53033 FipsDecoder
36029 County FIPS Code

Erie County

New York · County seat: Buffalo · Active county or equivalent

View on CensusDepth ↗

FIPS code 36029 is Erie County, New York. With a population of 951,232 (2022 ACS estimate), it ranks #8 in New York and #56 nationally. Erie County is part of the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY. The state FIPS code for New York is 36. This code is used in Census Bureau, BLS, EPA, HUD, and USDA federal datasets to identify this county.

County FIPS

36029

State FIPS

36

NY

Population

951,232

2022 ACS · #56 nationally

Density

912.3/mi²

people per sq mile

Land Area

1,043

sq miles

Urban/Rural

Metro — 1M+ population

RUCC 1

How This FIPS Code Works

36 029
36 = State FIPS (New York)
029 = County FIPS

The 5-digit FIPS code 36029 is formed by combining the 2-digit state identifier 36 (New York) with the 3-digit county identifier 029. Together they uniquely identify Erie County in every US federal dataset. No two counties share the same 5-digit FIPS code.

Census ACS Data for FIPS 36029

From the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates — the same values you'd retrieve by querying the Census API with county FIPS 36029.

Median Household Income

$68,014

ACS B19013_001E

Poverty Rate

13.8%

ACS B17001 (below poverty level)

Median Age

40.1

ACS B01002_001E

Metropolitan Area

Adjacent Counties (5)

Counties that share a border with Erie County. Useful for regional analysis — these are the geographies you'd typically include when studying labor markets, commuting zones, or environmental spillovers around FIPS 36029.

Federal Datasets Using Code 36029

FIPS code 36029 appears as the county identifier in the following federal datasets. Analysts joining data across these sources use this code as the common geographic key.

Using FIPS Code 36029 in Code

Common patterns for querying federal datasets by this county's FIPS code. The leading zeros are significant — always treat FIPS codes as strings, not integers.

Census ACS API — Python 36029
import requests

url = "https://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5"
params = {
    "get":  "NAME,B19013_001E,B01003_001E",
    "for":  "county:029",
    "in":   "state:36",
    "key":  "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY",
}
r = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = r.json()  # [[header...], [Erie County, New York, income, pop, ...]
SQL — filtering by county FIPS 36029
-- 5-digit combined FIPS (state + county)
SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE county_fips = '36029';

-- Some datasets store state and county separately
SELECT * FROM your_table
WHERE state_fips = '36'
  AND county_fips = '029';

-- ⚠ Never cast to integer — leading zeros are lost:
-- county_fips = 36029 is WRONG for this county
R — tidycensus 36029
library(tidycensus)

get_acs(
  geography = "county",
  variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
  state     = "36",
  county    = "029",
  year      = 2022
)
Zero-padding reminder: FIPS codes must always be stored and compared as zero-padded strings. 36 (not 36) and 029 (not 29) — losing the leading zeros is one of the most common data-join bugs in federal datasets. Full guide →

ZIP Codes in Erie County

ZIP codes do not align perfectly with county boundaries — a single ZIP code can span multiple counties, and a county can contain parts of many ZIP codes. The ratios below (from the Census 2020 ZCTA relationship file) show the land area share of each ZCTA that falls within Erie County. Why FIPS ≠ ZIP →

ZIP Code % in county
14261 100.0%
14221 100.0%
14222 100.0%
14223 100.0%
14224 100.0%
14225 100.0%
14226 100.0%
14227 100.0%
14228 100.0%
14260 100.0%
14006 100.0%
14025 100.0%
14026 100.0%
14027 100.0%
14031 100.0%
14032 100.0%
14033 100.0%
14034 100.0%
14035 100.0%
14043 100.0%
14047 100.0%
14051 100.0%
14052 100.0%
14055 100.0%
14057 100.0%
14059 100.0%
14061 100.0%
14068 100.0%
14069 100.0%
14072 100.0%

Showing top 30 of 72 ZIP codes by residential address share.

Other Counties in New York