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1990 Census Gazetteer Files
This page provides links to 1990 Census gazetteer files for counties, minor civil divisions (MCDs), places and ZIP codes.
Notes:
- All files are in compressed format.
- The vintage of the geography in these files is as of 1990 Census (that is, as of January 1, 1990 ).
- The county and ZIP code files are for the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
- The places and Minor Civil Divisions files are for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas.
Counties
The Counties file contains all counties in the U.S. as of the 1990 Census. This is a tab delimited ASCII text file with one line per record.There are 3,141 records.
Download the National Counties Gazetteer File (113KB)
| Columns | Description |
|---|---|
| Columns 1-2 | State FIPS Code |
| Columns 6-8 | County FIPS Code |
| Columns 10-75 | Name. Includes name of county . Counties don't have a type, but do have the word "County" as part of the name. |
| Columns 77-78 | State Abbreviation |
| Columns 80-88 | Total Population (1990) |
| Columns 90-98 | Number of Housing Units (1990) |
| Columns 100-109 | Land area included (in thousandths of a square kilometer) |
| Columns 111-120 | Water area included (in thousandths of a square kilometer) |
| Columns 122-130 | Latitude (millionths of a degree: 10^6 units=1 deg). First character is (+) or (-), denoting N or S latitude, respectively. |
| Columns 132-141 | Longitude (millionths of a degree). First character is (+) or (-), denoting E or W longitude, respectively. |
Minor Civil Divisions
The MCDs file contains all MCDs and CCDs (county subdivisions record type 060) places in the U.S. as of the 1990 Census and is tab delimited ASCII text with one line per record.There are 36,289 records.
Download the National Minor Civil Divisions Gazetteer File (1.2MB)
| Columns | Description |
|---|---|
| Columns 1-2 | State FIPS Code |
| Columns 4-8 | County Subdivision FIPS Code |
| Columns 10-75 | Name. Includes name of place/county and type of place (either city, town, borough, village, or CDP). |
| Columns 77-78 | State Abbreviation |
| Columns 80-88 | Total Population (1990) |
| Columns 90-98 | Number of Housing Units (1990) |
| Columns 100-109 | Land area included (in thousandths of a square kilometer) |
| Columns 111-120 | Water area included (in thousandths of a square kilometer) |
| Columns 122-130 | Latitude (millionths of a degree: 10^6 units=1 deg). First character is (+) or (-), denoting N or S latitude, respectively. |
| Columns 132-141 | Longitude (millionths of a degree). First character is (+) or (-), denoting E or W longitude, respectively. |
| Columns 143-145 | County FIPS Code |
Places
The Place file contains all places in the U.S. and outlying areas (excluding MCDs and CCDs) as of the 1990 Census, and is a tab delimited ASCII text file with one line per record.There are 23,789 records. Some records contain special characters.
Download the National Places Gazetteer Files (772KB)
| Columns | Description |
|---|---|
| Columns 1-2 | State FIPS Code |
| Columns 4-8 | Place FIPS Code (for places.txt unique ID for each place) |
| Columns 10-75 | Name. Includes name of place and type (either city, town, borough, village, or CDP). |
| Columns 77-78 | State Abbreviation |
| Columns 80-88 | Total Population (1990) |
| Columns 90-98 | Number of Housing Units (1990) |
| Columns 100-109 | Land area included (in thousandths of a square kilometer) |
| Columns 111-120 | Water area included (in thousandths of a square kilometer) |
| Columns 122-130 | Latitude (millionths of a degree: 10^6 units=1 deg). First character is (+) or (-), denoting N or S latitude, respectively. |
| Columns 132-141 | Longitude (millionths of a degree). First character is (+) or (-), denoting E or W longitude, respectively. |
ZIP Code
The 1990 Zip Code by State file is a comma delimited ASCII text file with one record per line. There are 29,470 records.
Download the ZIP Code Gazetteer File (671KB)
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Field 1 | State Fips Code |
| Field 2 | 5-digit Zipcode |
| Field 3 | State Abbreviation |
| Field 4 | Zip Code Name |
| Field 5 | Longitude in Decimal Degrees (West is assumed, no minus sign) |
| Field 6 | Latitude in Decimal Degrees (North is assumed, no plus sign) |
| Field 7 | 1990 Population (100%) |
| Field 8 | Allocation Factor (decimal portion of state within zipcode) |
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