Code for the state of the patient's residence at the time the tumor was diagnosed is a derived (geocoded) variable based on Census Boundary files from 2020 Decennial Census.

Populating the GeoLocationID 2020 [354] correctly requires FIPS code for state and not the USPS abbreviations. Also, on rare occasions, the boundaries of states do change (North Carolina and South Carolina border, for example).
 
Instruction for Coding

• This variable is generated through the process of geocoding either during abstracting or at the central registry level. For U.S. residents, this data item stores the state codes issued by the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) publication Counties and Equivalent Entities of the United States, Its Possessions, and Associated Areas. The information in this publication is available in the FIPS Codes for Counties and Equivalent Entities Section.
• It is recommended that geocoding be performed using the NAACCR geocoder.
• It is recommended that all cases diagnosed through 2029 should have a State at DX Geocode 2020 [84].
• At a minimum, all cases diagnosed 2015-2029 should have a State at DX Geocode 2010 [83]. Some cases, such as those diagnosed in 2029, must have both State at DX Geocode 2020 [84] and State at DX 2030 codes for proper assignment of the Census Tr Poverty Indicatr [145].
• Do not update this item if the patient's residence changes. Store address update information in the affiliated current address data items. Only update based on improved information on the residential address at time of diagnosis.
• PO Box address information should not be used to geocode this data item except in the infrequent case when no other address information is available.
• If the patient has multiple tumors, the state codes may be different for each tumor.

Codes

Note: For U.S. residents, historically, standard codes are those of the FIPS publication "Counties and Equivalent Entities of the United States, Its Possessions, and Associated Areas." These FIPS codes (FIPS 6-4) have been replaced by INCITS standard codes, however, there is no impact on this variable as the codes align with the system the Census used for each decennial census and will automatically be accounted for during geocoding.