[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 66 (Friday, April 6, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17326-17329]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-6465]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of the Census

[Docket Number 070104002-7003-01]


Census Designated Place (CDP) Program for the 2010 Census--
Proposed Criteria

AGENCY: Bureau of the Census, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of proposed program and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Census designated places (CDPs) \1\ are statistical geographic 
entities representing closely settled, unincorporated communities that 
are locally recognized and identified by name. They are the statistical 
equivalents of incorporated places, with the primary differences being 
the lack of both a legally defined boundary and an active, functioning 
governmental structure, chartered by the state and administered by 
elected officials. CDPs defined for the 2010 Census also will be used 
to tabulate American Community Survey, Puerto Rico Community Survey, 
and Economic Census data after 2010, and potentially data from other 
Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) censuses and surveys.
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    \1\ The term CDP includes communidades and zonas urbanas in 
Puerto Rico.
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    The Census Bureau is publishing this notice in the Federal Register 
to request comments from the public and other government agencies. The 
Census Bureau will respond to the comments received as part of the 
publication of final criteria in the Federal Register. After the final 
criteria are published in the Federal Register, the Census Bureau will 
offer designated governments or organizations an opportunity to review 
and, if necessary, suggest updates to the boundaries and attributes of 
the CDPs in their geographic area under the Participant Statistical 
Areas Program (PSAP). In addition to CDPs, the program also encompasses 
the review and update of census tracts, block groups, and census county 
divisions.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before July 5, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Please direct all written comments on this proposed program 
to the Director, U.S. Census Bureau, Room 8H001, mail stop 0100, 
Washington, DC 20233-0001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information on 
this proposed program should be directed to Michael Ratcliffe, Chief, 
Geographic Standards and Criteria Branch, Geography Division, U.S. 
Census Bureau, via e-mail at [email protected] or telephone at 
301-763-3056.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. History

    The CDP concept and delineation criteria have evolved over the past 
five decades in response to data user needs for place-level data. This 
evolution has taken into account differences in the way in which places 
were perceived, and the propensity for places to incorporate in various 
states. The result, over time, has been an increase in the number and 
types of unincorporated communities identified as CDPs, as well as 
increasing consistency in the relationship between the CDP concept and 
the kinds of places encompassed by the incorporated place category, or 
a compromise between localized perceptions of place and a concept that 
would be familiar to data users throughout the United States, Puerto 
Rico, and the Island Areas.

[[Page 17327]]

    Although not as numerous as incorporated places or 
municipalities,\2\ CDPs have been important geographic entities since 
their introduction for the 1950 census. (CDPs were referred to as 
``unincorporated places'' from 1950 through the 1970 decennial 
censuses.) For the 1950 Census, CDPs were defined only outside 
urbanized areas and were required to have at least 1,000 residents. For 
the 1960 Census, CDPs could also be identified inside urbanized areas 
outside of New England, but these were required to have at least 10,000 
residents. The Census Bureau modified the population threshold within 
urbanized areas to 5,000 in 1970, allowed for CDPs in urbanized areas 
in New England in 1980, and lowered the urbanized area threshold again 
to 2,500 in 1990. In time, other population thresholds were adopted for 
identification of CDPs in Alaska, as well as in Puerto Rico, the Island 
Areas, and on American Indian reservations. The Census Bureau 
eliminated all population threshold requirements for Census 2000, 
achieving consistency between CDPs and incorporated places, for which 
the Census Bureau historically has published data without regard to 
population size.
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    \2\ Known by various terms throughout the United States: cities, 
towns (except in the six New England States, New York, and 
Wisconsin), villages, and boroughs (except in New York and Alaska).
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    According to Census 2000, more than 35 million people in the United 
States \3\, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas \4\ lived in CDPs. The 
relative importance of CDPs varies from state to state depending on 
laws governing municipal incorporation and annexation, but also 
depending on local preferences and attitudes regarding the 
identification of places.
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    \3\ For Census Bureau purposes, the United States includes the 
fifty states and the District of Columbia.
    \4\ For Census Bureau purposes, the Island Areas includes the 
U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam. There are no CDPs in American 
Samoa because villages cover its entire territory and population.
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II. Census Designated Place Criteria and Characteristics for the 2010 
Census

