Map of Census Tracts on Cleveland's Near West Side.

Go to American FactFinder interactive version of this map  

Definition from US Census Geography Glossary (excerpts): 

Census tracts are small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a county or statistically equivalent entity. The primary purpose of census tracts is to provide a stable set of geographic units for the presentation of decennial census ata. This is the first decennial census for which the entire United States is covered by census tracts.

Census tracts in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands of the United States generally have between 1,500 and 8,000 people, with an optimum size of 4,000 people.

Counties and statistically equivalent entities with fewer than 1,500 people have a single census tract. Census tracts on American Indian reservations, off-reservation trust lands, and special places must contain a minimum of 1,000 people. (Special places include correctional institutions, military installations, college campuses, workers’ dormitories, hospitals, nursing homes, and group homes.)

This data map shows the population density of Cuyahoga County census tracts. It also shows the trend toward smaller tracts in more populous areas.  On the American FactFinder interactive map, you can click each of these tracts to see its data. 

When first delineated, census tracts are designed to be relatively homogeneous with respect to population characteristics, economic status, and living conditions. The spatial size of census tracts varies widely depending on the density of settlement.

Census tract boundaries are delineated with the intention of being maintained over many decades so that statistical comparisons can be made from decennial census to decennial census.

However, physical changes in street patterns caused by highway construction, new developments, and so forth, may require occasional boundary revisions. In addition, census tracts occasionally are split due to population growth or combined as a result of substantial population decline.

Census tracts are identified by a four-digit basic number from 1 to 9999, and may have a two-digit numeric suffix; for example, 6059.02. The decimal point separating the four-digit basic tract number from the two-digit suffix is shown in the printed reports and on census maps. In computer-readable files, the decimal point is implied. Many census tracts do not have a suffix; in such cases, the suffix field is either left blank or is zero-filled. Leading zeros in a census tract number (for example, 002502) are shown only in computer-readable files. Census tract numbers are unique within a county or statistically equivalent entity.

Census tract suffixes may range from .01 to .98. For the 1990 census, some counties had census tracts and others had block numbering areas (BNAs); the .99 suffix was reserved for census tracts/block numbering areas (BNAs) that contained only crews-of-vessels population.  for Census 2000, the crews-of-vessels population is included with the related census tract, and all BNAs were replaced by census tracts, which may or may not represent the same areas.

The U.S. Census Bureau reserves the basic census tract numbers 9400 to 9499 for census tracts delineated within or to encompass American Indian reservations and offreservation trust lands that exist in multiple states or counties (see TRIBAL CENSUS TRACTS). The number 0000 in computer-readable files identifies a census tract delineated to provide complete coverage of water area in territorial seas and the Great Lakes.