Download and Optionally Geoprocess ZCTAs — zi_get

This function returns geometric data for ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs), which are rough approximations of many (but not all) USPS ZIP codes. Downloading and processing these data will be heavily affected by your internet connection, your choice for the cb argument, and the processing power of your computer (if you select specific counties).

Usage

zi_get_geometry(
  year,
  style = "zcta5",
  return = "id",
  class = "sf",
  state = NULL,
  county = NULL,
  territory = NULL,
  cb = FALSE,
  starts_with = NULL,
  includes = NULL,
  excludes = NULL,
  method = NULL,
  shift_geo = FALSE
)

Arguments

year

A four-digit numeric scalar for year. zippeR currently supports data between 2010 and 2024

style

A character scalar - either "zcta5" or "zcta3". See Details below.

return

A character scalar; if "id" (default), only the five-digit number of each ZCTA (or three-digit if style = "zcta3") is returned. This is the only valid option for style = "zcta3". For style = "zcta5", if return = "full", all TIGER/Line columns are returned.

class

A character scalar; if "sf" (default), a sf object suitable for mapping will be returned. If "tibble", an object that omits the geometric data will be returned instead.

state

A character scalar or vector with character state abbreviations (e.x. "MO") or numeric FIPS codes (e.x. 29). ZCTAs that are within the given states (determined based on a combination of year and method) will be returned. See Details below for more information. This argument is optional unless a argument is also specified for county.

county

A character scalar or vector with character GEOIDs (e.x. "29510"). ZCTAs that are within the given states (determined based on a combination of year and method) will be returned. See Details below for more information. This argument is optional.

territory

A character scalar or vector with character territory abbreviations (e.x. "PR") or numeric FIPS codes (e.x. 72). ZCTAs that are within the given territories will be returned. By default, all territories are excluded. The five territory abbreviations are: "AS" (American Samoa), "GU" (Guam), "MP" (Northern Mariana Islands), "PR" (Puerto Rico), and "VI" (U.S. Virgin Islands).

cb

A logical scalar; if FALSE, the most detailed TIGER/Line data will be used for style = "zcta5". If TRUE, a generalized (1:500k) version of the data will be used. The generalized data will download significantly faster, though they show less detail. According to the tigris::zctas() documentation, the download size if TRUE is ~65MB while it is ~500MB if cb = FALSE.

This argument does not apply to style = "zcta3", which only returns generalized data. It also does not apply if class = "tibble".

starts_with

A character scalar or vector containing the first two digits of a GEOID or ZCTA3 value to return. It defaults to NULL, which will return all ZCTAs in the US. For example, supplying the argument starts_with = c("63", "64") will return only those ZCTAs or ZCTA3s that begin with 63 or 64. If you supply a state or a county, that will limit the data this argument is applied to, potentially leading to missed ZCTAs.

includes

A character scalar or vector containing GEOID's or ZCTA3 values to include when finalizing output. This may be necessary depending on what is identified with the method argument.

excludes

A character scalar or vector containing GEOID's or ZCTA3 values to exclude when finalizing output. This may be necessary depending on what is identified with the method argument.

method

A character scalar - either "intersect" or "centroid". See Details below.

shift_geo

A logical scalar; if TRUE, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico will be re-positioned so that the lie to the southwest of the continental United States. This defaults to FALSE, and can only be used when states are not listed for the state argument. It does not apply if class = "tibble".

Value

A sf object (or tibble if class = "tibble") with ZCTAs matching the parameters specified above: either a nationwide file, a specific state or states, or a specific county or counties. Returns NULL if the Census Bureau download fails or if state validation yields no matching ZCTAs.

Details

This function contains options for both the type of ZCTA and, optionally, for how state and county data are identified. For type, either five-digit or three-digit ZCTA geometries are available. The three-digit ZCTAs were created by geoprocessing the five-digit boundaries for each year, and then applying a modest amount of simplification (with sf::st_simplify()) to reduce file size. The source files are available on GitHub at https://github.com/chris-prener/zcta3.

Since ZCTAs cross state lines, two methods are used to create these geometry data for years 2012 and beyond for states and all years for counties. The "intersect" method will return ZCTAs that border the states or counties selected. In most cases, this will result in more ZCTAs being returned than are actually within the states or counties selected. Conversely, the "centroid" method will return only ZCTAs whose centroids (geographical centers) lie within the states or counties named. In most cases, this will return fewer ZCTAs than actually lie within the states or counties selected. Users will need to review their data carefully and will likely need to use the include and exclude arguments to finalize the geographies returned.

For state-level data in 2010 and 2011, the Census Bureau published individual state files that will be utilized automatically by zippeR. If county-level data are requested for these years, the state-specific file will be used as a base before identifying ZCTAs within counties using either the "intersect" or "centroid" method described above.

Examples

if (FALSE) { # interactive()
  # five-digit ZCTAs
  ## download all ZCTAs for 2020 including territories
  zi_get_geometry(year = 2020, territory = c("AS", "GU", "MP", "PR", "VI"),
      shift_geo = TRUE)

  ## download all ZCTAs for 2020 excluding territories
  zi_get_geometry(year = 2020, shift_geo = TRUE)

  ## download all ZCTAs in a selection of states, intersects method
  zi_get_geometry(year = 2020, state = c("IA", "IL", "MO"), method = "intersect")

  ## download all ZCTAs in a single county - St. Louis City, MO
  zi_get_geometry(year = 2020, state = "MO", county = "29510",
      method = "intersect")

  # three-digit ZCTAs
  ## download all ZCTAs for 2018 including territories
  zi_get_geometry(year = 2018, territory = c("AS", "GU", "MP", "PR", "VI"),
      shift_geo = TRUE)
}