[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 32 (Thursday, February 15, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6934-6936]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-02623]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of the Census

[Docket Number 171002956-7974-01]


Census Designated Places (CDPs) for the 2020 Census--Proposed 
Criteria

AGENCY: Bureau of the Census, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of proposed program and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Census Bureau is publishing this notice in the Federal 
Register to request comments from the public and other government 
agencies on the criteria and guidelines for identifying Census 
designated places (CDPs). The Census Bureau will respond to the 
comments in the Federal Register notice announcing the final criteria. 
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 separate Federal 
Register notices, the PSAP program is seeking comment on the review and 
update of census tracts, block groups, and census county divisions.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before May 14, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Please direct all written comments on this proposed program 
to Vincent Osier, Geographic Standards, Criteria, and Quality Branch, 
Geography Division, U.S. Census Bureau, Room 4H173, 4600 Silver Hill 
Road, Washington, DC 20233-7400. Email: [email protected]. 
Phone: 301-763-3056 (PSAP Hotline).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information on 
this proposed program should be directed to Vincent Osier, Geographic 
Standards, Criteria, and Quality Branch, Geography Division, U.S. 
Census Bureau, Room 4H173, 4600 Silver Hill Road, Washington, DC 20233-
7400. Email: [email protected]. Phone: 301-763-3056 (PSAP 
hotline).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. History

    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 2020 Census will also be used 
to tabulate American Community Survey, Puerto Rico Community Survey, 
and Economic Census data after 2020, and potentially data from other 
Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) censuses and surveys.
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    \1\ The term CDP includes comunidades and zonas urbanas in 
Puerto Rico.
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    The CDP concept and delineation criteria have evolved over the past 
six 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.
    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'' in the 1950, 1960 and 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 residents in 1970, allowed for CDPs in 
urbanized areas in New England in 1980, and

[[Page 6935]]

lowered the threshold for CDPs within urbanized areas to 2,500 in 1990. 
In time, other population thresholds were adopted for identification of 
CDPs in Alaska, Puerto Rico, the Island Areas, and on American Indian 
reservations (AIRs). 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 the 2010 Census, more than 38.7 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 typically 
refers to only the fifty states and the District of Columbia and 
does not include the U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, the Island 
Areas, and the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands).
    \4\ The Island Areas include the U.S. territories American 
Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and 
the U.S. Virgin Islands. There are no CDPs in American Samoa or the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands because villages are 
considered incorporated places and cover the entire territory and 
population in each territory.
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II. CDP Criteria and Guidelines for the 2020 Census

    The criteria proposed herein apply to the United States, including 
AIRs 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 2020 Census.
    The Census Bureau proposes the following criteria and guidelines 
for use in identifying the areas that will qualify for designation as 
CDPs for use in tabulating data from the 2020 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 rather than 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. In the past, communities were often combined as a single CDP in 
order to comply with the Census Bureau's former minimum population 
requirements. The Census Bureau's elimination of population threshold 
criteria starting with Census 2000 made such combinations unnecessary. 
Other communities were combined because visible features were not 
available for use as boundaries for separate CDPs. The Census Bureau's 
policy to allow the use of some nonvisible boundaries so that 
participants can separate individual communities has dispensed with the 
need to have multi-place CDPs.
    Multiple communities may only be combined to form a single CDP when 
the identities of these communities have become so intertwined that the 
communities are commonly perceived and referenced as a single place. 
For example, the communities of Arden and Arcade in California have 
grown together over time and residents commonly use the place name 
Arden-Arcade. Further, because of the intertwined identity, residents 
would have difficulty identifying a boundary between the separate, 
historical communities of Arden and Arcade. Multiple communities may 
also be defined as a single CDP when there are no distinguishable or 
suitable features in the landscape that can be used as a boundary 
between the communities, even if the two communities still have 
separate identities. For example, the CDP of Ashton-Sandy Spring in 
Maryland encompasses two communities that still maintain separate 
identities in common, daily usage. The two communities, however, have 
grown together to such an extent that a clear break between the two 
communities is no longer identifiable in the landscape. In general, 
when considering whether to combine multiple communities as a single 
CDP, the following questions should be taken into account:
     Do residents commonly perceive and refer to the 
communities as a single entity?
     Are there landscape elements, such as signs, that use a 
hyphenated name for the community?
     Can residents or other knowledgeable individuals identify 
clear, commonly accepted boundaries for the individual communities?
    2. A CDP generally consists of a contiguous cluster of census 
blocks comprising a single piece of territory and containing a mix of 
residential, nonresidential, 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, 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 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.
    5. There are no minimum population or housing unit thresholds for 
defining CDPs; however, a CDP must contain some population or housing 
units or both. For the 2020 Census, the Census Bureau will not accept a 
CDP delineated with zero population and zero housing units. The Census 
Bureau recognizes that some communities, such as a 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 nonresidential structures, providing the basis for local 
perception of the place's existence. The Census Bureau will review the 
number of housing units within the place, as reported in the previous 
decennial census or as seen in imagery, and consider whether additional 
information is needed before recognizing the CDP. Participants 
submitting boundaries for places with less than ten housing units may 
be asked to provide additional information attesting to the existence 
of the CDP.
    6. 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, minor civil division (in the six New 
England states, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, 
Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin), or incorporated place. CDP boundaries may 
follow other nonvisible features in instances where reliance upon 
visible features would result in overbounding of the CDP in order to 
include housing units on both sides of a road or street

