National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA): Land Cover by Census Tract and ZIP Code Tabulation Area, United States, 1985-2023 (ICPSR 38598)
Version Date: Apr 7, 2025 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Robert Melendez, University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research;
Philippa Clarke, University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research;
Longrong Pan, University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research;
Mao Li, University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research;
Anam Khan, University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research;
Iris Gomez-Lopez, University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research;
Grace Noppert, University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research;
Megan Chenoweth, University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research;
Lindsay Gypin, University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research
Series:
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38598.v2
Version V2 (see more versions)
Summary View help for Summary
This collection contains measures of land cover (e.g., low-, medium-, or high-density development, forest, wetland, open water) derived from the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) and aggregated by United States census tract and ZIP code tabulation area (ZCTA). For each land type, land cover is measured both in total square meters and as a proportion of all land of that type within the tract or the ZCTA.
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Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
Census tract and ZIP code tabulation area
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
- The data and documentation for National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA): Land Cover by Census Tract, United States, 2001-2016 and National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA): Land Cover by ZIP Code Tabulation Area, United States, 2001-2016 were originally deposited in openICPSR.
- A ZIP code to ZCTA crosswalk must be used to combine the ZCTA dataset with ZIP code geocoded data. A crosswalk and sample code for merging the crosswalk with National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA) datasets are available in the ICPSR Linkage Library.
- To improve accessibility and accommodate users with limited computing power, an un-curated version of the data, divided into five-year increments with separate files for each period from 1985 to 2023, is available via openICPSR.
- For additional information see the National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA).
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The purpose of these data are to measure land cover based on National Land Cover Database specifications in the continental United States.
Study Design View help for Study Design
The research team used measures derived from the 2016 National Land Cover Database (NLCD) spatial data released by the U.S. Geological Survey. The team then aggregated the data into annual measures by census tract and ZIP code tabulation area.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
All census tracts and ZIP code tabulation areas in the continental United States. No data is available for Alaska, Hawaii, or the United States territories.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Source View help for Data Source
Data and documentation for the ZCTA-level data were originally deposited in openICPSR project 128862.
Data and documentation for the census tract-level data were originally deposited in openICPSR project 110663.
Census tract boundaries were obtained from the 2010 and 2020 TIGER/Line shapefiles from the United States Census Bureau (2012, 2019, 2021, 2024).
ZIP code tabulation area boundaries were obtained from the 2010 or 2020 TIGER/Line shapefiles from the United States Census Bureau (2012, 2019, 2021, 2024).
Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium. "National Land Cover Database (CONUS), All Years," 2016. https://www.mrlc.gov/data/nlcd-land-cover-conus-all-years.
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
Variables include measures of green space and blue space (e.g. open water, deciduous forest, evergreen forest) and categories of developed space (e.g. low intensity, medium intensity, high intensity development). For each category of land cover, measures include both the total land cover in each census tract/ZIP code tabulation area (ZCTA) in square meters and the proportion of land coverage of that type in each tract/ZCTA. These data are in long format with a row for each Census 2010 tract FIPS code for each year (1985-2023).
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2022-12-07
Version History View help for Version History
2025-04-07 The data were updated to include ICPSR's full product suite and updated data through 2023. The data files have also been organized by year (2010 and 2020) and geography (Census Tract and ZIP Code Tabulation Area).
2022-12-07 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Notes
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.