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 Table 7-3. Land and Water Area of Puerto Rico and the Outlying Areas

The geographic components of Puerto Rico and the Outlying Areas vary as a result of each entity’s history, governmental and administrative structure, and the pattern of human settlement. The Census Bureau presents data for the geographic components in terms of a standard framework, the same geographic hierarchy it uses for the States (see and ). It also presents the data for some components in an inventory listing, such as all places within an Outlying Area or all census tracts or block numbering areas within a county. The high-level geography for each entity is provided in and explained later in this chapter. (The hierarchy applies only to American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico and the Outlying Areas7-9