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USAboundaries

ANALYTICS
Velocity0.0

Historical and Contemporary Boundaries of the United States of America

github.com/ropensci/USAboundaries ↗

Seven years dormant, then two releases dragging every census boundary from 2020 to 2024

geospatialcensus-datasfboundary-datadata-refresh
◆Current state
USAboundaries supplies contemporary and historical US boundary data — states, counties, congressional districts, cities, ZIP code tabulation areas — as sf objects, with the bulk data held in a companion USAboundariesData package. After a gap running from 2018 to late 2025, two releases a month apart refreshed the contemporary census vintage from 2020 to 2024: 0.5.0 covered everything except states, and 0.5.1 finished the job.
◆Where it's heading
For a data package the release cycle is the data vintage, and the 0.3.0 split into a separate data package was designed precisely so those refreshes would not require a code release. That the 2024 update still arrived as two package versions seven years later says the mechanism is being used sparingly. Nothing in the feed shows work on the API itself since us_cities() gained an sf return type and a states argument in 2018.
◆Prediction
The next release is most likely another vintage refresh when the census data moves again, rather than new geographies or functions. The split of 0.5.0 and 0.5.1 suggests state boundaries are handled on a separate path from the rest and may lag again.

◆Recent moves

  1. 9mo ago

    State boundaries updated to the 2024 census vintage

    Brings state boundaries up to the 2024 census vintage, completing what 0.5.0 had deliberately left out, and updates the installation instructions. For a data package the vintage is the product, so this is the half of the refresh that matters most to anyone mapping at state level.

    View source ↗
  2. 10mo ago

    Census data refreshed to 2024, states excepted

    Moves contemporary census data from the 2020 to the 2024 vintage for every geography except states — the first substantive update in seven years. Counties and congressional districts shifting vintage means district geometry from the intervening redistricting cycle finally lands.

    View source ↗
  3. 8y ago

    us_cities() returns sf and gains a states argument

    Finishes the sf conversion by making us_cities() return an sf object rather than a plain data frame, and gives it a states argument matching the rest of the package. The remaining changes are documentation work done for JOSS peer review, including a vignette and a paper citation.

    View source ↗
  4. 9y ago

    Data split into a companion package; all boundaries become sf

    ⚡ SPARK

    Converts every boundary object to sf, moves the bulk data into the separate USAboundariesData package, and adds state plane projections, ZIP code tabulation area centroids and historical city populations. This release defines the shape the package still has today — the 2024 refresh eight years later is an update to exactly the arrangement set up here.

    View source ↗
  5. 9y ago

    Contemporary state, county and district boundaries added

    Adds contemporary boundaries for states, counties and congressional districts alongside the historical data, and cuts the import list — us_boundaries() drops its fortified data frame option on the assumption that callers will convert to whatever format they need. Published within a minute of 0.3.0, so both appear as a single backfill of the package's early history.

    View source ↗