For any point, the Census geographies endpoint returns the county GEOID and, when the point falls inside an incorporated place, the place GEOID. The place rule wins when there is one; otherwise the unincorporated county rule answers. When a city governs, the county rule is still shown underneath as context that also applies.
Also called: incorporated or unincorporated · city limits governs · unincorporated county permit
- 1censusGeographies(lat,lng) returns countyFips, placeFips and placeName
- 2A county pick deliberately forces placeFips to null — a county pick asks the unincorporated question
- 3An address that falls outside any incorporated place resolves to the county rule
- 4permit_answer_by_fips() orders city before county so the governing row is first
- 5permitApi splits the response into { governing, countyContext }
The panel's own comment: authoritative FIPS 'Replaces fuzzy county-NAME matching and is the only way to know whether a point is inside an incorporated city (→ the city rule governs).' The auto-check route repeats it: 'A city rule GOVERNS inside city limits and a county rule outside, so matching the city first is not a preference — it is the answer.'
- Two counties with the same name in different states resolve to the wrong rule
- An in-town build gets quoted against the county's (different) process
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