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 2007, 2008, and
2009 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 2007, 2008, or 2009, 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.
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 2006, 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:
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Two new MSAs:
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Lake Havasu City-Kingman, Arizona (MSA 29420, consisting of Mohave County, code
015);
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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).
In November 2007, 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:
-
Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area (code 42260) was
changed to Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area (code
14600).
In December 2008, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) updated statistical
areas to include changes in principal cities and in area titles. The changes are
provided below:
Geocoding System