tigris

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tigris is an R package that allows users to directly download and use TIGER/Line shapefiles (https://www.census.gov/geographies/mapping-files/time-series/geo/tiger-line-file.html) from the US Census Bureau.

To install the package from CRAN, issue the following command in R:

install.packages('tigris')

Or, get the development version from GitHub:

devtools::install_github('walkerke/tigris')

tigris functions return simple features objects with a default year of 2021. To get started, choose a function from the table below and use it with a state and/or county if required. You’ll get back an sf object for use in your mapping and spatial analysis projects:

library(tigris)
library(ggplot2)

manhattan_roads <- roads("NY", "New York")

ggplot(manhattan_roads) + 
  geom_sf() + 
  theme_void()

tigris only returns feature geometries for US Census data which default to the coordinate reference system NAD 1983 (EPSG: 4269). For US Census demographic data (optionally pre-joined to tigris geometries), try the tidycensus package. For help deciding on an appropriate coordinate reference system for your project, take a look at the crsuggest package.

To learn more about how to use tigris, read Chapter 5 of the book Analyzing US Census Data: Methods, Maps, and Models in R.

Python users may also be interested in pygris, a Python port of the tigris package.

Available datasets:

Please note: cartographic boundary files in tigris are not available for 2011 and 2012.

Function Datasets available Years available
nation() cartographic (1:5m; 1:20m) 2013-2022
divisions() cartographic (1:500k; 1:5m; 1:20m) 2013-2022
regions() cartographic (1:500k; 1:5m; 1:20m) 2013-2022
states() TIGER/Line; cartographic (1:500k; 1:5m; 1:20m) 1990, 2000, 2010-2022
counties() TIGER/Line; cartographic (1:500k; 1:5m; 1:20m) 1990, 2000, 2010-2022
tracts() TIGER/Line; cartographic (1:500k) 1990, 2000, 2010-2022
block_groups() TIGER/Line; cartographic (1:500k) 1990, 2000, 2010-2022
blocks() TIGER/Line 2000, 2010-2022
places() TIGER/Line; cartographic (1:500k) 2011-2022
pumas() TIGER/Line; cartographic (1:500k) 2012-2022
school_districts() TIGER/Line; cartographic 2011-2022
zctas() TIGER/Line; cartographic (1:500k) 2000, 2010, 2012-2022
congressional_districts() TIGER/Line; cartographic (1:500k; 1:5m; 1:20m) 2011-2022
state_legislative_districts() TIGER/Line; cartographic (1:500k) 2011-2022
voting_districts() TIGER/Line 2012, 2020
area_water() TIGER/Line 2011-2022
linear_water() TIGER/Line 2011-2022
coastline TIGER/Line() 2013-2022
core_based_statistical_areas() TIGER/Line; cartographic (1:500k; 1:5m; 1:20m) 2011-2022
combined_statistical_areas() TIGER/Line; cartographic (1:500k; 1:5m; 1:20m) 2011-2022
metro_divisions() TIGER/Line 2011-2022
new_england() TIGER/Line; cartographic (1:500k) 2011-2022
county_subdivisions() TIGER/Line; cartographic (1:500k) 2010-2022
urban_areas() TIGER/Line; cartographic (1:500k) 2012-2022
primary_roads() TIGER/Line 2011-2022
primary_secondary_roads() TIGER/Line 2011-2022
roads() TIGER/Line 2011-2022
rails() TIGER/Line 2011-2022
native_areas() TIGER/Line; cartographic (1:500k) 2011-2022
alaska_native_regional_corporations() TIGER/Line; cartographic (1:500k) 2011-2022
tribal_block_groups() TIGER/Line 2011-2022
tribal_census_tracts() TIGER/Line 2011-2022
tribal_subdivisions_national() TIGER/Line 2011-2022
landmarks() TIGER/Line 2011-2022
military() TIGER/Line 2011-2022