U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Data Element: CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
You are invited to read the definitions of terms used in this data standard.
| Name |
Congressional District |
| Description |
Two-digit numeric codes that represent congressional districts and similar areas defined for the various Congresses of the United States. Congressional districts are legislatively defined subdivisions of a State for the purpose of electing representatives or delegates to the House of Representatives of the United States Congress. |
| Type |
Character Field (to allow leading zeros in this data field when required) |
| Syntax |
NN, where each N represents a number from 0 through 9. |
| Recommended Field Name | CONGDIST |
| Values |
The values and structure of the numeric codes to be used for this data element are described in the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) reference and are current until a FIPS PUBLICATION CHANGE NOTICE is issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology. |
| Source |
An electronic copy of the official list of Members of the House of
Representatives of the United States, state alpha codes, state numeric codes,
congressional district numeric codes, and party affiliations for the 108th Congress is
available in
ASCII
(.txt) format. These values are current as of March 19, 2004. The source files include
Region numbers to identify the congressional districts associated with each Region. Refer to Historical Data for the names of the Members of the House of Representatives of the United States, state alpha codes, state numeric codes, congressional district numeric codes, and party affiliations for the 107th Congress. A source for an electronic copy of Member names and congressional district numeric codes for the previous 101st through 106th Congress is not currently available. Lists and outline maps that identify the composition and boundaries of each congressional district are included in (1) a Department of Commerce/Bureau of the Census publication entitled "Congressional District Atlas", and (2) the "Congressional Directory" published for each Congress. Both documents are available from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 20402. |
| Historical Data | Previous versions of the data standard and ASCII (.txt) files of earlier revisions to the official list of Members of the House of Representatives of the United States, state alpha codes, state numeric codes, congressional district numeric codes, and party affiliations for the 108th Congress are available here: Revision 1 Previous versions of the data standard and ASCII (.txt) files of the official list of Members of the House of Representatives of the United States, state alpha codes, state numeric codes, congressional district numeric codes, and party affiliations for the 107th Congress are available here: Revision 1 Revision 2 The initial data standard and source data is available here: Congressional District |
| Reference(s) |
Part 270, FW 6, Data Management and Standards, dated September 30, 2002. Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 9-1, "Congressional Districts of the United States" dated November 30, 1990. Visit http://thomas.loc.gov for the House and Senate Directories of the 108th Congress. This site provides member lists and committee information for the108th Congress, as well as the previous 101st through 107th Congresses. Member lists include an alphabetical list of members with State and District information and a list of members by State. |
| Use Instructions |
As of the approval date, this data element will be used in any new
automated system, data set, database, or information application, including new Geographic
Information System (GIS) data and applications. This data element will also be used in any
major modifications to existing systems or versions of these data-related items that use
numeric codes to identify congressional districts or similar areas defined for the various
Congresses of the United States. To ensure compliance with the Service Information and Technology Architecture (SITA), Service staff are strongly encouraged to utilize this data element in existing systems, data sets, databases, and information applications. Where existing systems and data-related items are not in compliance, they should be modified to achieve compatibility and implement this data standard. Two-digit numeric codes are used to represent the congressional districts of each multi-district State (e.g., the First Congressional District is identified as "01", the Second Congressional District is identified as "02", etc.). For a State whose representative is designated "at large", the Congressional District is designated as "00". For an entity with a nonvoting delegate, such as the District of Columbia, the representational area is designated as "98". For entities with no representation in the Congress, such as the Northern Mariana Islands, the area is designated as "99". Congressional district codes are unique within each State and equivalent entity, and for each Congress; however, congressional districts in different states can have the same code (e.g., the First Congressional District of Alabama and Arizona are both coded "01"). Therefore, in data systems concerned with the identification of districts in more than one State, the congressional code must be preceded by the two-digit State numeric code, as prescribed by the Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 5-2, 1987 May 28, "Codes for the Identification of the States, the District of Columbia and the Outlying Areas of the United States, and Associated Areas." For example, the numeric code for the First Congressional District of Alabama is 0101, while the numeric code for the First Congressional District of Arizona is 0401. Data systems concerned with only one State may use only the single congressional district code. All single-digit congressional districts must have a leading zero. When automated systems use the congressional districts of more than one State and more than one Congress, the four-digit State and congressional district codes will be followed by a three-digit code to identify the number of the Congress. For example, the seven-digit numeric code for the First Congressional District of Arizona for the 95th Congress is 0401095, while the code for the 101st Congress is 0401101. When single and/or two-digit codes representing the number of the Congress are used in conjunction with the four-digit State and congressional district codes, leading zeros are required. The Service data standard for State Numeric Code can be viewed at this site. It references the unique two-digit FIPS numeric codes for representing the 50 States, the District of Columbia and the outlying areas of the United States, and associated areas. It also provides electronic copies of these values for download in ASCII (.txt) and Access (.mdb) formats. Congressional district and State numeric 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. A related Service data standard for the Congressional District Data Layer can also be viewed at this site. It references the spatial component of the congressional district information, using the same coding scheme as this data element. The various data layers for the 103rd through 108th Congresses can be downloaded from the Census Bureau as geographic information system (GIS) coverages and contain an electronic version of all the congressional district codes. |
| Phase |
Adopted |
| Approval Date |
July 13, 1999 |
| Validation Date |
December 28, 2004 |
| Data Steward |
Barbara White, National Data Administrator, Branch of Data and Systems Services, Division of Information Technology Management |
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Keywords=congressional, districts, Congress, House of Representatives,
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