The dataset consists of geometric features representing parcel boundaries and a set of attributes that describe each parcel. Polygons representing the boundaries of individual land parcels for purposes of tax assessment for the jurisdiction in which they reside. These geometries are derived from digitized cadastral maps, surveys, recorded deeds, and legal descriptions of the parcel.

2.1. Schema Definition

#	Column	Type	Constraints	Description
1	lrid	STRING / UUID	REQUIRED	Universally unique ID (UUID) assigned to each parcel assigned by the Land Record database.
2	parcelid	STRING	REQUIRED	Parcel id assigned by the local administrative authority. AKA parcel number, APN, AIN, PID, and PIN. The format will vary.
3	parcelid2	STRING	NULLABLE	Alternate parcel id assigned by the local or state administrative authority. May be the same as parcelid if no alternate given.
4	geoid	STRING	REQUIRED	The full combined FIPS code of the jurisdiction in which the parcel resides (state fips + county fips).
5	statefp	STRING	REQUIRED	State FIPS code.
6	countyfp	STRING	REQUIRED	County FIPS code.
7	taxacctnum	STRING	NULLABLE	The assigned tax account number associated with this parcel / owner.
8	taxyear	INTEGER	NULLABLE	The year for which the provided tax assessments are levied.
9	usecode	STRING	NULLABLE	Land use code.
10	usedesc	STRING	NULLABLE	Description of the land use associated with this parcel.
11	zoningcode	STRING	NULLABLE	Zoning code associated with this parcel. These will vary in format.
12	zoningdesc	STRING	NULLABLE	Zoning description associated with this parcel. These will vary in format and length.
13	numbldgs	STRING	NULLABLE	Number of buildings located on the parcel. This includes primary residence as well as any accessory dwellings, garages, sheds, etc.
14	numunits	STRING	NULLABLE	Number of living units located on the parcel.
15	yearbuilt	STRING	NULLABLE	The recorded year that the primary building was constructed.
16	numfloors	STRING	NULLABLE	Number of stories/floors/levels in the primary building according to the local authorities.
17	bldgsqft	STRING	NULLABLE	Assessed area in square feet of the primary building.
18	bedrooms	INTEGER	NULLABLE	Number of known and assessed bedrooms in the main building.
19	halfbaths	INTEGER	NULLABLE	Number of known and assessed half bathrooms in the main building.
20	fullbaths	INTEGER	NULLABLE	Number of known and assessed full bathrooms in the main building.
21	imprvalue	BIGINTEGER	NULLABLE	Assessed value of improvements; typically this is the value of any and all buildings located on the parcel.
22	landvalue	BIGINTEGER	NULLABLE	Assessed value of the surface land only. Does not include value of buildings, agriculture, or subsurface minerals or water.
23	agvalue	BIGINTERGER	NULLABLE	Assessed value of any agricutlure or agriculture rights.
24	totalvalue	BIGINTEGER	NULLABLE	Total assessed value, i.e. landvalue + imprvalue + agvalue.
25	taxacres	FLOAT	NULLABLE	Assessor-specified acreage under assessment. May be different the calculated area.
26	calcarea	FLOAT	REQUIRED	Calculated area of the parcel geometry in square meters.
27	saleamt	BIGINTEGER	NULLABLE	Transaction amount of the most recent recorded sale that this parcel was a part of. Usually the parcel comprises the entire sale, but occasionally the sale amount can include other parcels.
28	saledate	DATE	NULLABLE	Transaction date of the most recent recorded sale that this parcel was a part of.
29	ownername	STRING	NULLABLE	Name of the recorded owner.
30	owneraddr	STRING	NULLABLE	Mailing street address of the recorded owner.
31	ownercity	STRING	NULLABLE	Mailing address city of the recorded owner.
32	ownerstate	STRING	NULLABLE	Mailing address state of the recorded owner
33	ownerzip	STRING	NULLABLE	Mailing address postal code of the recorded owner.
34	parceladdr	STRING	NULLABLE	Physical street address of the parcel.
35	parcelcity	STRING	NULLABLE	City in which the parcel is located.
36	parcelstate	STRING	REQUIRED	State in which the parcel is located.
37	parcelzip	STRING	NULLABLE	Postal code of the parcel.
38	legaldesc	STRING	NULLABLE	Legal description of the parcel; this is usually described in terms of lot numbers, plat numbers, book numbers, etc.
