Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)
Overview
Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) is a standardized set of numeric or alphanumeric codes issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to ensure uniform identification of geographic entities such as states and counties. FIPS codes are widely used in government data systems, census products, and geographic databases.
Key Concepts
State FIPS is a two-digit code uniquely identifying each U.S. state and territory. County FIPS is a three-digit code identifying counties within a state. FIPS 5-digit is the concatenation of state (2) + county (3) codes for unique county identification. Place FIPS is a five-digit code identifying incorporated places and census-designated places. GEOID is a geographic identifier that extends FIPS codes to smaller geographic units.
Code Structure
| Level | Digits | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| State | 2 | 36 | New York |
| County | 3 | 061 | New York County (Manhattan) |
| State+County | 5 | 36061 | New York County, NY |
| Tract | 6 | 000100 | Census tract within county |
| Block Group | 1 | 1 | Block group within tract |
| Block | 4 | 1001 | Block within block group |
Appendix
Created: 2025-12-13 | Modified: 2025-12-13
See Also
- Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER)
- US Census Bureau
- Block Group (BG)