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Download GNIS Data

By U.S. Board on Geographic Names

The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)

Search Domestic Names

Learn about and download U.S. Board on Geographic Names data from the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)

Go to Domestic Names page

Download Names Data

The geographic names data provided here contain names for natural features, unincorporated populated places, canals, reservoirs, and more for the United States, its dependent areas, and Antarctica. All names data products are extracted from the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), the Federal Government's repository of official geographic names.

 

Accessing Data Using the The National Map Staged Products Directory

All downloadable files are available at The National Map Staged Products Directory. The following table contains a description of the downloads available in each geographic names folder. Click the directory title to view the files. An in-depth look at the structure and attribution for each product type is provided in the GNIS data products document.

In addition to the previously provided pipe-delimited text (TXT) files, names data is now available in native Geographic Information System (GIS) formats (file geodatabase [GDB] and GeoPackage [GPKG]) for easier ingest into GIS software and applications. See 'FullModel' below. Each download is a .zip file that contains the data in one of the above-mentioned formats as well as download-specific metadata in an .xml file. 

Directory 

File
Formats 

Description

Antarctica 

TXT 

*Coming soon* Names data for the continent of Antarctica approved by the
Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.

Archive 

TXT 

Static legacy domestic and Antarctica names data last updated August 2021.
This data will not be refreshed. Includes unmaintained administrative features
no longer included in GNIS. 

DomesticNames 

TXT 

Names data for the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S.
Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. These files are most similar
to the legacy files previously available for domestic names. Available geographic
extents are National, States, and AllStates (bundled States).

FederalCodes 

TXT 

Domestic names records that have assigned Census codes, Census class
codes, General Services Administration (GSA) codes, or Office of Personnel
Management (OPM) codes. Available geographic extents are National,
States, and AllStates (bundled States).

FullModel 

GDB
GPKG

GIS-enabled names data for the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto
Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Available
geographic extents are National and States.

Topical 

TXT 

Topical domestic names extracts of GNIS, such as populated places, features
with description/history, historical features, and government units. Geographic extent
is National. More information on these data products is below. 

Note about character display issues in text files: GNIS data is maintained in the character set AL32/UTF8 to accommodate native special characters. Names in any language in the Roman alphabet are supported. Some software might not display these characters correctly. Please see the Unicode Display Problems at the Unicode Consortium website for additional information concerning Unicode character display problems. 

 

The National Map Download client interface
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
The National Map Downloader. Click to download geographic names and more.
Other Ways to Explore GNIS Data

Data products are refreshed every other month. To see the latest domestic geographic names, please visit the GNIS Search Domestic Names Application. From the application, data on up to 2000 geographic features may be downloaded to a .csv file.

Geographic names downloads are also available through The National Map Downloader, which provides a user-friendly map interface to help with the selection of your geographic area of interest and desired file format.

GNIS data is also provided as a National Map web service.

Click here for GNIS metadata.

 

Topical Gazetteers

Topical extracts of GNIS are also available. These files are National in extent and provided in pipe-delimited .txt format. Please click the Gazetteer Type title to begin the download. Click here for an an in-depth look at the structure and attribution associated with each product listed below.

Gazetteer Type Description
Feature Description /History Contains only records from the database that have the Description or History fields populated. This layer is meant to be related to the All Names, Populated Places, or Historical Features layers.
Government Units Contains the names & alphabetic and numerical codes of country, State, and county/county-equivalent governmental units in the database.
Historical Features Contains features identified as Historical. A designation of Historical indicates that the name is no longer in use, or the feature no longer serves the original purpose
Populated Places Contains features classified as Populated Place in the database.
All Names *Coming soon* Contains official and variant names as well as source information for all features. Variant names are non-official names by which a feature is or was known.

Questions

If you have any questions or download issues, please email tnm_help@usgs.gov.