Downloads
Overview
MassGIS derived the boundaries of the 14 counties in Massachusetts from the community boundaries layers. Datasets include:
- COUNTIESSURVEY_POLYM - multi-part polygons, with one feature per county, created from the Municipalities polygons.
- COUNTIESSURVEY_ARC - line features, created from the Municipalities arcs.
- COUNTIESSURVEY_POLYM_GENCOAST - multi-part polygons, with one feature per county, created from the Municipalities polygons, with a generalized coastline suitable for small scale maps or graphics..
- COUNTIESSURVEY_ARC_GENCOAST - line features, created from the Municipalities arcs, with a generalized coastline suitable for small scale maps or graphics.
For locations of the counties please see the Counties Index Map
Production
Using ArcInfo, the community boundaries layers as listed above were dissolved based on the FIPS_STCO field. Polygons were converted to linear features and coded for OUTLINE as described below in the Attributes section.
Attributes
The polygon layers contain these fields:
| FIPS_ID | Federal Information Processing Standard state/county code |
| COUNTY | County name |
| POP1980 | 1980 Population |
| POP1990 | 1990 Population |
| POP2000 | 2000 Population |
| POP2010 | 2010 Population |
| POPCH80_90 | 1980-1990 Population Change |
| POPCH90_00 | 1990-2000 Population Change |
| POPCH00_10 | 2000-2010 Population Change |
| SQ_MILES | Area in square miles |
| SQ_KM | Area in square kilometers |
The FIPS_ID - COUNTY pairs are as follows:
| FIPS_ID | COUNTY |
| 25001 | BARNSTABLE |
| 25003 | BERKSHIRE |
| 25005 | BRISTOL |
| 25007 | DUKES |
| 25009 | ESSEX |
| 25011 | FRANKLIN |
| 25013 | HAMPDEN |
| 25015 | HAMPSHIRE |
| 25017 | MIDDLESEX |
| 25019 | NANTUCKET |
| 25021 | NORFOLK |
| 25023 | PLYMOUTH |
| 25025 | SUFFOLK |
| 25027 | WORCESTER |
The line (arc) layers contain the OUTLINE field, coded as follows:
| Boundary Type | COUNTIESSURVEY_ARC | COUNTIES_ARC |
| State | 1 | 1 |
| County | 2 | 9 |
| Coastline | 4 | 2 |
Maintenance
MassGIS maintains these layers and will make updates as needed based on modifications to the Municipalities layers.
Last Updated 4/26/2022