The FFIEC Geocoding System allows you to retrieve Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), State, County, and Census Tract codes for street addresses. Beginning with 2004, Metropolitan Area was changed to a 5-digit Metropolitan Statistical Area/Metropolitan Division (MSA/MD) number). It is primarily intended to assist financial institutions covered by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) and Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to meet their reporting obligation. However, the system is also useful for obtaining demographic information (mainly population and income data). Requirements This system requires you to enter a street address along with a city and state OR a zip code. You do not need to fill in all four fields. Make sure that your address is accurate. If it is a street, do not enter it as an avenue or boulevard, etc. Do not include apartment numbers with the street number and address. Include the correct city and state or zip code for the street address. The System does not geocode P.O. Boxes or Rural Routes. Once you have entered the address information in the appropriate boxes, click on the 'Search' button to obtain the geocodes. The 'Reset' button erases the information you have entered. When an address is not found It is possible that a provided street address will not be found and consequently no geocode information will be returned. While this should not occur frequently, it is normal because the geocode database that the FFIEC uses to map street addresses is current only to certain dates, and street addresses added after that date will not be located. Even after the next update is received, it is still possible for an address to not be included in the database and geocode information still will not be found. To overcome this problem the FFIEC added a feature to the geocoding system that displays an area street map based on a combination of street address and zip code, or street address, city and state. A red triangle will mark the center of the zip code area on the display. Click on the map and zoom in/out to locate the cross streets for the address and identify a census tract code. In addition, there are census tract maps and other tools available from the U.S. Census Bureau. Be Aware The information provided by this system is for the reporting of 2005, 2006, and 2007 CRA and HMDA data. Geocoding information for the three years is based on the 2000 Census tract definitions. It is critical that you select the correct activity year when using the FFIEC Geocoding System. If you are geocoding for a year other than 2005, 2006, or 2007, the information may not be valid. The state and county codes can change when a new state or county is created (e.g., Broomfield County, CO was created in 2004), and census tract codes are only adjusted every ten years in conjunction with the decennial Census. However, MSA and MetroDiv boundaries are adjusted annually. These boundary adjustments are determined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and are usually published in June. The new MSA, MetroDiv and county information is used in CRA and HMDA reporting beginning the January after the June announcement by OMB. Although annual modifications are usually minor, it is important to understand that these modifications will affect the validity of your data.

In June 2003, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) established revised definitions for existing Metropolitan Statistical Areas, recognized 49 new Metropolitan Statistical Areas, and designated Metropolitan Divisions in those Metropolitan Statistical Areas that have a single core with a population of at least 2.5 million. There are 11 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington) that have a total of 29 Metropolitan Divisions. In these cases, the 5-digit Metropolitan Division number is used. Beginning January 1, 2004 the Metropolitan Division number appears as the MSA/MD code in the Geocoding Search Results instead of the Metropolitan Statistical Area number for the larger populated area.

In December 2003, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) replaced the previous Metropolitan Statistical Areas with the following:

• Suffolk County-Nassau County, NY Metropolitan Division (code 44844) was changed to Nassau-Suffolk, NY Metropolitan Division (code 35004)
• Bristol, VA Metropolitan Statistical Area (code 14980) was deleted and its component entities (Bristol city, VA and Washington County, VA) were added to Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA Metropolitan Statistical Area (code 28700)
• Florence, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area (code 22460) was changed to Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area (code 22520)

In November 2004, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) updated statistical areas to include changes in principal cities and in area titles. The listing of changes are provided below:

• Kissimmee, FL qualifies as a new principal city of the Orlando, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area. New title: Orlando-Kissimmee, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area.
• Vienna, WV qualifies as a new principal city of the Parkersburg-Marietta, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area. New title: Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area.
• Goleta, CA no longer qualifies as a principal city of the Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. New title: Santa Barbara-Santa Maria, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
• Gaithersburg, MD replaces Frederick, MD as the second largest principal city within the metropolitan division. New title: Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick, MD Metropolitan Division.
• Mission, TX replaces Pharr, TX as the third largest principal city within the metropolitan statistical area. New title: McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area.
• Sugar Land, TX replaces Baytown, TX as the second largest principal city within the metropolitan statistical area. New title: Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area.
• White Plains, NY replaces Wayne, NJ as the second largest principal city within the metropolitan division. New title: New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ Metropolitan Division.
  

Effective for 2005 data, a Distressed/Underserved column indicator was added to the system. A ‘Yes’ in this column indicates that the tract is designated as Nonmetropolitan Middle-Income Distressed or Underserved geography based on criteria designated by federal banking and thrift regulators.

In December 2005, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) updated statistical areas to include changes in principal cities and in area titles. The change is provided below:

• Vero Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area (code 46940) was changed to Sebastian-Vero Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area (code 42680).

• Two new MSAs:
  • Lake Havasu City-Kingman, Arizona (MSA 29420, consisting of Mohave County, code 015);
  • Palm Coast, Florida (MSA 37380, consisting of Flagler County, code 035).
• Essex County, Massachusetts Metropolitan Division (MD 21604) was changed to Peabody, Massachusetts Metropolitan Division (code 37764). The only county in MD 37764 is Essex (code 009).
  

Please see the OMB Bulletins for more information.