Census-designated place

A census-designated place (CDP) is a type of, an area identified by the for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of s such as, s and s. CDPs are communities that lack separate municipal government, but which otherwise physically resemble incorporated places. CDPs are delineated to provide data for settled concentrations of population that are identifiable by name but are not legally incorporated under the laws of the state in which they are located. The boundaries of a CDP have no legal status. In some states the communities identified as CDPs are legally called "."

The boundaries of such places may be defined in cooperation with local or tribal officials, but are not fixed, and do not affect the status of local government or incorporation; the territories thus defined are strictly statistical entities. CDP boundaries may change from one census to the next to reflect changes in settlement patterns. Further, as statistical entities, the boundaries of the CDP may not correspond with local understanding of the area with the same name. Recognized communities may be divided into two or more CDPs while on the other hand, two or more communities may be combined into one CDP. A CDP may also cover the unincorporated part of a named community where the rest lies within an incorporated place.

By defining an area as a CDP, that locality then appears in the same category of census data as incorporated places. This distinguishes CDPs from other census classifications, such as s (MCDs), which are in a separate category.

The population and demographics of the CDP district are included in the data of county subdivisions containing the CDP. In no case is a CDP defined within the boundaries of what the Census Bureau regards to be an incorporated city, village or borough. However, note that the Census Bureau considers s in states and  as well as Townships in some other states as MCDs, even though they are incorporated municipalities in those states.

There are a number of reasons for such a designation:
 * The area may be more urban than its surroundings, having a concentration of population with a definite residential nucleus, such as, or.
 * A formerly incorporated place may disincorporate or be partly annexed by a neighboring town, the former town or a part of it may still be reported by the census as a CDP by meeting criteria for a CDP, for example the former village of, compared with.
 * The CDP designation may apply to large military bases (or parts of) that are not within the boundaries of any existing community, such as and  in.
 * In some cases, a CDP may be defined for the urbanized area surrounding an incorporated municipality, but which is outside the municipal boundaries, for example or.
 * The Census Bureau treats all as unincorporated places, even in those states where townships are incorporated under state law. This is so even in those states (i.e.,, , ,  and ) where the Census Bureau acknowledges that "All townships are actively functioning governmental units."
 * Some CDPs represent an aggregation of several nearby communities, for example or . However, the Census Bureau has proposed that this method will be discontinued by the 2010 census.
 * is the only state that has no incorporated places recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau below the county level. All data for places in Hawaii reported by the Census are CDPs.
 * In some states, CDPs may be defined within entities that are incorporated municipalities, but for the purposes of the census are regarded as s. For example, towns in and  are incorporated municipalities, but may also include both rural and urban areas. CDPs may be defined to describe urbanized areas within such municipalities, as in the case of.
 * In some states, the Census Bureau may designate an entire minor civil division (MCD) as a CDP (for example or ). Such designations are used in states where the MCDs function with strong governmental authority and provide services equivalent to an incorporated municipality (New England, the Middle Atlantic States, Michigan, and Wisconsin). MCDs appear in a separate category in census data from places (i.e., incorporated places and CDPs); however, such MCDs strongly resemble incorporated places, and so CDPs coterminous with the MCDs are defined so that such places appear in both categories of census data. This practice will no longer be used in the 2010 census.

History
The Census Bureau reported data for some unincorporated places as early as the, though usage continued to evolve through the , in which, for the first time, the Census mixed-in unincorporated places with incorporated places in its products with "town" as its label. This made it very confusing to determine which of the "towns" were or were not incorporated. The through  censuses did not report data for unincorporated places. For the census, the Census Bureau compiled a separate report of unofficial, unincorporated communities of 500 or more people. The Census Bureau officially recognized "unincorporated places" in the census, when these types of  places were only recognized outside  areas. In, the Census Bureau for the first time recognized unincorporated territory inside urbanized areas, but with a population of at least 10,000. For the census, the designation was changed to "census-designated places". From through the, the Census Bureau had population requirements for unincorporated places or CDPs. This minimum population requirement was dropped with the.