UA Census 2000 TIGER/Line Files

Attention Data Users
Important Information about the UA TIGER/Line files

The Census Bureau replaced the UA Census 2000 TIGER/Line files on June 7, 2002. Determine which version of the UA Census 2000 TIGER/Line files you downloaded. More information.

The Census Bureau has identified an error with the 1990 Urban/Rural Indicator (field name UR90) appearing on Record Type S in some of the UA Census 2000 TIGER/Line files. Refer to the list of 1094 counties with the UR90 code in error. Within these 1094 counties, the 1990 Urban/Rural Indicator overstates the extent of 1990 urban classification: some polygons are classified as 1990 urban when they should have been 1990 rural. The 1990 UA codes, as well as the 2000 UA/UC codes, and 2000 Urban/Rural indicators are correct.

The Census Bureau is recreating the UA Census 2000 TIGER/Line files and will replace the version currently available with corrected files by mid June 2002. In the interim, we suggest you use the 1990 Urban/Rural Indicator from Record Type A in the Census 2000 TIGER/Line files. The CENID/POLYID for Record Type A in the Census 2000 TIGER/Line files will match the CENID/POLYID from the UA Census 2000 TIGER/Line files.

The UA Census 2000 TIGER/Line files contain all Census 2000 entities included in the Census 2000 version of TIGER/Line, as well as Census 2000 vintage Urban Areas and Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs).

The primary differences in this version from the Census 2000 version is the inclusion of the Census 2000 Urbanized Areas (UAs), Urban Clusters (UCs), and Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs). The Census 2000 Urban Area and PUMA codes appear on Record Type A. The Urban/Rural Indicator fields moved from Record Type A to Record Type S.

The address ranges appearing in the UA Census 2000 TIGER/Line files are based upon the addresses in the final Master Address File (MAF) used for tabulating Census 2000. The UA Census 2000 TIGER/Line files coverage is as follows: all counties, parishes, boroughs, census areas and equivalent entities for each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Island Areas.

The TIGER/Line files are extracts of selected geographic and cartographic information from the Census Bureau's TIGER^® (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing) database.

File Overview

There is one TIGER/Line file (in a compressed format) for each county or county equivalent. The file names consist of TGR + the 2-digit state FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) code + the 3-digit county FIPS code (i.e. TGR01031.ZIP for Coffee County, Alabama.) Each state folder contains individual county files as well as a Counts file. The county files are stored in compressed format and are compatible with PK Ware's PK Zip software. The COUNTS48.TXT file shows the counts for the number of records for each record type by county for Texas. If the count for a particular record type is 0, then that record type does not exist for that county.

The Census Bureau produces the TIGER/Line files in ASCII text format only; therefore the data are NOT in the form of map images. To create maps with the TIGER/Line files, one would typically use a Geographic Information System (GIS) package or other mapping software.

Users are responsible for converting or translating the files into a format used by their specific software package. For information on how to use the TIGER/Line data with a specific software package one should contact the company that produced that software. For information on companies that sell products that use TIGER/Line data or that provide TIGER/Line related services, refer to the TIGER Vendor List.

Frequently Asked Questions about the UA Census 2000 version of TIGER/Line.

Associated Documentation
To fully comprehend the content of these files, please read the following documents before downloading:

• UA Census 2000 TIGER/Line Technical README file [ASCII] text format.
• UA Census 2000 TIGER/Line Technical Documentation in [PDF] format.
• The UA Census 2000 TIGER/Line Metadata in [ASCII] text format.
• To find the associated FIPS codes for states and counties, refer to Appendix A
  of the TIGER/Line Technical Documentation in [PDF] or [ASCII] text format.
• Errata information
• Census 2000 Urban and Rural Classification Web page
  Links to Federal Register Notice, as well as lists of urbanized areas, urban clusters and major airports.

Get the Texas UA TIGER/Line Files