U.S. Census Geocoder

🗺️ Turn U.S. addresses into Census-ready location data

U.S. data analysts, researchers, and operations teams can match street addresses or coordinates against the official U.S. Census Geocoder. Get standardized addresses, latitude and longitude, TIGER/Line details, and optional state, county, tract, block, and GEOID fields—while keeping every submitted item correlated with its result.

• Run a geocode lookup by address for customer, property, or facility records.
• Add a 2020 census tract identifier to location datasets for downstream joins.
• Perform an 11 digit census tract number lookup from returned state, county, and tract codes.
• Process address lists with a us census batch geocoder workflow.
• Run a census tract number lookup by address before joining other Census datasets.
• Build a census geocoder python pipeline with the Apify API client and dataset exports.

📦 Returned data

Every processed input produces one correlated row with status set to matched, unmatched, or error. itemIndex preserves input order, and your optional reference is returned unchanged.

Field	Description
status	Match outcome: matched, unmatched, or error.
itemIndex, reference	Zero-based input position and optional caller reference.
requestedAddress	Original address for address runs.
requestedLatitude, requestedLongitude	Original point for coordinate runs.
matchedAddress, latitude, longitude	Standardized match and coordinates when matched.
tigerLine	Available line ID, street side, and address range.
geography	Optional Census state, county, tract, block, block GEOID, and geography layers.
error	Item-level error message after bounded retries.

Fields that do not apply or were not supplied by the source are omitted.

🚀 Running the Actor

1. Choose Street addresses or Coordinates as the Target.
2. Add one or more items to the active Target section.
3. Run the Actor and open the default dataset. Census geography is included automatically on matched outcomes.

Choose one Target per run. To process both addresses and coordinates, use separately configured runs.

🎯 Input

Input	Type	Description
target	String	Required: addresses or coordinates.
addresses	Array	Objects containing a non-empty address and optional string reference.
coordinates	Array	Objects containing numeric latitude, longitude, and optional string reference.

Example address input:

{
  "target": "addresses",
  "addresses": [
    {
      "address": "4600 Silver Hill Rd, Suitland, MD 20746",
      "reference": "headquarters"
    }
  ]
}

🧾 Output example

{
  "target": "addresses",
  "status": "matched",
  "itemIndex": 0,
  "reference": "headquarters",
  "requestedAddress": "4600 Silver Hill Rd, Suitland, MD 20746",
  "matchedAddress": "4600 SILVER HILL RD, SUITLAND, MD, 20746",
  "latitude": 38.845985,
  "longitude": -76.92744,
  "tigerLine": {
    "lineId": "76355984",
    "side": "L",
    "fromAddress": "4600",
    "toAddress": "4698"
  },
  "geography": {
    "stateName": "Maryland",
    "stateFips": "24",
    "countyName": "Prince George's County",
    "countyFips": "033",
    "censusTract": "802400",
    "censusBlock": "1000",
    "blockGeoid": "240338024001000",
    "layers": []
  }
}

Values above illustrate the schema; source-returned match details vary by location.

💳 Pricing

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing. A Matched geocode costs $0.0099 and is charged once for each successfully matched address or coordinate result made visible in the dataset. Optional Census geography enrichment is included in that event.

Unmatched inputs, item-level errors, empty work, retries, status-only records, and failed work are not charged as matched geocodes. A charge limit can stop a run with partial correlated results.

🔌 Integrations

Use the Apify API to run repeatable jobs from Python, JavaScript, or other HTTP clients. Results are stored in the default Apify dataset and can be exported in standard dataset formats, scheduled, or passed to downstream workflows with webhooks.

⚠️ Coverage and precision

The Actor queries the official U.S. Census Geocoder and uses current TIGER/Line data. Coverage is U.S.-only. Matches represent Census/TIGER street-address ranges, not guaranteed rooftop positions or postal-deliverability verification. PO boxes, rural routes, malformed or nonexistent addresses, and new construction absent from current Census data may be unmatched.

For coordinate runs, the Actor finds a nearby address-bearing TIGER/Line street segment and interpolates an address from its official range. It does not provide routing, distance calculations, demographic statistics, or confidence scores.

❓ FAQ

Why did a valid-looking address return unmatched?

The Census source may not contain a suitable TIGER/Line match. Check the full street, city, state, and ZIP input; PO boxes, rural routes, recent construction, and locations outside the U.S. may not match.

Is a coordinate result a rooftop address?

No. Reverse results use a nearby address-bearing TIGER/Line segment and interpolate its address range. Treat them as street-range matches rather than parcel or rooftop verification.

How do I form an 11-digit tract GEOID?

The returned censusTract is the six-digit tract component when available. Combine stateFips (2 digits), countyFips (3 digits), and censusTract (6 digits) to form the 11-digit tract GEOID. blockGeoid is a separate, longer block identifier.

Do I need a U.S. Census API key?

No. The public input does not request Census credentials. You still need an Apify account to run the Actor on Apify.

Can I submit addresses and coordinates together?

Not in one run. Choose one Target, then create a separate run for the other Target.

What happens when one source request fails?

Transient source requests receive bounded retries. If an item still fails, its correlated row has status: "error"; it is not silently dropped and is not charged as a match.

📝 Changelog

• 0.1: Initial release.

🆘 Support

For issues, questions, or feature requests, file a ticket to contact the maintainer.

🔗 Other actors

• FCC License Search ↗ - Look up FCC licenses and U.S. Census geography for coordinates.
• Realtor Scraper ↗ - Collect property listings with addresses and coordinates before geocoding.
• Google Maps Shared List Scraper ↗ - Export saved places and coordinates for location workflows.
• Yellow Pages Scraper ↗ - Gather U.S. business addresses for batch matching.
• US Census ACS Data Scraper ↗ - Retrieve demographic measures after identifying Census geographies.

Made with ❤️ by Maxime Dupré