Census (ACS by ZIP)

Name: Census (ACS by ZIP)
Author: mcpwright

by mcpwrightversion 0.1.3i★ –iRuns on your computer

Registry nameio.github.mcpwright/census-mcp

Install

Overview

Description from the maker (original English)

U.S. Census (ACS) data by ZIP: income, demographics, housing, education, from a local store.

PopNx MCP’s three pillars

These three are never merged into one score: opinions, measurements and popularity are different things.

User voiceiNo reviews yetReviews open together with accounts in a later step
Our basic checksi1 of 1 passedChecked from public information; code not scanned yet
UsageiNot measured yet★ –

What you can do with it

We have not written a plain-language summary for this one yet. Below are the facts we read from the registry.

Connection: Runs on your computer
Transport: stdio
Category: Law & government data
You need to fill in: CENSUS_API_KEY

Install

Pick the AI app you use, then copy the settings.

Before you install

Basic checks: 1 of 1 passed
Runs on your computer with your user’s permissions (files, network, apps).
You fill in yourself: CENSUS_API_KEY

You need

PyPIPython’s uv installed (for the uvx command)

Which app do you use?

ClaudeClaude CodeCursorVS CodeChatGPT

Pick your app above. We remember it, so next time the button says “Install in …”.

Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config, and paste this into claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "census": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcpwright-census"
      ],
      "env": {
        "CENSUS_API_KEY": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}

Run this in your terminal

claude mcp add census --env CENSUS_API_KEY=your-value -- uvx mcpwright-census

Fill in the empty values before running it.

Open in Cursor

Or copy the settings yourself

Paste into .cursor/mcp.json in your project, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "census": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcpwright-census"
      ],
      "env": {
        "CENSUS_API_KEY": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}

Your browser asks to open the app, then the app shows the settings and asks you to confirm. Key values are left empty for you to fill in.

Open in VS Code

Or copy the settings yourself

Paste into .vscode/mcp.json in your project

{
  "servers": {
    "census": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcpwright-census"
      ],
      "env": {
        "CENSUS_API_KEY": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}

Your browser asks to open the app, then the app shows the settings and asks you to confirm. Key values are left empty for you to fill in.

This one runs on your computer, and ChatGPT can only connect to servers on the internet. Pick another app.

Your choice stays on this device in a cookie; no account needed.

Values you fill in

CENSUS_API_KEY required env
Free Census API key (get one at https://api.census.gov/data/key_signup.html). Required for the one-time bulk download of the ACS dataset.

These settings are generated from the maker’s registry entry. If the README says otherwise, follow the README.

What it can do

Runs on your computer; the tool list appears in your AI app after you install it.

Basic checksi

We check information anyone can see; we have not read the code. Checks that do not apply are left out of the count. · Checked Nov 8, 2026

✓ Pass
Maker matches the repo
The registry name was verified with the GitHub account mcpwright, which owns the repo
… Not checked yet
Still maintained
We have not read this repo from GitHub yet
… Not checked yet
Has a licence
We have not read this repo from GitHub yet
– Not applicable
Endpoint responds
This one runs on your computer; there is no internet endpoint
– Not applicable
Sign-in with OAuth
Runs on your computer and uses local settings instead
… Not checked yet
No hidden instructions in tool descriptions
Runs on your computer; we can only read tool lists from internet endpoints

Compared with others in Law & government datai

More stars than 0% of the other 1740 servers in this category
Published to the registry more recently than 29% of the other 1740 servers in this category
Basic checks equal to or better than 100% of the other 1740 servers in this category

Compared with every active server in this category in the registry. Stars count only when the publisher owns the repo.

Common questions

Is Census (ACS by ZIP) safe?

It passed 1 of 1 applicable basic checks. We have not read the code. Before adding a key or token, see what access the server asks for and use a key with only the permissions you need.

What keys or codes does it need?

You need to fill in: CENSUS_API_KEY

Does it run on my computer or in the cloud?

It runs on your computer. Your AI app starts it when needed, and data does not pass through the maker’s servers (unless it calls an online service itself).

Is it still maintained?

The GitHub repo last changed –, and the latest version (0.1.3) reached the registry 3 months ago.

Which apps can use it?

Apps that support MCP, such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor and VS Code. You also need Python (uv) on your computer.

What can I use instead?

In the same category: CourtReserve MCP by usefulapi, Census MCP by usefulapi, INDEC Argentina (no oficial)

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README from the maker

Open the README

Copied from the maker’s repo as written. PopNx MCP has not reviewed or endorsed it. HTML, images and scripts are removed. Links lead off this site.

census-mcp

U.S. Census data by ZIP code, inside your agent. An MCP server that lets an LLM look up income, demographics, housing, and education for any ZIP — built on Anthropic's official mcp Python SDK.

All tools are read-only. Data is the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year release — bulk-downloaded once into a local store, then served offline. A free Census API key is required for the one-time download.

