ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) are statistical entities developed by the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
for tabulating summary statistics. These were introduced with the
Census 2000 and continued with the 2010 Census and 5 year
American Community Survey
The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...
datasets. They were updated again for the 2020 census. This new entity was developed to overcome the difficulties in precisely defining the land area covered by each
ZIP code. Defining the extent of an area is necessary in order to tabulate census data for that area.
ZCTAs are generalized area representations of the
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...
(USPS) ZIP code service areas, but are not the same as ZIP codes. Individual USPS ZIP codes can cross
state
State most commonly refers to:
* State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
**Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
**Nation state, a ...
, place,
county
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
,
census tract
A census tract, census area, census district or meshblock is a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census. Sometimes these coincide with the limits of cities, towns or other administrative areas and several tracts commonly exis ...
,
census block group and
census block boundaries, so the Census Bureau asserts that "there is no correlation between ZIP codes and Census Bureau geography". Moreover, the USPS frequently realigns, merges, or splits ZIP codes to meet changing needs. These changes are usually not reflected in the annual
TIGER
The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...
releases. Each ZCTA is constructed by aggregating the
Census 2020 blocks whose
addresses use a given ZIP code. In assembling census statistical units to create ZCTAs, the Census Bureau took the ZIP code used by the majority of addresses in each census unit at the time the data was compiled. As a result, some addresses end up with a ZCTA code that is different from their ZIP code. ZCTAs are not developed for ZIP codes that comprise only a small number of addresses. Several ZCTAs represent ZIPs that no longer exist due to realignment by the USPS.
There are approximately 42,000 ZIP Codes and 32,000 ZCTAs. The reason that there is not one ZCTA for every ZIP Code is that only populated ''areas'' are included in the Census data, and thus ZIP Codes that only serve
PO Boxes have no corresponding ZCTA.
See also
*
Census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
*
ZIP Code
References
External links
United States Census Bureau ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs)
{{ZIP Code
United States Census Bureau geography
ZIP code