    The criteria proposed herein apply to the United States, including 
American Indian reservations and off-reservation trust lands, Puerto 
Rico, and the Island Areas. In accordance with the final criteria, the 
Census Bureau may modify and, if necessary, reject any proposals for 
CDPs that do not meet the established criteria. In addition, the Census 
Bureau reserves the right to modify the boundaries and attributes of 
CDPs as needed to maintain geographic relationships before the final 
tabulation geography is set for the 2010 Census.
    The Census Bureau proposes the following criteria and 
characteristics for use in identifying the areas that will qualify for 
designation as CDPs for use in tabulating data from the 2010 Census, 
the American Community Survey, the Puerto Rico Community Survey, the 
Economic Census, and potentially other Census Bureau censuses and 
surveys.
    1. A CDP constitutes a single, closely settled center of population 
that is named; to the extent possible, individual unincorporated 
communities should be identified as separate CDPs. Similarly, a single 
community should be defined as a single CDP as opposed to multiple CDPs 
with each part referencing the community name and a directional term 
(i.e., north, south, east, or west). Since a CDP is defined to provide 
data for a single, named locality, the Census Bureau generally will not 
accept combinations of places and hyphenated place names defined as a 
CDP. For example, CDPs such as Poplar-Cotton Center and Downieville-
Lawson-Dumont are no longer acceptable. Combinations of places often 
were defined as a single CDP in order to comply with the Census 
Bureau's minimum population requirements. The Census Bureau's 
elimination of population threshold criteria has made such combinations 
unnecessary. Others were combined because visible features were not 
available for use as boundaries for separate CDPs. The Census Bureau is 
proposing use of some nonvisible boundaries so that participants can 
separate individual communities and dispense with multi-place CDPs.
    2. A CDP generally consists of a contiguous cluster of census 
blocks comprising a single piece of territory and containing a mix of 
residential and commercial uses similar to that of an incorporated 
place of similar size. Some CDPs, however, may be predominantly 
residential; such places should represent recognizably distinct, 
locally known communities, but not typical suburban subdivisions. 
Examples of such predominantly residential communities that can be 
recognized as CDPs are colonias found along the U.S.-Mexico border, 
small rural communities, and unincorporated resort and retirement 
communities.
    3. A CDP may not be located, either partially or entirely, within 
an incorporated place or another CDP.
    4. A CDP may not be coextensive with the boundaries of one or more 
governmentally functioning Minor Civil Divisions (MCDs) in the six New 
England states, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, 
Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, nor may it encompass the entirety of one 
town or township and contain portions of adjacent towns or townships.
    This criterion is proposed for the first time for the 2010 Census 
in order to eliminate redundancy in tabular presentations of data 
published by the Census Bureau for towns/townships and places. For 
instance, because geographic comparison tables and inventory tables 
providing data for places also contain data for MCDs within these 
twelve states, redundancy occurs wherever a CDP is coextensive with an 
MCD. For example, in place-level tables for Massachusetts, data are 
published for both Framingham town and Framingham CDP, the latter 
covering the same population and territory as the former. In adopting 
this criterion, the Census Bureau will explore ways to enhance the 
presentation and visibility of data for MCDs in these twelve states, to 
make it clearer that many of the MCDs in these states are seen as 
similar to places in other parts of the United States.
    5. A CDP may be located in more than one county but must not cross 
state boundaries. It is important to note, however, that since county 
boundaries provide important demarcations for communities, CDPs that 
cross county lines should be kept to a minimum and identified only when 
the community clearly sees itself existing on both sides of a county 
boundary.
    6. There are no minimum population or housing unit thresholds for 
defining CDPs; however a CDP must contain some population or housing 
units or both. The Census Bureau eliminated minimum population 
thresholds for CDPs for Census 2000, enabling the identification and 
tabulation of data for small, unincorporated communities, particularly 
in rural areas, as CDPs. Six CDPs identified for Census 2000, however, 
lacked any population and housing; three CDPs had some population, but 
no housing units; and an additional 23 CDPs contained less than ten 
housing units. The Census Bureau recognizes that some communities, such 
as resort or other kinds of seasonal communities, may lack population 
at certain times of the year. Nevertheless, there should be some 
evidence, generally in the form of houses, barracks, dormitories, 
commercial buildings and/or other structures, providing the basis for 
local perception of the place's existence. For the 2010 Census, the 
Census Bureau will not accept a CDP delineated with zero population and 
zero housing units. The Census Bureau will review the

