Vital Statistics Birth Certificates (Natality) Geocodes

The following table lists the geographic variables in the natality data. To access these variables, please read the NVSS Data Release and Access Policy . These variables can be requested through NAPHSIS .

* Counties and cities with a population of 100,000 or more

** All counties regardless of population size and cities with a population of 10,000 or more

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• Two parallel sets of geographic codes are currently available in vital statistics files: Federal Information Process Standard (FIPS) codes and proprietary NCHS codes. FIPS codes have been presented here because they are more familiar to most users.
• FIPS State, County, and SMSA codes have been available since 1980 and FIPS Place (City) codes have been available since 1995. NCHS codes are available for all years prior to 2003, but should be used with caution when using multiple years’ data as NCHS codes are subject to change.
• Definitions for the MSA/CMSA used in the natality files have changed over time. Care should be used when making comparisons across data years or when merging natality data with other data based on the MSA/CMSA codes. MSA/CMSA codes used in the 1989 natality file are based on 1980 OMB definitions, codes in the 1990-1993 files are based on 1990 OMB definitions, and codes in the 1994-2006 files are based on 1993 OMB definitions (with updates effective as of 7/1/1994).