# TIGER boundaries

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.

## 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](https://www.census.gov/geographies/mapping-files/time-series/geo/tiger-line-file.html) |
| 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](https://www.census.gov/data/developers/about/terms-of-service.html) |
| 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.

## See also

- [All datasets](https://getcadastre.com/docs/datasets)
- [Rights and attribution](https://getcadastre.com/docs/rights)
- [Data freshness](https://getcadastre.com/docs/freshness)