Dataset · Geography
TIGER boundaries
Available (boundaries) tiger
The Census Bureau's TIGER/Line boundaries: states, counties, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, combined statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, census tracts, places and other layers. Every metro Cadastre screens, and every map outline, comes from the current vintage.
- Publisher
- U.S. Census Bureau
- Category
- Geography
- Period
- 2026 vintage (current)
- Refresh cadence
- Annual (release expected in September)
- Measures
- None (geometry)
- Licence
- Public domain (U.S. federal government work)
Source
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Publisher | U.S. Census Bureau |
| Product | TIGER/Line boundaries |
| Source | https://www.census.gov/geographies/mapping-files/time-series/geo/tiger-line-file.html (opens in a new tab) |
| Category | Geography |
| Period | 2026 vintage (current) |
| Refresh cadence | Annual (release expected in September) |
| Geographies | 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Counties link to their metro or micro area, and metros to their combined statistical area. |
| Availability | Available (boundaries) |
| Cadastre key | tiger |
Licence and attribution
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Licence | Public domain (U.S. federal government work) |
| Terms | https://www.census.gov/data/developers/about/terms-of-service.html (opens in a new tab) |
| Register status | Production approved; licence open |
| Allowed uses | evaluation, internal, public_display, derived_analytics, redistribution, bulk_export, public_geometry |
This source requires no credit line beyond naming the publisher. Cite it as U.S. Census Bureau, TIGER/Line boundaries.
Known gaps and caveats
- TIGER is the Census mapping product, not a legal boundary survey.
- Each vintage is its own region tree. Everything users see reads the current vintage; earlier vintages are kept beside it as historical and never replace it.
- The other U.S. Island Areas (American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands) are not imported.