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TIGER/Line Shapefile, 2014, Series Information for the 2010 Census 5-Digit ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA5) National Shapefile

Published by U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division, Spatial Data Collection and Products Branch | U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: April 11, 2026 at 09:39 AM | Dataset Last Updated: January 01, 2014 at 12:00 AM
ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) are approximate area representations of U.S. Postal Service (USPS) ZIP Code service areas that the Census Bureau creates to present statistical data for each decennial census. The Census Bureau delineates ZCTA boundaries for the United States, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands once each decade following the decennial census. Data users should not use ZCTAs to identify the official USPS ZIP Code for mail delivery. The USPS makes periodic changes to ZIP Codes to support more efficient mail delivery. The Census Bureau uses tabulation blocks as the basis for defining each ZCTA. Tabulation blocks are assigned to a ZCTA based on the most frequently occurring ZIP Code for the addresses contained within that block. The most frequently occurring ZIP Code also becomes the five-digit numeric code of the ZCTA. These codes may contain leading zeros. Blocks that do not contain addresses but are surrounded by a single ZCTA (enclaves) are assigned to the surrounding ZCTA. Because the Census Bureau only uses the most frequently occurring ZIP Code to assign blocks, a ZCTA may not exist for every USPS ZIP Code. Some ZIP Codes may not have a matching ZCTA because too few addresses were associated with the specific ZIP Code or the ZIP Code was not the most frequently occurring ZIP Code within any of the blocks where it exists. The ZCTA boundaries in this release are those delineated following the 2010 Census.

Resources

4 resources available

  • tl_2014_us_zcta510.zip

    ZIP
    Download

  • TIGER/Line® Shapefiles 2014 Technical Documentation

    PDF
    Download

  • More information on TIGER\Line files

    TEXT/HTML
    Visit Page

  • Entity and Attribute file for the 5-Digit ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA5)

    XML
    Download

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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, Spatial Data Collection and Products Branch",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:geo.geography@census.govv"
}
describedByType application/octet-steam
description ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) are approximate area representations of U.S. Postal Service (USPS) ZIP Code service areas that the Census Bureau creates to present statistical data for each decennial census. The Census Bureau delineates ZCTA boundaries for the United States, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands once each decade following the decennial census. Data users should not use ZCTAs to identify the official USPS ZIP Code for mail delivery. The USPS makes periodic changes to ZIP Codes to support more efficient mail delivery. The Census Bureau uses tabulation blocks as the basis for defining each ZCTA. Tabulation blocks are assigned to a ZCTA based on the most frequently occurring ZIP Code for the addresses contained within that block. The most frequently occurring ZIP Code also becomes the five-digit numeric code of the ZCTA. These codes may contain leading zeros. Blocks that do not contain addresses but are surrounded by a single ZCTA (enclaves) are assigned to the surrounding ZCTA. Because the Census Bureau only uses the most frequently occurring ZIP Code to assign blocks, a ZCTA may not exist for every USPS ZIP Code. Some ZIP Codes may not have a matching ZCTA because too few addresses were associated with the specific ZIP Code or the ZIP Code was not the most frequently occurring ZIP Code within any of the blocks where it exists. The ZCTA boundaries in this release are those delineated following the 2010 Census.
distribution 
                                            [
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "tl_2014_us_zcta510.zip",
    "format": "ZIP",
    "mediaType": "application/zip",
    "description": " 5-Digit ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA5)",
    "downloadURL": "ftp://ftp2.census.gov/geo/tiger/TIGER2014/ZCTA5/tl_2014_us_zcta510.zip",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "TIGER/Line® Shapefiles 2014 Technical Documentation",
    "format": "PDF",
    "mediaType": "application/pdf",
    "description": "Specifications for the 2014 TIGER/Line Shapefiles",
    "downloadURL": "http://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/data/tiger/tgrshp2014/TGRSHP2014_TechDoc.pdf",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "More information on TIGER\Line files",
    "accessURL": "http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Entity and Attribute file for the 5-Digit ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA5)",
    "format": "XML",
    "mediaType": "application/xml",
    "downloadURL": "http://meta.geo.census.gov/data/existing/decennial/GEO/GPMB/TIGERline/TIGER2014/zcta510/tl_2014_zcta510.shp.ea.iso.xml",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
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]
identifier https://meta.geo.census.gov/data/existing/decennial/GEO/GPMB/TIGERline/TIGER2014/ParentFiles/SeriesCollection_tl_2014_zcta510.shp.iso.xml
isPartOf https://meta.geo.census.gov/data/existing/decennial/GEO/GPMB/TIGERline/TIGER2014/ParentFiles/SeriesCollection_tl_2014_zcta510.shp.iso.xml
issued 2014-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
                                            [
  "Nation",
  "Polygon",
  "ZIP Code Tabulation Area",
  "ZCTA",
  "Zip Code",
  "Boundaries",
  " U.S."
]
language 
                                            []
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2014-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
                                            {
  "name": "U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division, Spatial Data Collection and Products Branch",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
rights otherRestrictions
spatial 179.859681,-14.601813,-179.231086,71.441059
temporal 2013-06-01T00:00:00+00:00/2014-05-01T00:00:00+00:00
title TIGER/Line Shapefile, 2014, Series Information for the 2010 Census 5-Digit ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA5) National Shapefile

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