U.S. Census Grids

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Introduction

The U.S. Census Grids provide raster data sets that include not only population and housing counts, but a wide variety of socioeconomic characteristics. These gridded data sets transform irregularly shaped census tract, block, and block group boundaries into a regular surface – a raster grid – for faster and easier analysis. Data sets are available for 1990, 2000, and 2010 for the decennial census grids, and for 2000, 2010, 2014, 2016, and 2018 for the Social Vulnerability Grids.

Type of Data Available

  • Individuals - age distribution, race, ethnicity, income, poverty, educational level, and immigrant status
  • Households - household size, one-person households, female-headed households with children under 18, and linguistically isolated households.
  • Housing units - occupancy, seasonal usage, occupied housing units without a vehicle, and year of construction.
  • Social Vulnerability Index – including Socioeconomic, Household Composition & Disability, Minority Status & Language, and Housing Type & Transportation.

Spatial Resolution

  • Data sets are for the United States (1990, 2000, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018) and some include Puerto Rico (2000 and 2010) only) available at a resolution of 30 arc-seconds or approximately 1 kilometer.
  • Data sets for 39 (1990 only) and 50 (2000 only) metropolitan statistical areas in the United States with a population of one million or more are available at a resolution of 7.5 arc-seconds or approximately 250 meters.

Map Collection

  • View and download maps showing the spatial distribution of different socioeconomic characteristics for regions and cities within the United States.