Get started with ArcGIS Tapestry

ArcGIS Tapestry is an advanced demographics dataset that groups areas based on shared demographic, socioeconomic, and lifestyle characteristics. Its detailed summaries reveal patterns and provide insights about a community's complexity that go beyond what can be seen when looking at a single statistic.

In this tutorial, you'll use Tapestry data to help a local politician running for a city council seat in Albany, New York. To guide their campaign strategy, they want to understand their voting base, not just with census numbers, but with detailed information about their demographic and lifestyle patterns. In ArcGIS Business Analyst Web App, you'll map Tapestry data across the city and summarize the findings with an infographic.

Though this tutorial uses Business Analyst, you can access Tapestry data using a variety of ArcGIS products and capabilities, including the Enrich Layer tool in ArcGIS Online and the Enrich tool in ArcGIS Pro. To learn more about Tapestry, including other examples of real-world use cases, see the ArcGIS Tapestry story.

This tutorial was last tested on February 11, 2026.

Requirements

• ArcGIS organizational account with a Publisher, Facilitator, or Administrator role (see options for software access)
• ArcGIS Business Analyst Web App

Get started with ArcGIS Tapestry

Create a project

First, you'll create a project in Business Analyst Web App. Projects are collections of content, such as maps, data, and reports. Using projects, you can manage your work and group your content.

1. Go to Business Analyst Web App.
2. If you are not signed in, click Sign In. Sign in with your ArcGIS organizational account.

   Note:

   If you don't have an organizational account, see options for software access.

   Your account must be licensed to use Business Analyst Web App. With the Creator user type, you have access to Business Analyst Web App Standard. See Access Business Analyst for more information.

3. If necessary, close the Welcome or What's new in Business Analyst window.
4. On the ribbon, confirm the Home tab is selected.

   

5. Click New project.

   

6. In the Create project window, for Project name, type Albany voter demographics and add your name or initials.

   Note:

   Two projects with the same name can't exist in the same ArcGIS organization. Adding your name or initials to the project name ensures it is unique.

7. Click Create.

   A message indicates that the project is being created. When it finishes, a confirmation message appears.

8. In the confirmation message, check Open new projects on Maps tab as soon as they are created and click OK.

   Note:

   Alternatively, you can open your project by closing the confirmation window and finding the project under the Projects tab on the Home page. Point to the project and click Open project to open it.

   The project appears.

   Before you continue, you'll set the data source. Business Analyst includes multiple country-specific data sources. ArcGIS Tapestry data is exclusive to the United States, so you'll ensure the data source is one that uses United States data.

9. On the ribbon, ensure the Data source button is set to USA.

   

   Note:

   If a different data source is displayed, click the Data source button. In the menu, search for and choose USA. If more than one data source is available, choose the one from the most recent year. For more information, see Data in Business Analyst.

Map Tapestry data

Tapestry data is most meaningful when used at small geographic scales, since its demographic profile of a community becomes more general when applied to larger populations. To most effectively help a local politician better understand the community they represent, you'll create a color-coded map showing Tapestry data in Albany at the census block group level.

Census block groups are small geographic areas used by the United States Census Bureau that usually contain between 600 and 3,000 people. They are the smallest available geographic area for creating a color-coded map in Business Analyst. While census blocks, which make up block groups, are the smallest geographic unit at which census data is aggregated, displaying data at this level is often restricted due to confidentiality and performance limitations.

Note:

See Available geographies to learn more about the distinctions between United States geographic boundaries.

1. On the ribbon, click Create maps.

   

2. Choose Color-coded maps.

   

   The Color-coded maps pane appears. A color-coded map shows one or more demographic variables, styled by color. To see a demographic profile of a community, you could create a color-coded map that contains dozens of variables. By instead mapping Tapestry data, you'll see a detailed demographic profile while only needing to add a single variable.

   First, you'll choose the geography to map. You'll choose your area of interest: Albany, New York.

3. Expand Geography. For Area of interest, click United States.

   

4. In the search bar, type Albany city, NY. In the list of results, choose Albany city, NY County Subdivision.

   

   The map navigates to Albany, New York.

5. For Level of detail, choose Block Groups.

   

   Now that you've set the area of interest, you'll choose the data variable to map. You'll map block groups by their dominant Tapestry segment. A segment is how Tapestry data is classified based on shared socioeconomic, demographic, and lifestyle characteristics.

6. For Variables, click Browse all variables.

   

   The Data browser window appears. It lists all variables available to be mapped. The variables available depend on the data source. Because you're using the USA data source, the variables reflect United States data.

