tigris (version 0.5)

block_groups: Download a Census block groups shapefile into R, and optionally subset by county

Description

Description from the US Census Bureau (see link for source):Standard block groups are clusters of blocks within the same census tract that have the same first digit of their 4-character census block number. For example, blocks 3001, 3002, 3003..., 3999 in census tract 1210.02 belong to Block Group 3. Due to boundary and feature changes that occur throughout the decade, current block groups do not always maintain these same block number to block group relationships. For example, block 3001 might move due to a census tract boundary change but the block number will not change, even if it does not still fall in block group 3. However, the GEOID for that block, identifying block group 3, would remain the same in the attribute information in the TIGER/Line Shapefiles because block GEOIDs are always built using the decennial geographic codes.

Usage

block_groups(state, county = NULL, cb = FALSE, year = NULL, ...)

Arguments

state

The two-digit FIPS code (string) of the state you want. Can also be state name or state abbreviation.

county

The three-digit FIPS code (string) of the county you'd like to subset for, or a vector of FIPS codes if you desire multiple counties. Can also be a county name or vector of names.

cb

If cb is set to TRUE, download a generalized (1:500k) file. Defaults to FALSE (the most detailed TIGER/Line file)

year

the data download year (defaults to 2015)

...

arguments to be passed to the underlying `load_tiger` function, which is not exported. Options include refresh, which specifies whether or not to re-download shapefiles (defaults to FALSE).

Details

Block groups delineated for the 2010 Census generally contain between 600 and 3,000 people. Most block groups were delineated by local participants in the Census Bureau's Participant Statistical Areas Program (PSAP). The Census Bureau delineated block groups only where a local or tribal government declined to participate or where the Census Bureau could not identify a potential local participant.

A block group usually covers a contiguous area. Each census tract contains at least one block group and block groups are uniquely numbered within census tract. Within the standard census geographic hierarchy, block groups never cross county or census tract boundaries, but may cross the boundaries of county subdivisions, places, urban areas, voting districts, congressional districts, and American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian areas.

See Also

http://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/data/tiger/tgrshp2015/TGRSHP2015_TechDoc.pdf

Other general area functions: blocks, counties, county_subdivisions, places, pumas, school_districts, states, tracts, zctas

Examples

## Not run: ------------------------------------
# library(tigris)
# 
# benton_bgs <- block_groups("Oregon", "Benton")
# 
# plot(benton_bgs)
## ---------------------------------------------