Summary files have a bunch of header variables that provide a lot of information about the characteristics of the geography in question. Some of these are provided with extracts already (e.g., REGIONA, DIVISIONA, STATE, etc.). But there is an expanded set that are also useful. For example, places (summary level 160 for place in state) can be CDPs, villages, boroughs, cities, etc., and there’s a place code (I think the variable name is PLCODE for that one) variable for that. Is there a way to create an extract with the full header data? I haven’t been able to find it so far. If so please let me know … if not and if it’s possible that would be great – especially for summaries including COUSUB and PLACE. Thanks.
Note: I figured out that it’s possible to get at least some of these codes from the GIS files, but that’s a clunky workaround if text files could be created with the same information. Thx.
I’m glad you found the information in the shapefiles. That is in fact the only source of these codes via NHGIS at this time. It is, as you say, a clunky workaround, though. As it happens, making these codes available within our table data files is among our top priorities for NHGIS over the next year, so I hope the workaround won’t be necessary for too much longer.