39	township	STRING	NULLABLE	Public Land Survey System (PLSS) township identifier.
40	section	STRING	NULLABLE	Public Land Survey System (PLSS) section identifier.
41	qtrsection	STRING	NULLABLE	Public Land Survey System (PLSS) quarter-section identifier.
42	range	STRING	NULLABLE	Public Land Survey System (PLSS) range identifier.
43	plssdesc	STRING	NULLABLE	Public Land Survey System (PLSS) full description.
44	book	STRING	NULLABLE	Plat book number or name.
45	page	STRING	NULLABLE	Plat book page number or name.
46	block	STRING	NULLABLE	Plat block identifier.
47	lot	STRING	NULLABLE	Plat lot identifier.
48	updated	DATE	REQUIRED	Date of last known update of the source data. If not specified by the source provider or if it is unknown, this field represents the date of most recent acquisition of source data.
49	centroidx	NUMERIC	REQUIRED	x-coordinate (longitude) of geographic center POINT of the parcel in EPSG 4326. In rare cases the center may lie outside the parcel shape itself in the case of a ‘C’ shaped parcel.
50	centroidy	NUMERIC	REQUIRED	y-coordinate (latitude) of geographic center POINT of the parcel in EPSG 4326. In rare cases the center may lie outside the parcel shape itself in the case of a ‘C’ shaped parcel.
51	surfpointx	NUMERIC	REQUIRED	x-coordinate (longitude) of centermost POINT that is guaranteed to lie within the parcel’s surface in EPSG 4326. This point will never lie outside the parcel.
52	surfpointy	NUMERIC	REQUIRED	y-coordinate of centermost POINT that is guaranteed to lie within the parcel’s surface in EPSG 4326. This point will never lie outside the parcel.
53	geom	GEOMETRY	REQUIRED	MULTIPOLYGON of the parcel lot line boundary in EPSG 4326.
54	ogparcelid	STRING	NULLABLE	Original parcel identifier.
55	ogparcelid2	STRING	NULLABLE	Secondary original parcel identifier.
56	parentid	STRING	NULLABLE	Optional identifier of the parent parcel.
57	stackid	STRING / UUID	NULLABLE	Unique identifier for the parcel stack.
58	countyname	STRING	NULLABLE	Name of the county.
59	cousubfp	STRING	NULLABLE	County subdivision FIPS code.
60	cousubname	STRING	NULLABLE	Name of the county subdivision.
61	tractce	STRING	NULLABLE	Census tract code.
62	tractname	STRING	NULLABLE	Name of the census tract.
63	taxdistrict	STRING	NULLABLE	Name of the tax district.
64	ownertype	STRING	NULLABLE	Type of owner.
65	parceltype	STRING	NULLABLE	Type of parcel.
66	accesstype	STRING	NULLABLE	Type of access.
67	iucnclass	STRING	NULLABLE	IUCN classification.
68	placename	STRING	NULLABLE	Name of the place.
69	placetype	STRING	NULLABLE	Type of place.
70	firmid	STRING	NULLABLE	Unique identifier for the firm.
71	firmdate	DATE	NULLABLE	Date associated with the firm.
72	fldzone	STRING	NULLABLE	Flood zone designation.
73	zonesubty	STRING	NULLABLE	Subtype of the zone.
74	staticbfe	FLOAT	NULLABLE	Static Base Flood Elevation.
75	elevmin	FLOAT	NULLABLE	Minimum elevation.
76	elevmax	FLOAT	NULLABLE	Maximum elevation.
77	elevavg	FLOAT	NULLABLE	Average elevation.
78	fireplaces	INTEGER	NULLABLE	Number of fireplaces in the primary structure on the parcel.
79	heating	STRING	NULLABLE	Type of heating in the primary structure on the parcel.
80	heatfuel	STRING	NULLABLE	Type of heating fuel used by the heating system.
81	cooling	STRING	NULLABLE	Type of cooling in the primary structure on the parcel.
82	foundation	STRING	NULLABLE	Type of foundation of the primary structure on the parcel.
83	roofcover	STRING	NULLABLE	Type of roof covering/material of the primary structure on the parcel.
84	siding	STRING	NULLABLE	Type of siding on the primary structure on the parcel.
85	bldgtype	STRING	NULLABLE	Type of building.
86	naicscode	STRING	NULLABLE	North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.
87	frsid	STRING	NULLABLE	EPA Facility Registry Service Identifier.
88	dfrurl	STRING	NULLABLE	URL for EPA Detailed Facility Reports.
89	caapermit	STRING	NULLABLE	Clean Air Act (CAA) permit identifier.
90	cwapermit	STRING	NULLABLE	Clean Water Act (CWA) permit identifier.
91	rcrapermit	STRING	NULLABLE	Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permit identifier.
92	extras	JSON	NULLABLE	Additional metadata or supplemental information.

