Census-designated place

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A census-designated place (CDP)^[1][2][3] is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.

CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places,^[4] such as self-governing cities, towns, and villages, for the purposes of gathering and correlating statistical data. CDPs are populated areas that generally include one officially designated but currently unincorporated community, for which the CDP is named, plus surrounding inhabited countryside of varying dimensions and, occasionally, other, smaller unincorporated communities as well. CDPs include small rural communities, edge cities, colonias located along the Mexico–United States border, and unincorporated resort and retirement communities and their environs. The boundaries of any CDP may change from decade to decade, and the Census Bureau may de-establish a CDP after a period of study, then re-establish it some decades later. Most unincorporated areas within the United States are not and have not been included in any CDP.^[5]

The boundaries of a CDP have no legal status^[1] and may not always correspond with the local understanding of the area or community with the same name. However, criteria established for the 2010 census require that a CDP name "be one that is recognized and used in daily communication by the residents of the community" (not "a name developed solely for planning or other purposes") and recommend that a CDP's boundaries be mapped based on the geographic extent associated with inhabitants' regular use of the named place. There is no provision, however, that this name recognition be unanimous for all residents, or that all residents use the community for which the CDP is named for services provided therein. There is no mandatory correlation between CDP names or boundaries and those established for other human purposes, such as post office names or zones, political precincts, or school districts.^[5]

The Census Bureau states that census-designated places are not considered incorporated places and that it includes only census-designated places in its city population list for Hawaii because that state has no incorporated cities.^[6] In addition, census city lists from 2007 included Arlington County, Virginia's CDP in the list with the incorporated places,^[7] but since 2010, only the Urban Honolulu CDP, Hawaii, representing the historic core of Honolulu, Hawaii, is shown in the city and town estimates.