7. Under Categories, click Tapestry.

   

   A list of available Tapestry data variables appears.

8. Under Popular variables, click 2025 Dominant Tapestry Segment (Esri).

   

   Note:

   If a more recent version of the variable is available, choose it instead.

   A color-coded map is created, showing the 83 block groups that comprise Albany. Each block group has a color representing its dominant Tapestry segment, meaning the segment that most reflects that block group.

   

Explore the data

You've mapped block groups by Tapestry segment, but what do these segments mean? How do they inform you about the community, and how could a local politician use this information to plan their campaign outreach strategy?

A Tapestry segment is a group of shared demographic, socioeconomic, and lifestyle characteristics. They identify patterns that describe who lives in an area and what matters to them. There are a total of 60 segments across the United States. These 60 segments are further organized into one of 12 LifeMode groups, which are higher-level groups based on key shared demographic characteristics, such as age, income, and population density.

To better understand the Tapestry data, you'll explore it on the map.

1. On the map, point to the most northeastern block group (360010001.001).

   

   A pop-up appears, showing the name of the block group and its dominant Tapestry segment. For this block group, the dominant segment is C4 Family Foundations.

   The C4 means that this segment is the fourth segment in LifeMode group C. To learn more, you'll view the legend, which lists all the LifeMode groups and their segments.

2. In the Color-coded maps pane, scroll down to the Legend section. Expand C Metro Vibes.

   

   C4 Family Foundations is listed along with the other segments in LifeMode group C (Metro Vibes). Each LifeMode group and segment in the legend has a link that explains more.

3. Click the link for C4 Family Foundations.

   

   In a new browser tab, the documentation for LifeMode group C opens, showing the section for segment C4.

   The documentation begins with a paragraph describing the typical residents of this segment. For instance, residents in segment C4 reside largely in suburbs, have a higher rate of multigenerational households, and generally earn middle-tier incomes. Employment is largely in government, health care, and retail, while social security and other forms of public assistance are key sources of support.

   Note:

   ArcGIS Tapestry data describes broad trends within communities rather than the traits or behaviors of specific people. For this reason, segment profiles and summaries can be used to make broad inferences about the communities that make up an area, but they should not be used to extrapolate characteristics and behaviors at an individual level. For example, even if a segment is known for high social media use overall, it doesn't mean everyone in that group is an avid social media user.

4. Scroll down to the Key statistics section.

   This section provides median demographic information for this segment. Because segments represent multiple areas across the United States, these statistics may not be the exact median values for the specific census block group you looked at, but they are likely to be close.

5. Scroll down to the Housing and employment section.

   This section contains information about home value, homeownership rate, and labor force participation.

   With the information from the Key statistics and Housing and employment sections, the candidate can better understand who their constituents are and gain a better idea of which issues might be important to them. For instance, 42 percent of the households in this segment are rent-burdened, meaning they spend more than 35 percent of their household income on rent. A campaign that promises rent reduction measures or the construction of new affordable housing might prove effective.

6. Scroll down to the Lifestyle patterns section.

   This section provides information about typical lifestyle habits of people who live in this segment. For instance, in segment C4, households tend to have multiple TVs, opt for newspapers over digital media, and maintain a landline phone at home.

   The information in this section might be useful for planning outreach efforts. For instance, because most homes maintain a landline phone, phone canvassing might be effective. Newspaper ads or TV commercials might also be effective, while online or digital advertisements might not reach as many of the constituents.

7. Close the documentation page and return to your map in Business Analyst.

   Before you continue, you'll save the color-coded map as a layer so it can be used in other analyses.

8. At the bottom of the Color-coded maps pane, click Save layer.
9. In the Save layer window, for Layer name, delete the existing text and type Albany Tapestry segments. Click OK.

   The layer is saved.

Run an infographic

Previously, you looked at the Tapestry segment for one of the 83 block groups in Albany. While you could individually look at all of the other block groups, it would be more efficient to summarize the results. To accomplish this, you'll run an infographic that shows the five Tapestry segments most represented across the city. Infographics provide visual summaries of key information associated with a location. Paired with the segment documentation, these summaries can inform the candidate's campaign strategy.

Note:

Infographics are one way you can use Business Analyst to learn more about community patterns and market trends. For a more in-depth analysis of neighborhood demographics in Business Analyst, try the tutorial Find suitable areas for new affordable housing.

