You have the data: loans originated, branch locations, borrower info, collateral addresses… But data alone doesn't tell you where your bank is succeeding or where risks are hiding.
So how can you turn that long list of data into actionable insights?
By plotting that data on a map, of course.
A well-constructed CRA assessment area map can transform raw lending data into visual intelligence. Maps help you see patterns, like which neighborhoods you’re serving well, where potential fair lending gaps exist, and where untapped market opportunities are waiting.
So what exactly is CRA assessment area mapping and why is it important? Keep reading to find out.
In this article, we’ll cover:
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What is CRA Mapping?
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What is a CRA Assessment Area?
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Why Do Banks Map CRA Assessment Areas?
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What Should Be on an Assessment Area Map?
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How to Create a CRA Assessment Area Map
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CRA Assessment Area Mapping Examples
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Common Assessment Area Mapping Mistakes
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Tools for Creating CRA Assessment Area Maps
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Frequently Asked Questions About AA Mapping
What is CRA Mapping?
To understand mapping, you must first know the term “geocoding.” Geocoding is the process of turning a physical address into geographic identifiers (such as a census tract, county, or latitude and longitude). Banks use geocoding to place loans, investments, services, and branches within the correct census tract for CRA reporting and analysis.
Once an address has been geocoded, mapping is the process of visualizing that location on a map. When it comes to the Community Reinvestment Act, mapping is a crucial step in properly documenting and analyzing your assessment areas and other CRA data.
What is a CRA Assessment Area?
A CRA assessment area (AA) is the geographic region where a bank is expected to meet the credit needs of its communities. Regulators evaluate a bank’s lending, investments, and services within these boundaries to determine how well the institution is serving its market.
A bank’s assessment area must:
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Reflect where the bank has branches and deposit-taking ATMs
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Include the geographies where the bank makes a substantial portion of its loans
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Consist of whole geographies such as entire census tracts, counties, or MSAs (no partial geographies)
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Avoid excluding low- or moderate-income (LMI) or majority-minority neighborhoods
In other words, a bank’s CRA assessment areas show where the bank does business and where regulators expect it to make an impact.
Why Do Banks Map CRA Assessment Areas?
Without mapping, these bank assessment areas would be pretty difficult to understand and visualize. Mapping CRA assessment areas helps CRA teams identify where the bank is doing well and where more work needs to be done.
Regulators use CRA assessment area maps during CRA exams to determine if a bank is equitably serving its entire community or if it is practicing “redlining,” which is the illegal practice of avoiding lending in certain neighborhoods based on racial composition or income level.
It’s important that assessment areas are mapped correctly. If the map is inaccurate or the AA is drawn improperly (intentionally or unintentionally), examiners may question whether the bank is serving all parts of its community fairly. Accurate geocoding and mapping help ensure the assessment area reflects actual operations and aligns with CRA requirements.
Here’s an example of a basic CRA assessment area map:
What Should Be on an Assessment Area Map?
Your CRA assessment area map should clearly show the geographic boundaries where your bank is expected to meet community credit needs. At a minimum, each map should include:
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AA boundaries
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Whole census tracts
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Key demographic overlays such as income levels or minority population percentages (optional)
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Branch and ATM locations
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Loan, investment, and service activities
These elements make up the core structure of every assessment area map. They help examiners—and your compliance team—see whether your AA is reasonable, accurately drawn, and aligned with your actual operations.
How to Create a CRA Assessment Area Map
Here’s the step-by-step process you should follow when creating your CRA assessment area map:
1. Identify your assessment area boundaries
Start by defining the geographic areas that make up your institution’s CRA assessment area. Like mentioned above, these boundaries should reflect where your bank has branches, deposit-taking ATMs, and substantial lending activity. Make sure your AA includes whole census tracts, avoids gerrymandering, and aligns with your bank’s actual market.
2. Plot your census tracts
Once your boundaries are defined, add the census tracts that fall within your AA. These tracts should be pulled from FFIEC or Census Bureau data to ensure accuracy. Each tract will serve as the base layer for the rest of your map and is essential for evaluating lending performance across LMI and majority-minority neighborhoods.
3. Add key demographic overlays
Next, add demographic information to your map, such as tract income levels, minority population percentages, or other CRA-relevant indicators. These overlays help you evaluate distribution patterns and identify potential gaps in service or outreach. They’re optional, but highly useful during exam preparation and self-assessments.
4. Add branch and ATM locations
Plot all branch and deposit-taking ATM locations within and near your AA. This helps examiners understand your physical footprint and ensures the map reflects your actual service area. If you’ve recently opened or closed locations, make sure these updates are reflected before reviewing your AA.
5. Map loan, investment, and service activities
Now that you have a basic assessment area map, it’s time to add your loan, investment, and service activities. This is where your map becomes truly useful. By layering these activities, you can see lending concentrations, identify underserved areas, and analyze where your institution is making an impact across its assessment area.
Some banks rely on spreadsheets to track this information, but that method is manual and time-consuming. Many banks use mapping software to ensure accuracy, consistency, and efficiency.
Kadince software makes it easy to collect, geocode, report, and map your institution’s CRA data. Kadince’s Geocoding & Mapping product is perfect for small banks just starting out, and Kadince’s full CRA Management product helps banks track and manage all CRA data—from grants and investments to loans and service hours. No matter the size of your bank, Kadince makes mapping your CRA assessment areas simple and reliable.
Schedule a demo to see how Kadince can help collect, geocode, and map your data.
6. Review and validate your AA map
Before finalizing your assessment area map, review it carefully to ensure the boundaries make sense and reflect your actual operations. Confirm that your AA includes whole geographies, aligns with branch and lending patterns, and does not inadvertently exclude LMI or majority-minority neighborhoods. Clearly document any changes so you have a clear record for your next CRA exam.
