These data comprise the spatial boundaries delineating 10,956 major retail agglomerations across the United States, with an accompanying classification that describes their characteristics. The dataset was generated through the use of retailer location data supplied by SafeGraph. The data provides a replicable data product built on a heuristic categorisation of retail unit density. The product is built using consistent methods and data for the national extent of the U.S., representing the first delineation of retail centres for this country.

The agglomerations are identified based on the clustering and connectivity patterns of individual retail units over space. A hexagonal high-resolution grid is superimposed over spatial clusters of retail points and a network-based algorithm is used to prune and fine-tune clusters into self-contained, mutually exclusive zones.

The retail boundaries are accompanied by information about their geographical location, including state, county, place and street names, as well as a non-hierarchical classification which describes the characteristics of the different retail centres. A two-tier classification is presented, comprising four top-level groups and fourteen nested types.

SafeGraph enabled the dissemination of these data, which were aggregated and derived from their own points of interest data along with OpenStreetMap, to be distributed under an open licence. SafeGraph, OpenStreetMap and CDRC should be attributed when using these data.

These data are available with a CC-BY 2.0 Licence, which permits users to copy, distribute, display, perform and make derivative works only if they give the author or licensor the attribution.

For more details on the creation of the retail boundaries (and typology), please see the paper link below.

Content

These data are open and can be downloaded as a zipped Geopackage (GPKG) from the bottom of this page.

For detailed description of the columns contained within the data, see the Variable Dictionary; and for an overview of the characteristics of the data, see the Data Summary. These files can be downloaded from the bottom of this page.

Quality, Representation and Bias

The retail centres are developed consistently for the national extent of the U.S. In total there are 10,956 major agglomerations across the U.S.

A characteristic-based classification is generated along with the delineated retail clusters, which represents the relative size and ranking of the retail space.