2.2. Notes on particular attributes

2.2.1. lrid

This column is guaranteed to be universally unique across the entire nationwide dataset, including within counties. It is an RFC 4122 UUID type that uniquely identifies each parcel across space, but not time.

Efforts are made in the landrecords database to maintain lrid lineage across vintages, so that a particular parcel maintains the same lrid over time as new versions of the dataset are produced. While this process is reliable, it is not perfect. Moreover, parcels regularly change shape as new digitization methods are used by assessors, and parcels are occasionally subdivided or joined to form entirely different parcels, and the lineage to the ancestor parcels is not always ascertainable.

2.2.2. usecode / usedesc

Localities define their own land use codes, but in most cases, these attributes are mapped to a common set of standardized land use categories. In cases where the locality defines their own standard that does not align with the standardized categories, or the data is unavailable, usecode and usedesc may deviate from those categories.

For a vocabulary to normalize local codes against, see the Land-Based Classification Standards reference, which documents every code in the American Planning Association's five-dimension land-use model.

2.2.3. zoningcode / zoningdesc

Like usecode, zoningcode is locality-specific. Unlike usecode, there is no nationally agreed-upon standard that all zoning codes and descriptions can be mapped to. Since specific zoning codes only have semantic value within the borders of a particular county (or city or other jurisdiction), zoning codes are kept in the format provided by the county, to the degree they are provided.

2.2.4. numunits / numfloors

This data is lifted directly from the source data when it is available, but it is often missing from source datasets. As a result, they are often estimated.

numunits is often estimated based on the number of mailing addresses associated with a parcel, provided there is at least one building on the parcel. Likewise, numfloors is rarely available in the source data, but can occasionally be estimated based on the known or modeled height of the main building. (The “main” building is whichever building on the parcel has the largest internal usable area measured in square feet).

For example if the building footprint is 1000sqft on the surface, has a total usable area of 1800sqft, a height of 21 feet, and is zoned residential, a reasonable conclusion is that this is a 2-story building, i.e. numfloors=2. The land records database will derive these data in circumstances such as this when there is a high degree of confidence.

2.2.5. parceladdr

Usually, the primary parcel address is that which, when written on the front of an envelope, would reach a mailbox located on the parcel grounds. But this is not always the case. Many localities assign addresses to parcels that no letter can ever reach. In these cases, the land records database prefers the physical address assigned by the local authority if it is made available.

