Place (United States Census Bureau)

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The United States Census Bureau defines a place as a concentration of population

which has a name, is locally recognized, and is not part of any other place. A place
typically has a residential nucleus and a closely spaced street pattern, and it
frequently includes commercial property and other urban land uses. A place may be
an incorporated place (a self-governing city, town, or village) or it may be a census-
designated place (CDP). Incorporated places are defined by the laws of the states in
which they are contained. The Census Bureau delineates CDPs. A small settlement
in the open countryside or the densely settled fringe of a large city may not be a
place as defined by the Census Bureau. As of the 1990 Census, only 26% of the
people in the United States lived outside of places. [1]

Contents

 1Incorporated place

 2Census-designated places

o 2.1Specific examples

o 2.2Outside the U.S.

 3Geography

 4Notes

 5References

Incorporated place[edit]
An incorporated place, under the Census Bureau's definition, [2] is a type of
governmental unit incorporated under state law as a city, town (except the New
England states, New York, and Wisconsin),[3] borough (except in Alaska and New
York),[4] or village, and having legally prescribed limits, powers, and functions.
Requirements for incorporation vary widely among the states; some states have few
specific criteria, while others have established population thresholds and
occasionally other conditions (for example, minimum land area, population density,
and distance from other existing incorporated places) that must be met for
incorporation.[1]
The Census Bureau recognizes incorporated places in all U.S. states except Hawaii;
for Hawaii, by agreement with the Office of the Governor, the Census Bureau
recognizes all places as census-designated places (CDPs) rather than as
incorporated places. Puerto Rico and several of the outlying areas under United
States jurisdiction (such as Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands) also have no
incorporated places.[1]
Different states use a variety of terms for their incorporated places. The designations
"city", "town", "village", and "borough" are most frequent, but one or more places
in Kentucky, Montana, Nevada, and Tennessee have place-type governments
(usually consolidated ones) that do not have any of these designations. New
Jersey is the only state that has all four kinds of incorporated places. Only two other
states (Connecticut and Pennsylvania) include "boroughs" as incorporated places.
Eleven U.S. states have only "cities", and the remainder of the states have various
combinations of "cities", "towns", and "villages". [1]
Not all entities designated as "towns" and "boroughs" are considered by the Census
Bureau to be places. In the six New England states, and in New York and Wisconsin,
the term "town" refers to what the Census Bureau classifies as a minor civil
division (MCD) rather than a place. The MCDs in these states, while often
functioning with all the powers of city governments, can contain considerable rural
area; outside of New England, other units of government perform the incorporated
place function. In Alaska, the term "borough" refers to territory governed as a county
rather than as a place; in New York, the Census Bureau treats the five boroughs that
make up New York City as MCDs.[1]

Census-designated places[edit]
Main article: Census-designated place

Census-designated places (CDPs) are communities that lack separate municipal

governments, and for statistical purposes are defined by the Census Bureau in order
to statistically combine and compare populated areas that physically resemble
incorporated places. Before each decennial census, CDPs are delineated by state
and local agencies, and by tribal officials according to Census Bureau criteria. The
resulting CDP delineations are then reviewed and approved by the Census Bureau.
The boundaries of a CDP have no legal status and may not correspond with the local
understanding of the area with the same name. Recognized communities may be
divided into two or more CDPs while on the other hand, two or more communities
may be combined into one CDP. A CDP may also cover the unincorporated part of a
named community where the rest lies within an incorporated place. [1]
Although only about one-fifth as numerous as incorporated places (in 1990, of
23,435 "places", 19,289 were incorporated municipalities, and 4,146 were not
incorporated municipalities), CDPs are important geographic units. The CDP permits
the tabulation of population counts for many localities that otherwise would have no
identity within the Census Bureau's framework of geographic areas. By defining an
area as a CDP, that locality then appears in the same category of census data as
incorporated places. This distinguishes CDPs from other census classifications, such
as minor civil divisions (MCDs), which are in a separate category. In 1990, over 29
million people in the United States resided in CDPs. [1]
Specific examples[edit]

 Bostonia, a neighborhood in northeast El Cajon, California, is an example of a

CDP that covers the unincorporated part of a neighborhood that lies partly within
an incorporated place. The neighborhood straddles the El Cajon city limits. The
 USGS places the nucleus of Bostonia well within El Cajon. The Bostonia CDP
covers the greater El Cajon area in unincorporated San Diego County generally
north of that part of Bostonia within El Cajon.
 Shorewood-Tower Hills-Harbert, Michigan, is an example of multiple named
unincorporated communities that are combined into one CDP.
 Greater Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was an example of a CDP covering the
unincorporated urbanized area surrounding an incorporated place. At the 2000
census, the Greater Upper Marlboro CDP completely surrounded Upper
Marlboro, the county seat. However, for the 2010 census, the area was broken
into several smaller CDPs, all with new names.
Outside the U.S.[edit]
Statistics Canada uses the term designated place (DPL) for unincorporated
population centers. However the criteria for delineating a DPL are different from that
for a CDP.[5]

Geography[edit]
The Census Bureau lists a location (latitude and longitude) for each place, although
this list is not intended for general use and is part of the Bureau's TIGER mapping
system to graphically represent the statistical areas used in census data. The
Census Bureau's criteria for establishing the location does not correspond to the
criteria used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) for locating named
communities, which is intended to be an authoritative reference for a place's location.
The central location of a place shown on Census Bureau maps for a community may
differ significantly from that on USGS maps for the same place and may even be
outside the area that local residents think of as that community. The Census
Bureau's location of a place is the approximate geographic center of the polygon
making up the boundaries of the place at the time of the decennial census. [6] The
USGS location of a populated place is the center of the original place, if known, such
as the city or town hall, main post office, town square or main intersection regardless
of changes over time.[7][8]

Notes[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:              Geographic Areas Reference Manual, Chapter 9 Places, United States
a b c d e f g

Census Bureau, United States Department of Commerce

2. ^ "Incorporated place".  Geography Program. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 22
April  2020.
3. ^ Towns in the New England states are governmental units on the same level as cities,
but are not treated as such by the Census Bureau. In Wisconsin, towns are similar to
the civil townships of other states. In New York, towns have a status intermediate
between those of Wisconsin and New England.
4. ^ Boroughs in Alaska are analogous to counties in other states. Boroughs in New York
are simultaneously counties and administrative divisions of New York City.
5. ^ Statistics Canada, Geographic Units: Designated Place (DPL)
6. ^ TIGER FAQ, Question 19, "How did you calculate the latitude and longitude for my
town..."
7. ^ USGS Domestic Names - Metadata (see Primary Point)
8. ^ USGS Frequently Asked Questions About GNIS (see question 17)
 References[edit]
 Geographic Areas Reference Manual United States Census Bureau, United
States Department of Commerce.

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Categories: 

 Populated places in the United States

 United States Census Bureau geography
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 This page was last edited on 25 January 2021, at 14:48 (UTC).

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