[[Page 17328]]

number of housing units within the place, as reported in the previous 
decennial census, and consider whether additional information is needed 
before recognizing the CDP. Participants submitting boundaries for 
places with less than 10 housing units may be asked to provide 
additional information attesting to the existence of the CDP.
    7. CDP boundaries should follow visible features, except in those 
circumstances when a CDP's boundary is coincident with the nonvisible 
boundary of a state, county, MCD (in the six New England states, 
Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and 
Wisconsin), or incorporated place. In selected circumstances, CDP 
boundaries can follow other nonvisible features. Reliance upon visible 
features sometimes has resulted in overbounding of the CDP in order to 
include housing units on both sides of a road or street feature. While 
this has helped ensure accurate allocation of housing units to the 
place, it also has meant that territory, population, and housing not 
associated with the place have been included in the CDP. For the 2010 
Census, advances and enhancements in the positional accuracy of housing 
units within the Census Bureau's geographic databases make it possible 
to consider the potential use of nonvisible boundaries when defining 
CDPs. Such boundaries might include parcel boundaries and public land 
survey system (PLSS) lines; fencelines; national, state, or local park 
boundaries; ridgelines; or drainage ditches.
    8. The CDP name should be one that is recognized and used in daily 
communication by the residents of the community. Because unincorporated 
communities lack legally-defined boundaries, a commonly used community 
name and the geographic extent of its use by local residents is often 
the best identifier of the extent of a place, the assumption being that 
if residents associate with a particular name and use it to identify 
the place in which they live, then the CDP's boundaries can be mapped 
based on the use of the name. There should be features in the landscape 
that use the name, such that a non-resident would have a general sense 
of the location or extent of the community; for example, signs 
indicating when one is entering the community; highway exit signs that 
use the name; businesses, schools, or other buildings that make use of 
the name. It should not be a name developed solely for planning or 
other purposes (including simply to obtain data from the Census Bureau) 
that is not in regular daily use by the local residents and business 
establishments.
    9. A CDP may not have the same name as an adjacent or nearby 
incorporated place. The assumption behind this criterion is that if the 
community does not have a name that distinguishes it from other nearby 
communities, it probably is not a distinct place. Use of directional 
terms (``north,'' ``south,'' ``east,'' ``west,'' and so forth) to 
merely differentiate the name of a CDP from a nearby municipality where 
this name is not in local use is not acceptable. For example, ``North 
Laurel'' would be permitted as a name if this name were in local use. A 
name such as ``Laurel North'' would not be permitted if it were not in 
local use. Again, this has much to do with the way in which people 
typically refer to the places in which they live. It is permissible to 
change the name of a 2000 CDP for the 2010 Census if the new name 
provides a better identification of the community.