[[Page 6936]]

feature. Such boundaries might include parcel boundaries and public 
land survey system lines; fence lines; national, state, or local park 
boundaries; ridgelines; or drainage ditches.
    7. The CDP name should be one that is recognized and used in daily 
communication by the residents of the community. Because unincorporated 
communities generally 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; or 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.
    8. A CDP may not have the same name as an adjacent or nearby 
incorporated place. If the community does not have a name that 
distinguishes it from other nearby communities, then the community is 
not a distinct place. The 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. 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 2010 CDP for the 2020 Census if the 
new name provides a better identification of the community.

III. Definitions of Key Terms

    American Indian off-reservation trust land--An area of land located 
outside the boundaries of an AIR whose boundaries are established by 
deed and which are held in trust by the U.S. federal government for a 
federally recognized American Indian tribe or members of that tribe.
    American Indian reservation (AIR)--An area of land 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 ``reservation,'' 
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 Census Bureau. A block is the 
smallest geographic entity for which the Census Bureau tabulates and 
publishes decennial census data.
    Census county division (CCD)--Areas delineated by the Census Bureau 
in cooperation with state, tribal, and local officials for statistical 
purposes. CCDs have no legal function and are not governmental units. 
CCD boundaries usually follow visible features and usually coincide 
with census tract boundaries. The name of each CCD is based on a place, 
county, or well-known local name that identifies its location.
    Coextensive--A description of two or more geographic entities that 
cover exactly the same area, with all boundaries shared.
    Colonia--A small, generally unincorporated community located in one 
of the states on the U.S.-Mexico border where residents often build or 
provide their own housing and that usually lacks utilities, paved 
roads, and other infrastructure typically found other similarly sized 
communities.
    Comunidad--A CDP 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--A description of areas sharing common boundary lines, 
more than a single point, such that the areas, when combined, form a 
single piece of territory. Noncontiguous areas form disjoint pieces.
    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.
    Minor civil division (MCD)--The primary governmental or 
administrative division of a county in 28 states and the Island Areas 
having legal boundaries, names, and descriptions. The 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 on the ground 
and in imagery such as a city or county boundary through space, a 
property line, or line-of-sight extension of a road.
    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 
boundaries of UAs at the time of each decennial census.
    Visible feature--A map feature that can be seen on the ground and 
in imagery, such as a road, railroad track, major above-ground 
transmission line or pipeline, river, 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 used as boundaries for 
the PSAP geographic areas 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.

    Dated: January 22, 2018.
Ron S. Jarmin,
Associate Director for Economic Programs, Performing the Non-Exclusive 
Functions and Duties of the Director, Bureau of the Census.
[FR Doc. 2018-02623 Filed 2-14-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P