Census Tract Boundary Files

The Census Tract Boundary Files portray the census tract boundaries for which Census data are disseminated. Census tracts are small, relatively stable geographic areas that usually have a population of 2,500 to 8,000. They are located in census metropolitan areas and in census agglomerations with an urban core population of 50,000 or more in the previous census. The files contain the boundaries of all census tracts located within census metropolitan areas and those census agglomerations which are part of the Census Tract Program.

There are two types of boundary files: digital and cartographic. Digital files depict the full extent of the geographical areas, including the coastal water area. Cartographic files depict the geographical areas using only the major land mass of Canada and its coastal islands. The files provide a framework for mapping and spatial analysis using commercially available geographic information systems (GIS) or other mapping software.

The Census Tract Boundary Files are portrayed in Lambert conformal conic projection and are based on the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83). A reference guide is available (92-160-GWE).