Series Information for 2020 Census Urban Area National TIGER/Line Shapefiles, Current
This is a series-level metadata record. The TIGER/Line shapefiles and related database files (.dbf) are an extract of selected geographic and cartographic information from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) System (MTS). The MTS represents a seamless national file with no overlaps or gaps between parts, however, each TIGER/Line shapefile is designed to stand alone as an independent data set, or they can be combined to cover the entire nation.
After each decennial census, the Census Bureau delineates urban areas that represent densely developed territory, encompassing residential, commercial, and other nonresidential urban land uses. In general, this territory consists of areas of high population density and urban land use resulting in a representation of the urban footprint. There are 2,644 Urban Areas (UAs) in this data release with either a minimum population of 5,000 or a housing unit count of 2,000 units. Each urban area is identified by a five-character numeric census code that may contain leading zeros.
Resources
4 resources available
-
tl_2025_us_uac20.zip
ZIP -
tl_2025_uac20.shp.ea.iso.xml
XML -
TIGERweb/tigerWMS_Current (MapServer)
TEXT/HTML -
TIGERweb/Urban (MapServer)
TEXT/HTML
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Complete Metadata
| @type | dcat:Dataset |
|---|---|
| accessLevel | non-public |
| contactPoint |
{
"fn": "U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division",
"@type": "vcard:Contact",
"hasEmail": "mailto:geo.geography@census.gov"
}
|
| describedByType | application/octet-steam |
| description | This is a series-level metadata record. The TIGER/Line shapefiles and related database files (.dbf) are an extract of selected geographic and cartographic information from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) System (MTS). The MTS represents a seamless national file with no overlaps or gaps between parts, however, each TIGER/Line shapefile is designed to stand alone as an independent data set, or they can be combined to cover the entire nation. After each decennial census, the Census Bureau delineates urban areas that represent densely developed territory, encompassing residential, commercial, and other nonresidential urban land uses. In general, this territory consists of areas of high population density and urban land use resulting in a representation of the urban footprint. There are 2,644 Urban Areas (UAs) in this data release with either a minimum population of 5,000 or a housing unit count of 2,000 units. Each urban area is identified by a five-character numeric census code that may contain leading zeros. |
| distribution |
[
{
"@type": "dcat:Distribution",
"title": "tl_2025_us_uac20.zip",
"format": "ZIP",
"mediaType": "application/zip",
"description": "The TIGER/Line Shapefiles are the fully supported, core geographic product from the U.S. Census Bureau. They are extracts of selected geographic and cartographic information from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File/Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) System.",
"downloadURL": "https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/TIGER2025/UAC20/tl_2025_us_uac20.zip",
"describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
},
{
"@type": "dcat:Distribution",
"title": "tl_2025_uac20.shp.ea.iso.xml",
"format": "XML",
"mediaType": "application/xml",
"description": "Entity and attribute file",
"downloadURL": "https://meta.geo.census.gov/data/existing/decennial/GEO/GPMB/TIGERline/Current_19110/tl_2025_uac20.shp.ea.iso.xml",
"describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
},
{
"@type": "dcat:Distribution",
"title": "TIGERweb/tigerWMS_Current (MapServer)",
"accessURL": "https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/tigerWMS_Current/MapServer",
"mediaType": "text/html",
"description": "The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) Web Map Service interface standard (WMS) provides a simple HTTP interface for requesting geo-registered map images from our geospatial database. The response to the request is one or more geo-registered map images that can be displayed in a browser or WMS client application. By gaining access to our data through our WMS, users can produce maps containing TIGERweb layers combined with layers from other servers.",
"describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
},
{
"@type": "dcat:Distribution",
"title": "TIGERweb/Urban (MapServer)",
"accessURL": "https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Urban/MapServer",
"mediaType": "text/html",
"description": "The GeoServices REST Specification provides a way for Web clients to communicate with geographic information system (GIS) servers through Representational State Transfer (REST) technology.",
"describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
}
]
|
| identifier | https://meta.geo.census.gov/data/existing/decennial/GEO/GPMB/TIGERline/Current_19115/series_tl_2025_uac20.shp.iso.xml |
| issued | 2025-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00 |
| keyword |
[
"NGDA",
"National Geospatial Data Asset",
"NGDAID61",
"Governmental Units and Administrative and Statistical Boundaries Theme",
"Nation",
"Polygon",
"Urban Area",
"UA",
"U.S.",
"United States"
]
|
| language |
[]
|
| license | https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ |
| modified | 2025-10-01T00:00:00.000+00:00 |
| publisher |
{
"name": "U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division",
"@type": "org:Organization"
}
|
| rights | otherRestrictions |
| spatial | 146.154418,-14.601813,-178.443593,71.439786 |
| temporal | 2025-06-01T00:00:00+00:00/2026-10-01T00:00:00+00:00 |
| title | Series Information for 2020 Census Urban Area National TIGER/Line Shapefiles, Current |
