OVERVIEW OF CENSUS TRACT PROJECTIONS

Census tracts are statistical areas defined by the Census Bureau. In heavily populated areas a census tract is smaller than a city and usually smaller than a zip code. For example, San Francisco's Chinatown (a small area) is covered by three census tracts. In more rural areas, such as parts of eastern Alameda county, a single census tract can cover a very large geographic, but non-populous area. To compare, there are almost 300 zipcodes in the Bay Area, and over 1,400 census tracts.

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