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SWRK 601 Library Session: Overview

Census Statistical Areas

Census tracts are "relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a county…population size between 1,200 and 8,000 people, with an optimum size of 4,000 people":

Map of Census tracts for Philadelphia

Block groups are “generally defined to contain between 600 and 3,000 people”:

Map of Block groups for Philadelphia

Census blocks are the smallest census geographies. In some cases, they have no population at all:

Map of Census blocks for a given part of Philadelphia

Introduction: Elements of Maps

Sample Map Questions

For use in the in-class exercise: 

Subject Guide

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