Congressional District Dataset

Scope of the Data

The dataset includes a wide range of economic, social and geographic information for every U.S. congressional district, from 1943-1998. The variables range from such basic information as size of each district (in square miles), the population, and the number unemployed (at the time of each census) to much more specialized information like the number of beds in Veterans’ Administration/Dept. of Veterans’ Affairs hospitals in the district or whether the district is coastal (see codebook for variable descriptions). Most of the data are specific to each congressional district, but occasionally I have included state-wide data where district-level information was unavailable.

District data were usually only collected for every ten-year period, with the exception of instances where district lines were redrawn mid-decade and new Census data were available (these reapportioned districts are noted in each data file where they appear). The new Census data and redrawn districts start on the third year of each decade (1953, 1963, etc.,). In several instances variables do not exist for every decade do to availability of information. I have included a table that lists which variables exist in each decade.

Data sources

A large portion of the data come from the decennial Census. Data from the 1960-1990 censuses were aggregated by congressional district in the Congressional Data Books and associated data files. For the prior decades, county-level census data were aggregated into congressional districts (see description below).

Several variables in this dataset were not contained in the census and had to be collected individually. The non-census data come from a variety of sources that are listed in the codebook. When sites such as military installations or VA hospitals needed to be placed into their appropriate districts, this was accomplished using an assortment of Census Congressional District Atlases; Congressional Directories; Congressional Quarterly’s Congressional Districts in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s; Rand McNally Road Atlases; military road atlases; U.S. Geological Survey maps; and maps of congressional districts in the 1940s and 1950s provided from a private collection.

Aggregation technique for 1940s and 1950s Census data

Data from the 1940 and 1950 censuses were available only at the county-level. To construct district-level data for “whole-county” districts (districts entirely composed of one or more whole counties), county-level information was aggregated into congressional districts using a combination of maps and descriptions of congressional district boundaries published in the Congressional Directories and Martis’s, The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts, 1789-1983 (New York: Free Press, 1982).

For counties that were divided into several congressional districts (primarily those comprising large cities), or partitioned into districts that contained part of more than one county, I employed a system of data aggregation that utilized the Census’s Congressional District Atlas for 1960 (which contained the boundaries of districts for the pre-1962 districts) and Michael Dubin’s detailed maps of congressional districts. Urban counties that contained multiple congressional districts were divided geographically and demographically according to their respective number of districts. For example, the proportion unemployed in Los Angeles County in the 1950s was utilized as the proportion unemployed in the 15th through 26th congressional districts of California, which encompassed the county in that decade. In several instances counties were divided among two congressional districts, but these county portions only made up part of an entire district. In those instances the sum of the population of all the other counties in the district was subtracted from the population of the entire district (as provided in the Congressional Directory) to estimate the population contained in the divided county, and thus the proportion of the county within that district.

Associated Publications

Why Congressional Reforms Fail: Reelection and the House Committee System. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002.

“Constituency Characteristics and the ‘Guardian’ Model of Appropriations Subcommittees, 1959-1998.” 2000. American Journal of Political Science 44: 104-114.

“Demand-side Theory and Congressional Committee Composition: A Constituency Characteristics Approach.” 1997. American Journal of Political Science 41: 895-918. Co-authored with John Lapinski.

Preferred Citation

Adler, E. Scott. “Congressional District Data File, [congressional term].” University of Colorado, Boulder, CO.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, suggestions or you identify errors or inconsistencies in the data: esadler@colorado.edu.

CORRECTIONS MADE TO DATASET (4/25/03)

Congressional District Data Codebook Table of Variables by Congressional Term

Congress	Years	File
78^th Congress	1943-44	fin78.csv
79^th Congress	1945-46	fin79.csv
80^th Congress	1947-48	fin80.csv
81^st Congress	1949-50	fin81.csv
82^nd Congress	1951-52	fin82.csv
83^rd Congress	1953-54	fin83.csv
84^th Congress	1955-56	fin84.csv
85^th Congress	1957-58	fin85.csv
86^th Congress	1959-60	fin86.csv
87^th Congress	1961-62	fin87.csv
88^th Congress	1963-64	fin88.csv
89^th Congress	1965-66	fin89.csv
90^th Congress	1967-68	fin90.csv
91^st Congress	1969-70	fin91.csv
92^nd Congress	1971-72	fin92.csv
93^rd Congress	1973-74	fin93.csv
94^th Congress	1975-76	fin94.csv
95^th Congress	1977-78	fin95.csv
96^th Congress	1979-80	fin96.csv
97^th Congress	1981-82	fin97.csv
98^th Congress	1983-84	fin98.csv
99^th Congress	1985-86	fin99.csv
100^th Congress	1987-88	fin100.csv
101^st Congress	1989-90	fin101.csv
102^nd Congress	1991-92	fin102.csv
103^rd Congress	1993-94	fin103.csv
104^th Congress	1995-96	fin104.csv
105^th Congress	1997-98	fin105.csv

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