US Census Bureau Locations API

Address to coordinates

Operations 3

GET /locations/onelineaddress Geocode A One-Line Address #
GET /locations/address Geocode A Structured Address #
GET /locations/coordinates Reverse Geocode Coordinates #

Documentation

Specifications

Schemas & Data

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OpenAPI Specification

us-census-bureau-locations-api-openapi.yml Raw ↑
openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: Census Geocoding Services Locations API
  description: "Free Census Bureau geocoder that converts addresses to coordinates and\nCensus geographies. Five endpoint families exist:\n\n- `/locations/onelineaddress` — parse and geocode a single-line address\n- `/locations/address` — geocode a structured address (street/city/state/zip)\n- `/locations/coordinates` — reverse geocode coordinates to address\n- `/geographies/*` — same as locations but also return Census geographies\n  (state, county, tract, block, congressional district, school district)\n- `/locations/addressbatch` and `/geographies/addressbatch` — submit a CSV\n  of up to 10,000 addresses per request via multipart upload\n\nBenchmarks select the reference dataset vintage (Public_AR_Current,\nPublic_AR_Census2020, Public_AR_Census2010). Vintages select the\ngeographies vintage to attach when calling the `/geographies` endpoints.\n\nNo API key required.\n"
  version: '2026-05-25'
  contact:
    name: Census Bureau Geography Division
    url: https://geocoding.geo.census.gov/geocoder/
  license:
    name: Public Domain
    url: https://www.usa.gov/government-works
servers:
- url: https://geocoding.geo.census.gov/geocoder
  description: Census Geocoder production
tags:
- name: Locations
  description: Address to coordinates
paths:
  /locations/onelineaddress:
    get:
      summary: Geocode A One-Line Address
      description: Parse a single-line address string and return matched coordinates.
      operationId: locationsOnelineAddress
      tags:
      - Locations
      parameters:
      - name: address
        in: query
        required: true
        description: Single-line street address (for example `4600 Silver Hill Rd, Washington, DC 20233`).
        schema:
          type: string
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/BenchmarkParam'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/FormatParam'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Geocoder match envelope
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/LocationsResponse'
  /locations/address:
    get:
      summary: Geocode A Structured Address
      description: Geocode using separately parsed street, city, state, and ZIP fields.
      operationId: locationsAddress
      tags:
      - Locations
      parameters:
      - name: street
        in: query
        required: true
        schema:
          type: string
      - name: city
        in: query
        required: false
        schema:
          type: string
      - name: state
        in: query
        required: false
        schema:
          type: string
      - name: zip
        in: query
        required: false
        schema:
          type: string
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/BenchmarkParam'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/FormatParam'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Geocoder match envelope
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/LocationsResponse'
  /locations/coordinates:
    get:
      summary: Reverse Geocode Coordinates
      description: Reverse geocode a latitude/longitude pair to the nearest matched address.
      operationId: locationsCoordinates
      tags:
      - Locations
      parameters:
      - name: x
        in: query
        required: true
        description: Longitude in WGS84.
        schema:
          type: number
      - name: y
        in: query
        required: true
        description: Latitude in WGS84.
        schema:
          type: number
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/BenchmarkParam'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/FormatParam'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Reverse-geocoded match envelope
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/LocationsResponse'
components:
  parameters:
    FormatParam:
      name: format
      in: query
      required: false
      description: Response format.
      schema:
        type: string
        enum:
        - json
        - jsonp
        default: json
    BenchmarkParam:
      name: benchmark
      in: query
      required: true
      description: Reference dataset benchmark (`Public_AR_Current`, `Public_AR_Census2020`, `Public_AR_Census2010`).
      schema:
        type: string
        examples:
        - Public_AR_Current
  schemas:
    LocationsResponse:
      type: object
      properties:
        result:
          type: object
          properties:
            input:
              type: object
            addressMatches:
              type: array
              items:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/AddressMatch'
    AddressMatch:
      type: object
      properties:
        matchedAddress:
          type: string
        coordinates:
          type: object
          properties:
            x:
              type: number
            y:
              type: number
        tigerLine:
          type: object
          properties:
            tigerLineId:
              type: string
            side:
              type: string
        addressComponents:
          type: object
          properties:
            fromAddress:
              type: string
            toAddress:
              type: string
            preQualifier:
              type: string
            preDirection:
              type: string
            preType:
              type: string
            streetName:
              type: string
            suffixType:
              type: string
            suffixDirection:
              type: string
            suffixQualifier:
              type: string
            city:
              type: string
            state:
              type: string
            zip:
              type: string