III. Definitions of Key Terms

    Alaska Native regional corporation (ANRC)--A corporate geographic 
area established under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (Pub. L. 
92-203), to conduct both the business and nonprofit affairs of Alaska 
Natives. Twelve ANRCs cover the State of Alaska except for the Annette 
Island Reserve.
    American Indian reservation (AIR)--A federally recognized American 
Indian land area with boundaries established by final treaty, statute, 
executive order, and/or court order, and over which a federally 
recognized American Indian tribal government has governmental 
authority. Along with reservations, designations such as colonies, 
communities, pueblos, rancherias, and reserves apply to AIRs.
    Census block--A geographic area bounded by visible and/or invisible 
features shown on a map prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau. A block is 
the smallest geographic entity for which the Census Bureau tabulates 
decennial census data.
    Coextensive--Descriptive of two or more geographic entities that 
cover exactly the same area, with all boundaries shared.
    Comunidad--A census designated place in Puerto Rico that is not 
related to a municipio's seat of government; called an aldea or a 
ciudad prior to the 1990 census.
    Contiguous--Descriptive of geographic areas that are adjacent to 
one another, sharing either a common boundary or point of contact.
    Housing unit--A house, an apartment, a mobile home or trailer, or a 
group of rooms or a single room occupied as a separate living quarter 
or, if vacant, intended for occupancy as a separate living quarter. 
Separate living quarters are those in which the occupants live and eat 
separately from any other residents of the building and which have 
direct access from outside the building or through a common hall.
    Incorporated place--A type of governmental unit, incorporated under 
state law as a city, town (except in New England, New York, and 
Wisconsin), borough (except in Alaska and New York), or village, 
generally to provide governmental services for a concentration of 
people within legally prescribed boundaries.
    Island areas--An entity, other than a state or the District of 
Columbia, under the jurisdiction of the United States. For the 2010 
Census, these will include American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of 
the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and several 
small islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The Census 
Bureau treats each Island Territory as the statistical equivalent of a 
state.
    Minor civil division--The primary governmental or administrative 
division of a county in 28 states, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas 
having legal boundaries, names, and descriptions. MCDs represent many 
different types of legal entities with a wide variety of 
characteristics, powers, and functions depending on the state and type 
of MCD. In some states, some or all of the incorporated places also 
constitute MCDs.
    Municipio--A type of governmental unit that is the primary legal 
subdivision of Puerto Rico. The Census Bureau treats the municipio as 
the statistical equivalent of a county.
    Nonvisible feature--A map feature that is not visible, such as a 
city or county boundary, a property line running through space, a short 
imaginary extension of a street or road, or a point-to-point line.
    Statistical geographic entity--A geographic entity that is 
specially defined and delineated, such as block group, CDP, or census 
tract, so that the Census Bureau may tabulate data for it. Designation 
as a statistical entity neither conveys nor confers legal ownership, 
entitlement, or jurisdictional authority.
    Urbanized area (UA)--An area consisting of a central place(s) and 
adjacent urban fringe that together have a minimum residential 
population of at least 50,000 people and generally an overall 
population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile. The Census 
Bureau uses published criteria to determine the qualification and

[[Page 17329]]

boundaries of UAs at the time of each decennial census or from the 
results of a special census during the intercensal period.
    Visible feature--A map feature that can be seen on the ground such 
as a road, railroad track, major above-ground transmission line or 
pipeline, stream, shoreline, fence, sharply defined mountain ridge, or 
cliff. A nonstandard visible feature is a feature that may not be 
clearly defined on the ground (such as a ridge), may be seasonal (such 
as an intermittent stream), or may be relatively impermanent (such as a 
fence). The Census Bureau generally requests verification that 
nonstandard features pose no problem in their location during field 
work.
    Zona urbana--In Puerto Rico, the settled area functioning as the 
seat of government for a municipio. A zona urbana cannot cross a 
municipio boundary.

Executive Order 12866

    This notice has been determined to be not significant under 
Executive Order 12866.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This program notice does not represent a collection of information 
subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35.

    Dated: April 3, 2007.
Charles Louis Kincannon,
Director, Bureau of the Census.
[FR Doc. E7-6465 Filed 4-5-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P