community geography
locating community boundaries

census

zip codes

administrative

political

Once you get below the borough (county) level the different geographic boundaries can be absolutely dizzying. Depending on the type of information you are looking for the relevant geographical unit could be anything from a census tract to a health area. Amazingly, the geographical unit which seems to be the most important, the neighborhood, is a complete non-entity as far as geographers are concerned. Neither the New York City Department of City Planning, nor the Census Bureau officially recognizes boundaries for NYC's over 200 neighborhoods. The lack of geographical coherence at the neighborhood/community level can be a serious obstacle in acquiring data for your specific service area. In order to find the information you want you will have to rely on the different types of geographical boundaries that have already been determined. There are probably over a dozen such distinctions. Here are the most important:

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census

Below the county level, the Census Bureau has the following geographical hierarchy (from largest to smallest):

census tract (bna) -->
census block group -->
census block -->
(update on census 2000 block strategy)

For a more in depth review of census geography, check out the geographic areas reference manual.

Due to privacy and sampling size concerns, the level at which data is most readily available is at the census tract level. In New York City census tracts are typically several square city blocks and can have populations ranging from 1,500 to 10,000.

Census tracts are perhaps the most precise geographical units we have access to. Because they are so small, tracts afford the user a great deal of specificity in defining custom geographical areas: they can be used to aggregate anything from borough regions (e.g., the South Bronx) to neighborhoods (Bedford Park). Census tract definitions can sometiems be correlated to other geographic boundaries, such as police precincts, community boards or school districts in order to produce data for districts that do not exist in the census' own geographical hierarchy.

Unfortunately, it can be somewhat difficult to figure out which census tracts constitute your neighborhood. Here are some ways you can do just that.

Once you have comprised a list of the census tracts that constitute your service area, the census website allows you to download data for just those census tracts. For instructions on how to do that, click here.

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zip codes

After census tracts, the next largest and perhaps most useful geographical distinction is zip codes. Since the 1980, the census bureau has done statistical analysis by zip codes. Due to the increased demand for data analysis at the zip code level, the census bureau is introducing zip code tabulation areas (zcta's) for the 2000 census. These will be approximations of U.S Postal Service zip codes, slightly adjusted so as to keep all census tracts in tact.

Due to their mid-level size (bigger than census tracts but often smaller than neighborhoods) many organizations have found zip codes to be an indispensable geographic unit. Take a look at the zip code maps for the five boroughs to find which zip codes make up your area of interest.

Brooklyn
The Bronx
Manhattan
Queens
Staten Island

Like census tracts, the census bureau allows users to download data tabulated by zip code. Here's how to do it.

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administrative districts

Different city agencies have carved the city into districts in order to better provide their respective services. Most of the agencies also generate a good deal of useful data that can often be viewed on-line. Here are some of the most important:

community districts

Community Districts delineate the jurisdiction of the local Community Board. Of all the official administrative districts in the city, community districts usually correspond most closely to neighborhood boundaries. To find out which community board represents you, go to the community board index.

Once you've located the community district(s) you need, it might be nice to have access to data tabulated by community districts. Unfortunately the city institution that does this, The Department of City Planning, does not make their data available on-line. They do, however, publish the data in reports that are available through the department's map & bookstore. Usually, the most useful categories of reports are Facts and Figures about New York City and From the 1990 Census.

police precincts

Knowing which police precincts constitute your area is vital, so the NYPD provides an index of neighborhoods and their associated precincts. If you find the index ambiguous or insufficient, you can simply view the precinct maps yourself.

Knowing your police precincts is merely the first step in an uphill battle to get information from the NYPD. Here are some tips on acquiring crime statistics.

school districts

The New York City Board of Education divides the city into 34 school districts (plus seven high school divisions).To find the districts in your area go to the clickable school-district map.

The Board of Ed site provides an impressively comprehensive range of data. For instructions on how to access it, click here.

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political districts

city council

There are at least four different political boundaries in the city, but for community based organization the most important is probably the city council.

state assembly
state senate
congressional districts

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