Metopio does not invent GEOIDs - they have been in use for many years and are assigned by authorities like the US Census Bureau.

Use the reference below to understand what the GEOID looks like for each geographic layer.

States - The two-letter postal code: VA for Virginia. (When importing data, you can also use the state's FIPS code, which is a two-digit number.)

Counties - The five-digit FIPS code assigned by the Census Bureau. 17031 for Cook County, IL.

Cities and Towns - The seven-digit FIPS code assigned by the Census Bureau. 1714000 for Chicago, IL.

ZIP Codes - The ZIP code itself. 10016 for 10016, Manhattan, NY. Please note that the ZIP codes in Metopio are actually ZIP Code Tabulation Areas so your ZIP code may need to be converted to a ZCTA to find it here.

Census Tracts - The eleven-digit FIPS code assigned by the Census Bureau. The Empire State Building is in tract 36061007600.

Congressional Districts - The two-letter state postal code followed by the two-digit number of the district (zero-padded). NY03 for New York's 3rd District. At-large districts have the number 00: WY00 for Wyoming's state-wide district. At-large districts without representation in Congress have the number 98: DC98, PR98. We use districts as of the 2020 redistricting round.

State House Districts - The letters "LL" (for lower legislative branch) followed by the FIPS code of the district, which is the state's numeric FIPS code and the district's three-digit number, zero-padded. LL17010 is Illinois' 10th house district ("17" is Illinois' numeric FIPS code).

State Senate Districts - The letters "UL" (for upper legislative branch) followed by the FIPS code of the district, which is the state's numeric FIPS code and the district's three-digit number, zero-padded. UL17010 is Illinois' 10th senate district ("17" is Illinois' numeric FIPS code).

Local Districts - The GEOID of the city or county the district belongs to, followed by the district's ID, with a hyphen in the middle. No zero padding. 1714000-25 for the 25th Ward of Chicago, IL. Some districts have letters rather than numbers: 4835000-H is Houston, TX's District H.

Neighborhoods - The GEOID of the city or county the neighborhood belongs to, followed by the neighborhood's ID, with a hyphen in the middle. No zero padding. 1714000-25 for the Austin neighborhood of Chicago, IL.

If the first digit of the GEOID is 0, you can leave it out, as for 01073 (Jackson County, AL) which can be represented as 1073.

You can download a list of all GEOIDs for any layer for reference.

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions