Most Decennial Census and American Community Survey map needs can be met through Social Explorer and other online sources, including digitized printed US Census Bureau publications. For Philadelphia, these will cover Philadelphia County (and Philadelphia City as a county subdivision) and Philadelphia's small areas.
Note: "Small area" is a specific term used by the US Census Bureau for geographies smaller than political units. Small areas include ZIP Codes or ZCTAs (ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, a proxy for ZIP Codes), Voting Districts, and Census Tracts and their subdivisions into Block Groups and Blocks. While political boundaries are redrawn infrequently, small areas may be redrawn, split, or merged between Decennial Censuses. Don't assume that your Census Tract number has remained consistent over the years.
These will show block boundaries with street names. They will also show census tract boundaries. Starting with the 1990 Census, these block maps will also show the Census Bureau's voting district boundaries (i.e., voting precincts adjusted for confidentiality), and they may show ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs).
The basic unit for Philadelphia's election geography is the Ward. Following the reorganization of Philadelphia's historic Ward geography in 1965, Decennial Census geography has been divorced from Ward geography. For the 1940, 1950, and 1960 Censuses, Census Tracts were Ward-based. (Census tracts were also published in the 1930s-era Philadelphia Real Property Surveys, and the Penn Libraries hold several manuscript tabulations for 1930 Census census tracts.) Prior to the 1940 Census, published Decennial Census small area statistics are available only for Wards. The Decennial Census schedules, i.e., the forms used to collect census information, are arranged by Enumeration Districts.
