2015 Cartographic Boundary File, State-Congressional District-County for United States, 1:500,000

The 2015 cartographic boundary shapefiles are simplified representations of selected geographic areas from the U.S. Census Bureau's
                                 Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database (MTDB). These boundary files
                                 are specifically designed for small-scale thematic mapping. When possible, generalization is performed with the intent to maintain the
                                 hierarchical relationships among geographies and to maintain the alignment of geographies within a file set for a given year.
                                 Geographic areas may not align with the same areas from another year. Some geographies are available as nation-based files while others
                                 are available only as state-based files.

                                 The records in this file allow users to map the parts of the 114th Congressional Districts that overlap a particular county.

                                 Congressional Districts are the 435 areas from which people are elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.  After the apportionment
                                 of congressional seats among the states based on census population counts, each state is responsible for establishing congressional
                                 districts for the purpose of electing representatives.  Each congressional district is to be as equal in population to all other
                                 congressional districts in a state as practicable.  The 114th Congress is seated from January 2015 to 2017. The TIGER/Line shapefiles
                                 for the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas (American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
                                 Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) each contain a single record for the non-voting delegate district in these areas.  The boundaries
                                 of all other congressional districts are provided to the Census Bureau through the Redistricting Data Program (RDP).

                                 The primary legal divisions of most states are termed counties.  In Louisiana, these divisions are known as parishes.  In Alaska, which
                                 has no counties, the equivalent entities are the organized boroughs, city and boroughs, municipalities, and for the unorganized area,
                                 census areas.  The latter are delineated cooperatively for statistical purposes by the state of Alaska and the Census Bureau.  In four
                                 states (Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, and Virginia), there are one or more incorporated places that are independent of any county
                                 organization and thus constitute primary divisions of their states.  These incorporated places are known as independent cities and are
                                 treated as equivalent entities for purposes of data presentation.  The District of Columbia and Guam have no primary divisions, and
                                 each area is considered an equivalent entity for purposes of data presentation.  The Census Bureau treats the following entities as
                                 equivalents of counties for purposes of data presentation: Municipios in Puerto Rico, Districts and Islands in American Samoa,
                                 Municipalities in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Islands in the U.S. Virgin Islands.  The entire area of the
                                 United States, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas is covered by counties or equivalent entities.

                                 The boundaries for counties and equivalent entities are mostly as of January 1, 2013, primarily as reported through the Census Bureau's
                                 Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS).  However, some changes made after January 2013, including the addition and deletion of counties,
                                 are included.

Tags: 2015, borough, boundaries, cartographic boundary, census area, city, city and borough, congressional district, county, county equivalent, district, generalized, independent city, island, municipality, municipio, parish, shp, state, united states, us
Organization: U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce