You are invited to read the definitions of terms used in this data standard. Type Character Field Syntax County name, up to a maximum of 50 characters, including the letters A-Z and punctuation marks. The .txt, .mdb, and .dbf files are zipped using PKZip. These electronic copies are current as of July 19, 2000.
Related information is also available.
Where existing systems and data-related items are not in compliance, they should be modified to achieve compatibility and implement this data standard. Counties in different states can have the same name. The Service data standard for State Name and Alpha Code can be viewed at this site . It references the full State names and unique two-letter FIPS alphabetic codes for representing the 50 States, the District of Columbia and the outlying areas of the United States, and associated areas. County names, State names, and the two-letter State alphabetic codes will be handled as separate data fields in any new or modified automated system, and will not be combined in a single data field.