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Census block

Term · Economic statistics · MLC-T-ECS-000252

A statistical area bounded by visible features, such as streets, roads, streams, and railroad tracks, and by nonvisible boundaries, such as selected property lines and city, township, school districts, and county boundaries.

A block is the smallest geographic unit for which the Census Bureau tabulates decennial census data.

Many blocks correspond to individual city blocks bounded by streets, but blocks - especially in rural areas - may include many square miles and may have some boundaries that are not streets. The Census Bureau established blocks covering the entire nation for the first time in 1990. Previous censuses back to 1940 had blocks established only for part of the nation. Over 8 million blocks were identified for Census 2000 and over 11 million blocks were identified for the 2010 Census.

Table 1. Record
IdentifierMLC-T-ECS-000252
FieldEconomic statistics
ReferencesU.S. Census Bureau Glossary
See alsoCensus geography; Census tract
Record as JSON
{
  "id": "MLC-T-ECS-000252",
  "term": "Census block",
  "field": "Economic statistics",
  "definition": "A statistical area bounded by visible features, such as streets, roads, streams, and railroad tracks, and by nonvisible boundaries, such as selected property lines and city, township, school districts, and county boundaries.\n\nA block is the smallest geographic unit for which the Census Bureau tabulates decennial census data.\n\nMany blocks correspond to individual city blocks bounded by streets, but blocks - especially in rural areas - may include many square miles and may have some boundaries that are not streets. The Census Bureau established blocks covering the entire nation for the first time in 1990. Previous censuses back to 1940 had blocks established only for part of the nation. Over 8 million blocks were identified for Census 2000 and over 11 million blocks were identified for the 2010 Census.",
  "see_also": [
    "Census geography",
    "Census tract"
  ],
  "references": [
    "U.S. Census Bureau Glossary"
  ],
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/economic-statistics/census-block/"
}

Record 252 of 2,177 in Economic statistics terminology (MLC-0116). Request the full dataset.