) for the Orlando MSA (Lake, Orange, Osceola, & Seminole counties), extracted from the national CSV file. NOTE: Some of the ZIP Code boundaries may have changed since 2010.

48 of the ZIP Codes also cover some census tracts in neighboring counties outside of the Orlando MSA. The tables below include lines for each of those external census tracts, but those external census tract numbers are not listed in the Census Tract column (see instead the Tract Code column). For example, ZIP 32134 covers a portion of Lake County census tract 0301.02, plus six census tracts in Marion County and three census tracts in Putnam County. Marion County Tract Code 401 translates to Census Tract 0004.01.

Orlando MSA ZIP Codes in 2010:

• 32102-32195 (Lake)
• 32701-32798 (Lake, Orange, Seminole)
• 32801-32839 (Orange)
• 33848-33896 (Osceola)
• 34705-34797 (Lake, Orange, Osceola)
• 34972 (Osceola)