Conversely, it is also the case that a single parcel can have many addresses, as in the case of an apartment building or commercial strip mall. In these cases, the address assigned is either 1) provided by the taxation or appraisal authority that has jurisdiction over the parcel, or 2) that which is closest to the centroid of the parcel, and in most cases, any unit number will be removed. The number of addresses associated with a parcel is shown indirectly in the numunits column of the parcel record.

2.2.6. legaldesc / plssdesc

A core historic function of the “county” unit of government is to record deeds and collect property taxes. Deeds are recorded by the county to indicate ownership of parcels, and as part of the deed is a “legal description” of the parcel in question.

Some counties publish the full physical legal description, which involves using the PLSS (Public Land Survey System) to describe the exact boundary and location of the parcel. Others describe simply the parcel’s filing location in the book of deeds, e.g. BOOK A2 PAGE 97 and its components will be stored in the columns book and page. Additionally, these recorded pages may have a map attached, and will be designated by block, and lot if available. The land record database does not discriminate between these various approaches, and will record the provided “legal description” in the legaldesc column, irrespective of the format.

On the other hand, the plssdesc will always contain a standardized PLSS description when it is available. 30 states utilize PLSS to describe the location and bounds of parcels, and its components separated into the columns for section, quarter section, range, and township. In the 20 states where PLSS is not used, plssdesc, range, section, and qtrsection will always be NULL.

2.2.7 cooling, heating, and heatfuel

Heating, heatfuel, and cooling values will fall into one of the following enumerated values.

heatfuel — primary fuel source for the heating system:

Value	Description
ELECTRIC	Electricity is the sole heating energy source.
GAS	Natural gas, typically piped from a municipal gas utility.
GAS/ELECTRIC	Hybrid system that draws from both natural gas and electricity.
PROPANE	Liquid propane (LP) from an on-site tank.
OIL	Heating oil delivered to an on-site tank.
OIL/ELECTRIC	Hybrid system that draws from both heating oil and electricity.
COAL	Coal-fired heating.
WOOD	Wood-burning heat source (e.g., wood stove, fireplace insert, pellet stove).
SOLAR	Active solar thermal as the primary heat source.
GEOTHERMAL	Ground-source heat pump drawing from a closed- or open-loop geothermal field.
NO HEAT	Building is unheated.
UNDETERMINED	Fuel source is unknown or not reported by the source data.

heating — heat-distribution / system type:

Value	Description
CENTRAL AIR	Forced-air central heating distributed through ductwork.
GRAVITY	Older gravity-fed warm-air system (no blower).
FURNACE	Self-contained warm-air furnace.
HOT WATER	Hydronic system that circulates hot water through radiators or coils.
STEAM	Steam radiator system.
BOILER	Boiler-fed hot-water or steam distribution.
RADIANT	In-floor or in-ceiling radiant heating.
BASEBOARD	Electric or hydronic baseboard heaters along exterior walls.
HEAT PUMP	Air-source heat pump.
MINI SPLIT	Ductless mini-split heat pump, typically zone-controlled.
GEOTHERMAL	Ground-source heat-pump system.
WALL UNIT	Through-the-wall single-room heater.
FLOOR UNIT	In-floor unit heater serving a single room.
STOVE	Free-standing stove (wood, pellet, gas) used as the primary heat source.
FIREPLACE	Open fireplace serving as the primary heat source.
SPACE HEATER	Portable or fixed space heater(s).
UNIT HEATER	Suspended industrial or commercial unit heater.
SOLAR	Active solar thermal heating.
DISTRICT	District heating plant supplying multiple buildings.
NO HEAT	Building has no fixed heating system.
OTHER	A heating type that does not fit any of the categories above.
UNDETERMINED	Heating type is unknown or not reported by the source data.

cooling — cooling / air-conditioning system type:

Value	Description
CENTRAL AIR	Forced-air central air conditioning distributed through ductwork.
HEAT PUMP	Reversible air-source heat pump providing cooling.
MINI SPLIT	Ductless mini-split AC, typically zone-controlled.
GEOTHERMAL	Ground-source heat-pump system used for cooling.
PACKAGE UNIT	Single-cabinet packaged HVAC unit serving the building.
ROOFTOP UNIT	Roof-mounted packaged unit, common on commercial buildings.
CHILLER	Centralized chilled-water plant feeding fan-coils or air handlers.
WINDOW UNIT	Window-mounted room air conditioner(s).
WALL UNIT	Through-the-wall room air conditioner(s).
PORTABLE	Free-standing portable air conditioner(s).
EVAPORATIVE COOLER	Evaporative ("swamp") cooler, common in dry climates.
WHOLE HOUSE FAN	Whole-house exhaust fan; ventilation cooling rather than refrigerated cooling.
ATTIC FAN	Attic-only ventilation fan.
CEILING FAN	Ceiling fan(s) only; no refrigerated cooling system.
NO COOLING	Building has no cooling system.
OTHER	A cooling type that does not fit any of the categories above.
UNDETERMINED	Cooling type is unknown or not reported by the source data.

2.2.8 accesstype, parceltype, and ownertype

accesstype and parceltype are most informative for protected lands, parks, and other publicly-managed parcels — privately-owned residential and commercial parcels generally fall through to PRIVATE / UNKNOWN. ownertype is populated for every parcel and describes the legal nature of the entity recorded on ownername, independent of the parcel's jurisdiction.

accesstype — public physical access to the parcel:

Value	Description
OPEN	Public access is permitted without conditions during normal hours.
RESTRICTED	Public access is permitted but subject to conditions (permit, fee, season, posted hours, guided-only, membership, etc.).
CLOSED	Public access is not permitted (private property, ecological reserve, hazardous site, military / utility installation, etc.).
UNKNOWN	Access status was not reported by the source, or could not be determined during harmonization.

parceltype — ownership / management category of the parcel:

Value	Description
GOVT FEDERAL	Owned or managed by the U.S. federal government (BLM, USFS, NPS, USFWS, DoD, USACE, etc.).
GOVT STATE	Owned or managed by a U.S. state government (state parks, state forests, state trust land, state wildlife areas, etc.).
GOVT LOCAL	Owned or managed by a local government — county, municipality, city, or township.
GOVT TRIBAL	Owned by a Native American tribe or tribal nation, or held in trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on behalf of a tribe.
GOVT TERRITORY	Owned or managed by a U.S. territory government (Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands).
GOVT SPECIAL DISTRICT	Owned or managed by a special-purpose government district (school district, water district, fire district, port authority, regional transit, etc.).
GOVT MULTIPLE	Jointly owned or managed by multiple government entities at different levels (e.g., federal–state co-management).
GOVT UNKNOWN	Confirmed to be government-owned, but the specific jurisdiction could not be determined.
NGO	Owned by a non-governmental organization — typically a land trust or conservation nonprofit (Nature Conservancy, Audubon, regional land trusts, etc.).
PRIVATE	Privately owned by an individual, family, corporation, trust, or partnership.
PRIVATE WITH PUBLIC EASEMENT	Privately owned, but encumbered by a public-access easement (trail corridor, conservation easement with access provisions, etc.).

ownertype — legal nature of the entity recorded on ownername:

Value	Description
PERSON	A natural person, or two or more natural persons holding title jointly (e.g., spouses, family members).
BUSINESS	A for-profit business entity — corporation, LLC, partnership, sole proprietorship, REIT, etc.
NONPROFIT	A non-profit organization — 501(c)(3) charity, foundation, church or religious institution, HOA, civic association, etc.
GOVERNMENT	A government entity at any level (federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, or special district).
TRUST	A legal trust holding title — revocable living trust, irrevocable trust, family trust, land trust, etc.
ESTATE	The probate estate of a deceased owner, typically prior to settlement and conveyance to heirs.

