Buffalo County, Nebraska (31019) abolished all townships in the county. The 26 townships (and two independent place county subdivisions) have been replaced by 29 precincts. Only three townships maintained comparability with a single precinct.

Each year some new entities come into existence and other entities are deleted. This is the result of new incorporations or statistical delineations, the redrawing or splitting of administrative areas, disincorporations, mergers and consolidations, and other types of changes.

The following places no longer exist:

• Statenville CDP, Georgia (1373200)
• Arnold CDP, Minnesota (2702260)
• East Garden City CDP, New York (3622065)
• Lumber City borough, Pennsylvania (4245448)
• Doyle CDP, Texas (4821283)
• Klahanie CDP, Washington (5336101)
• Minden CDP, West Virginia (5454508)

Some areas of the nation will now have reduced comparability, primarily due to boundary changes. Changes are based on a variety of reasons including annexation, disincorporation, and geocoding updates. Generally this occurs:

• In states that have nonfunctioning county subdivisions that are redistricted after the census, as are found in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska (precincts), Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. In 2016, Tennessee submitted county subdivision changes for every county in the state.
• In states that have less restrictive annexation or consolidation laws such as in most states outside the Northeast Region

For those entities that experienced changes, making comparisons between an entity in its 2015 form to its 2016 form should be done cautiously and with good understanding that the entity may be substantially different in its 2016 form. We encourage use of TIGER/Line Shapefile products to perform detailed comparisons of the inventory and boundaries of geographic areas, by year. Information about these files and links to the mapping files themselves can be found at the TIGER Products Guide page.

Every two years, the Census Bureau obtains information of the redistricting of congressional districts and the upper and lower chambers of state legislative districts. For 2016, the following states reported changes:

• Congressional Districts: Florida, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Virginia
• State Legislative Districts (Upper Chamber): Florida and Minnesota
• State Legislative Districts (Lower Chamber): Florida, Georgia, Maryland, and Minnesota

Every two years, the Census Bureau obtains information on the current boundaries of school districts. For 2016, 34 states reported at least one school district change: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The most significant changes occurred in Vermont where many school districts consolidated and extensively redefined.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced updates to Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas in OMB Bulletin No. 15-01 on July 15, 2015. The announcement changed the designation of one micropolitan statistical area to a metropolitan statistical area and created 16 new micropolitan statistical areas, five new combined statistical areas, one new New England City and Town Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Area and Combined New England City and Town Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Area. The announcement also modified the names, codes, and definitions of some existing areas and designated new principal cities.