HIFLD Open Census Designated Places

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) United States Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census; United States Department of Homeland Security

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
census-designated-places-geojson.zip application/zip 66.9 MB 10/16/2025 11:09:AM
census-designated-places-shapefile.zip application/zip 50.7 MB 09/15/2025 05:40:AM
metadata.xml application/xml 1.4 KB 08/25/2025 02:21:PM

Project Citation: 

United States Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census, and United States Department of Homeland Security. HIFLD Open Census Designated Places. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-10-16. https://doi.org/10.3886/E238938V1

Project Description

Project Title:  View help for Project Title HIFLD Open Census Designated Places
Summary:  View help for Summary Census Designated Places (CDPs) are the statistical counterparts of incorporated places and are delineated to provide data for settled concentrations of population that are identifiable by name but are not legally incorporated under the laws of the state in which they are located. The boundaries usually are defined in cooperation with local or tribal officials and generally updated prior to each decennial census. These boundaries, which usually coincide with visible features or the boundary of an adjacent incorporated place or another legal entity boundary, have no legal status, nor do these places have officials elected to serve traditional municipal functions. CDP boundaries may change from one decennial census to the next with changes in the settlement pattern; a CDP with the same name as in an earlier census does not necessarily have the same boundary. CDPs must be contained within a single state and may not extend into an incorporated place. There are no population size requirements for CDPs. Hawaii is the only state that has no incorporated places recognized by the Census Bureau. All places shown in decennial census data products for Hawaii are CDPs. By agreement with the State of Hawaii, the Census Bureau does not show data separately for the city of Honolulu, which is coextensive with Honolulu County. In Puerto Rico, which also does not have incorporated places, the Census Bureau recognizes only CDPs and refers to them as comunidades or zonas urbanas. Guam also has only CDPs.
Original Distribution URL:  View help for Original Distribution URL https://hifld-geoplatform.hub.arcgis.com

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms HIFLD Open; GIS; boundaries; census; population; geography
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage United States
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 8/28/2024 – 8/28/2024
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) geographic information system (GIS) data
Collection Notes:  View help for Collection Notes Archived from the HIFLD Open GIS data repository, which was deactivated on August 26, 2025


Related Publications

Download this project

Published Versions

V1 [2025-10-16]

Export Metadata

Dublin Core

DDI 2.5

Report a Problem

Found a serious problem with the data, such as disclosure risk or copyrighted content? Let us know.

This material is distributed exactly as received from the data depositor. ICPSR has not reviewed, checked, or processed this material. For additional information about the study, please contact the investigator(s) directly. If you have questions about the accessibility of materials distributed by ICPSR or require further assistance, please visit ICPSR's Accessibility Center.