Status: published (v0.1.2) — uvx mcpwright-census (PyPI) and listed in the official MCP

Registry as io.github.mcpwright/census-mcp. All 8 tools below are live and unit-tested, verified

end-to-end against the live ACS 5-year release (vintage 2024 at the time of writing — the

server auto-detects the latest). Part of the

mcpwright suite.

Tools

Tool	What it does
`lookup_zip(zip_code)`	Confirm a ZIP maps to a Census ZCTA; returns name, total population, and the ACS vintage.
`get_income(zip_code)`	Median household income, per-capita income, total households, and the % of households earning $200k+.
`get_demographics(zip_code)`	Total population and median age.
`get_housing(zip_code)`	Median home value, median gross rent, occupied units, and % owner-occupied.
`get_education(zip_code)`	Of adults 25+, the % with a bachelor's degree or higher and the % with a graduate/professional degree.
`compare_zips(zips, metric)`	Rank several ZIPs by one metric (income, age, home value, attainment, …), highest first.
`get_acs_variable(zip_code, variable)`	Escape hatch: the raw value of any stored ACS variable, by code or friendly name.
`find_zips(place, state=None)`	Reverse lookup: the ZIPs that fall within a city/town/CDP, ranked by how much of each ZIP's land lies in the place.

ZIP ≈ ZCTA (ZIP Code Tabulation Area): they mostly coincide, but ~2% of ZIPs (PO-box-only / non-residential) have no ZCTA and will return an error. All ACS figures are 5-year *estimates*.

find_zips is the reverse direction (place → ZIPs). It's approximate: ZCTAs don't nest inside places, so a ZIP can span several places and vice versa — read each match's coverage_pct and pass a state to disambiguate same-named places (e.g. Cambridge, MA vs OH). It's built on the public 2020 Census ZCTA-to-Place relationship file (2020 geography; no API key needed for it).

Install

Requires Python 3.12+ and a free Census API key (set CENSUS_API_KEY). The PyPI package is mcpwright-census; the command, server, and tools are all "census".

export CENSUS_API_KEY=your-free-key

uvx mcpwright-census setup # one-time: bulk-download the ACS dataset into a local store

Claude Code

claude mcp add census -e CENSUS_API_KEY=your-free-key -- uvx mcpwright-census

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

"mcpServers": { "census": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["mcpwright-census"], "env": { "CENSUS_API_KEY": "your-free-key" } } } }

First run downloads the full ACS dataset (~33k ZCTAs) into a local SQLite store under

your OS cache dir, so every later lookup is instant and offline. Run mcpwright-census setup

ahead of time, or let the server download lazily on first use. mcpwright-census refresh

re-pulls when a new ACS vintage is published. Override the store location with

CENSUS_MCP_STORE.

Develop

git clone https://github.com/mcpwright/census-mcp && cd census-mcp

uv sync uv run pytest -v # tests (mocked Census + seeded SQLite) uv run ruff check src/ && uv run ruff format --check src/ # lint + format uv run mypy # type checking uv run mcp dev src/census_mcp/server.py # poke the tools in the MCP Inspector

Roadmap

lookup_zip — validate a ZIP, name + population
get_income — income measures + % $200k+
get_demographics — population + median age _(age brackets still to come)_
get_housing — median home value, rent, % owner-occupied
get_education — % bachelor's+, % graduate
compare_zips — one metric across several ZIPs, ranked
get_acs_variable — raw value for any stored ACS variable (escape hatch)
find_zips — reverse lookup: place → ZIPs, ranked by land coverage
get_demographics age brackets (under-18 / 18-34 / 35-64 / 65+)
Publish to PyPI (mcpwright-census) + the official MCP Registry

Privacy

census-mcp runs entirely on your machine and collects, stores, or transmits no personal data — no accounts, no tracking, no telemetry. Its only outbound requests go to the public U.S. Census Bureau to download public data: api.census.gov for the ACS dataset (using your own CENSUS_API_KEY), and www2.census.gov for the place-lookup file used by find_zips (no key needed). The key is read from your environment and is never logged or sent anywhere else. These downloads happen during setup/refresh (or lazily on first use); after that, lookups are served from a local store with no further network calls. The downloaded data lives under your OS cache directory (public reference data only) and can be deleted at any time.

Full policy: https://mcpwright.com/privacy

Questions & feedback

Questions, ideas, or "could it do X?" → Discussions
Bugs & concrete feature requests → Issues

Contributions welcome.

Part of mcpwright · built by Devender Gollapally

Census (ACS by ZIP)

Overview

PopNx MCP’s three pillars

What you can do with it

Install

Before you install

Values you fill in

What it can do

Basic checksi

Maker matches the repo

Still maintained

Has a licence

Endpoint responds

Sign-in with OAuth

No hidden instructions in tool descriptions

Compared with others in Law & government datai

Common questions

Alternatives

CourtReserve MCP by usefulapi

Census MCP by usefulapi

INDEC Argentina (no oficial)

README from the maker

census-mcp

Tools

Install

Claude Code

Claude Desktop

Develop

Roadmap

Privacy

Questions & feedback