CRA Assessment Area Mapping Examples
Here are some examples of CRA assessment area maps created as outlined above:
AAs and Loans with Majority-Minority Percentages
CD Loans by AA and Census Tract
All Activities with Tract Income Levels
All of these maps were made using Kadince’s Geocoding and Mapping software. Schedule a demo to see it for yourself.
Common Assessment Area Mapping Mistakes
Even small errors in assessment area mapping can lead to exam questions and inaccurate performance conclusions. Here are the most common mistakes banks should watch out for:
Incorrect census tract boundaries
You should always use current census and FFIEC datasets to ensure your AA is properly drawn. Using outdated or incorrect census tract files can cause boundaries to shift or misalign with FFIEC data. This leads to inaccurate maps and can distort lending or service patterns.
Incomplete or outdated assessment areas
Banks sometimes forget to update their assessment area after opening or closing branches, expanding lending activity, or shifting their market. An assessment area that no longer reflects actual operations may appear unreasonable or incomplete during an exam.
Ignoring activities outside the AA
Banks often focus only on what happens inside their AA, but examiners review lending and service activity outside the boundaries as well. Substantial activity outside the AA may signal that the area needs to be expanded.
Forgetting to update maps after branch changes
Branch openings, closures, and ATM changes directly affect AA boundaries. If your assessment area map doesn’t reflect your current footprint, examiners may question its accuracy or reasonableness.
Poor documentation of delineation decisions
One of the most common exam issues occurs when banks update their AA but fail to document why the change was made. Examiners expect clear rationale for boundary decisions, including why certain geographies were included or excluded. Thorough documentation helps demonstrate that your AA was drawn thoughtfully and in compliance with CRA guidance.
Tools for Creating CRA Assessment Area Maps
FFIEC Geocoding Tool
The FFIEC Geocoding Tool is a good starting point for CRA assessment area mapping. It lets you look up census tracts, counties, and MSA/MD information for individual addresses using official regulatory data.
The FFIEC tool is useful for:
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Verifying census tract assignments
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Confirming geographic boundaries
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Supporting HMDA and CRA reporting accuracy
However, this tool is limited. It is primarily lookup-based and does not support bulk uploads, layered mapping, activity visualization, or long-term data management. For many banks, this tool serves as a baseline reference rather than a complete mapping solution.
Census tract lookup tools
Some banks supplement the FFIEC tool with census tract lookup tools or census mapping platforms. These tools help visualize tract boundaries and demographic characteristics using Census Bureau data.
Census tract lookup tools can be helpful for:
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Reviewing tract-level demographic data
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Understanding boundary changes over time
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Supporting internal analysis or validation
Like the FFIEC tool, these resources are typically not designed for ongoing CRA exam preparation or activity tracking and often require manual work.
CRA mapping software
Many banks use specialized CRA mapping software to create maps and visualize data. Bank-specific mapping software helps you combine geocoding, mapping, activity tracking, and reporting in one system.
A dedicated CRA mapping tool typically allows you to:
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Upload and geocode large datasets
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Maintain accurate assessment area boundaries
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Layer loans, services, and investments on maps
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Analyze patterns across census tracts
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Prepare exam-ready maps
These tools can help your team reduce manual work, improve accuracy, and stay exam-ready.
Speaking of dedicated mapping tools…the Kadince Mapping & Geocoding product is a great option for banks of all sizes. This product is built specifically to help banks create, maintain, and validate CRA assessment area maps with confidence.
With Kadince, you can:
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Upload any .csv file that contains addresses
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Geocode those addresses in bulk or batches
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Automatically populate FFIEC demographic data and census tracts
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Create interactive maps with census tract and demographic layers
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Layer maps by income levels, majority-minority census tracts, loan type, geography, and more
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Visualize patterns and see where your institution has made an impact
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Export maps and geocoded data so you can prepare for regulatory exams
Want to see how Kadince makes it easy to create and maintain CRA assessment area maps? Schedule a demo.
Frequently Asked Questions About AA Mapping
What data do I need to create a CRA assessment area map?
At a minimum, banks need accurate branch and ATM locations, census tract boundaries, and defined assessment area boundaries. Many banks also include loan, service, and community development activity data to analyze performance and prepare for exams.
Do banks without branches still need assessment area maps?
Yes. Banks without physical branches must still define and map an assessment area. In these cases, assessment areas are typically based on where the bank conducts substantial lending or deposit activity rather than branch locations.
Can assessment area maps change from exam to exam?
Yes. Assessment area maps can change as a bank’s operations evolve. Branch openings or closures, shifts in lending patterns, or market expansions may require updates. Changes should be reasonable, reflect actual activity, and be well documented.
How often should assessment area maps be updated?
Assessment area maps should be reviewed regularly and updated whenever there are changes to branch locations, lending activity, or census and FFIEC data. Many banks review their maps annually to ensure ongoing accuracy.
What tools do banks use for assessment area mapping?
Banks use a combination of FFIEC geocoding tools, census tract lookup resources, and specialized CRA mapping software like Kadince to create and maintain CRA AA maps. These tools help banks maintain accurate assessment areas, layer activity data, and produce exam-ready maps.
Want to learn more about geocoding and mapping? Check out these related articles:
*This article has been reviewed by Charles LeFevre, compliance expert and Kadince’s Director of Compliance Operations.
None of Kadince, Inc., its affiliates, or its respective employees, directors, officers, and agents (collectively, “Kadince”) are responsible or liable for any content or information incorporated herein. Read full disclosure.