2.2.9 fldzone and FEMA flood attributes

Five columns describe each parcel's relationship to FEMA's mapped flood hazards. They are sourced from the FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL) — specifically the S_Fld_Haz_Ar (flood hazard area) feature class — and joined to each parcel by spatial overlay. Where a parcel intersects more than one flood hazard polygon, the values reflect the most hazardous zone touching the parcel, so a partially-mapped parcel is never understated.

Column	Description
fldzone	The FEMA flood zone designation, stored as an UPPERCASE code (e.g. AE, VE, X). This is the primary risk indicator. See the FEMA Flood Zones reference for a full description of every value.
zonesubty	Zone subtype — a qualifier that refines fldzone (e.g. FLOODWAY, 0.2 PCT ANNUAL CHANCE FLOOD HAZARD, AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD). Not every zone carries a subtype.
staticbfe	Static Base Flood Elevation (BFE) in feet (NAVD 88), when a single elevation applies to the entire zone polygon. NULL where no static BFE is published — many AE/VE areas instead vary the BFE continuously along the profile.
firmid	Identifier of the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) panel the zone was digitized from.
firmdate	Effective date of that FIRM panel. Flood maps are revised over time; this is how you tell how current the mapping is for a given parcel.

fldzone is a fixed-domain code column — always match it with plain equality against the exact UPPERCASE value (fldzone = 'AE'), never with LIKE or a lower(...) wrapper.

Broadly, the values fall into three risk tiers:

• High-risk — the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), a 1% annual-chance (100-year) floodplain where flood insurance is federally mandated for mortgaged structures. These are the A-family zones (A, AE, AH, AO, AR, A99) and the coastal V-family zones (V, VE) subject to wave action.
• Moderate-to-low risk — X (and its legacy equivalents B and C), covering the 0.2% annual-chance (500-year) floodplain and areas outside the mapped floodplains.
• Undetermined — D, where flood hazards exist but have not been analyzed.

Two additional values, OPEN WATER and AREA NOT INCLUDED, are not risk classifications; they mark areas the FIRM does not assess.

Parcels with no intersecting NFHL polygon — either because the county has no effective NFHL data or the parcel lies entirely outside any mapped hazard area — carry NULL in all five columns.

Every possible fldzone value is documented in detail, one page per zone, under the FEMA Flood Zones reference.

2.3. Versioning and Updates

2.3.1. Update Schedule

The National Parcel dataset is updated quarterly. Not all counties publish their source data at this interval, but all are checked by the land records database to pull, harmonize, and a merge updates if there are any.

2.3.2. Versioning

Each quarterly release is identified by a YEAR.QUARTER version, e.g. 2025.1 for the first quarter of 2025. This release version is published with the bulk download itself (in the file name and accompanying metadata) rather than stamped onto each parcel row. It is distinct and separate from the updated column, which indicates the date of the last source update or acquisition for an individual parcel.

2.4. Source Data Precision

Geometric precision varies based on the original source data (e.g., surveyed vs. digitized from aerial imagery). There is no standardized or reliable way of ascertaining data accuracy from a particular source – the data provided by a county serves as the authoritative source of parcel/tax information for that county, and Land Records does not attempt to improve upon the county’s own methods of data collection and digitization.

2.5. Output Data Precision

The output dataset is snapped to a 1e-7 uniform grid, which results in a precision of around 1cm at most North American latitudes. Each vertex is snapped to the grid point which is closest to the underlying source data while preserving topology of the original geometry.

A large proportion of source data in the United States was collected and subsequently digitized against the NAD83 datum. The output datum however, is WGS 84. The typical, off-the-shelf transformation tools utilized by Land Records to transform geometries between these datums are usually accurate within a meter or so, but this varies by latitude.

100% accuracy in transforming between NAD83 and WGS84 would require taking into account the exact time at which the original data was collected, the methods used, and the subsequent tectonic plate drift that has occurred in the meantime. If this is a requirement for your use case, more details are available in this paper: Transformations between NAD83 and WGS84. See also this open-source implementation in C++: https://github.com/SonicScholar/trans4d-cpp.