2010 Census Urban Area Lists Released

Urbanized Area and Urban Cluster Lists Released

Urban Area boundaries based on the 2010 Census

March 26, 2012 |  U.S. Census Bureau - Geography Division

Urban Area Population

Press Release & Federal Register Notice

On Monday, March 26, the Census Bureau announced the list of urbanized areas and urban clusters defined on the basis of the 2010 Census.  The official announcement [pdf] occurred via the Federal Register, with the notice providing lists of urbanized areas and urban clusters and their respective 2010 Census populations.  The official publication date for the notice is Tuesday, March 27; however, the notice is available for public viewing on the morning of March 26.  The announcement of urban and rural areas also occurred via a press release providing information about the 2010 urban areas as well as urban and rural population in the United States and Puerto Rico.
Urban Area

Products Released with Announcement

In conjunction with the announcement, the Census Bureau’s Geography Division released the following items:
1. Lists of urbanized areas and urban clusters with 2010 population, land area, and population density;
2. Urbanized area/urban cluster TIGER/Line shapefiles;
3. Updated 2010 census block shapefiles with urban/rural flag and urban area code;
4. Files providing relationships between urbanized areas/urban clusters and counties, places, county subdivisions, ZCTAs, and metro/micro areas;
5. A 2010 urban area to 2000 urban area relationship file;
6. Census 2000 to 2010 Census population and land area change for urbanized areas;
7. Urban/rural population by state;
8. Urban/rural population by county;
     Distribution of urbanized areas and urban clusters
     New urbanized areas
     Percentage of population that is urban by county
     Percentage of population in urbanized areas by county
     Ten most populous urbanized areas

Please see our Urban and Rural Classification and Urban Area Criteria website for additional information and additional product formats.