1. On the ribbon, click Reports.

   

2. Click Run infographics.

   

3. For Add sites to report on, click Add sites.

   

4. In the Add sites window, click From layers. Check the box for Albany Tapestry segments.

   

   The 83 census blocks in the color-coded map layer are selected. While you could run an infographic for each of them, that wouldn't be efficient. Instead, you'll also select the city of Albany as a site and run an infographic for it.

5. Click the Neighboring geographies tab.

   

6. Expand Cities and Towns (Places). Check the box for Albany City, NY.

   

7. Click Apply.

   The 83 census blocks in your color-coded map layer and the Albany city boundary are selected. Next, you'll choose the infographic template to use. You'll choose a template designed for Tapestry data.

   Note:

   If the Explore gallery infographics window appears, click Dismiss.

8. Expand Standard infographics. Scroll down and check the box for Tapestry Profile.

   

9. In the Selected infographics box, for Albany City, NY, click Run now.

   

   Note:

   You may need to scroll to find the Albany City, NY option.

   The infographic is run for the city boundary.

   

   The infographic contains a map of the city boundary and some basic demographic information, such as the total number of households, the median age and household income, and the population by race.

   Note:

   The second page of the infographic, which can be viewed by clicking the Next page button, shows information about the city's unemployment rate, population by occupation, and educational attainment.

   The Tapestry section shows the top five segments by household count across the city. In order, these are D1 Emerging Hub, C2 Kids and Kin, B2 College Towns, K6 City Greens, and A1 Independent Cityscapes.

   None of these segments account for more than 20 percent of the city's total households. Also, each of the top five segments comes from a different LifeMode group (the LifeMode group is represented by the letter at the start of the segment name). These results indicate that household composition throughout the city is highly varied by income, age, and lifestyle. A campaign strategy that does not take into account the city's diversity might not gain traction.

   Still, the top segments give your candidate a place to start. You'll learn more about the most represented segment.

10. In the Tapestry section, click D1 Emerging Hub.

    

    A window appears, showing the general characteristics associated with the segment. Like the documentation, these characteristics reflect the distribution of this segment across the United States and are not specific to households in Albany.

    From this window, it seems this segment is generally populated by young, single renters living alone in dense, multiunit housing.

    

    Tip:

    Click View segment profile to open the documentation for this segment.

11. Close the window.
12. Explore the infographic and segment documentation. See what insights you can reach regarding a potential campaign strategy for Albany.

    Try finding answers to questions about how and where constituents live. Are they typically homeowners? What type of housing do they typically live in? Other important considerations are how constituents communicate and consume media, as this information can reveal the best ways for a candidate to spread information about their campaign.

    When you looked only at the C4 Family Foundations segment, you reached the conclusion that a phone campaign or newspaper print advertising campaign might benefit your candidate's campaign. However, if you look at the documentation for the two top segments by household count, D1 Emerging Hub and C2 Kids and Kin, you'll learn that both segments have notable social media usage. While a phone campaign might best reach voters in one block group, a social media campaign might have greater impact across the city as a whole.

    Meanwhile, the top segments have high percentages of rent-burdened households. Your initial plan of focusing campaign policies on reducing rent or increasing affordable housing seems like it might have more widespread appeal across the city.

    You'll export this infographic as a PDF so you can access it outside of Business Analyst, though it will lose some of its interactive features.

13. On the ribbon, click the Export infographic button.

    

14. In the Export infographic window, check the box for Add header and edit title. For Title, type Tapestry Profile for Albany, New York.

    Exporting infographics in Business Analyst consumes credits. Credits are the currency used across ArcGIS. They are consumed when performing analytics, storing features, exporting reports, and geocoding. Before performing one of these actions, it's a good idea to check how many credits will be consumed.

15. Click Estimate credits.

    

    It will cost 10 credits to export the infographic. You may choose to do so, or cancel the operation.

16. Optionally, if you want to export the infographic, click Create PDF. Otherwise, click Cancel.

    If you choose to export the infographic, it is downloaded to your computer as a PDF.

    Tip:

    Alternatively, you can share an interactive version of the infographic. Close the infographic and return to the Reports page. On the ribbon, click Maps. Click Share results to view options for exporting the infographic. Exporting to ArcGIS Dashboards or ArcGIS StoryMaps will allow you to share the infographic as well as the color-coded map. For more detailed steps on how to share an infographic as a dashboard, see the tutorial Find suitable areas for new affordable housing.

    It's not necessary to save your project. Projects in Business Analyst Web App are automatically saved.

In this tutorial, you learned how to access ArcGIS Tapestry data in Business Analyst using color-coded maps and infographics. You also learned how to understand Tapestry data by using the documentation.

From your exploration, you learned that a large amount of Albany's population uses social media and lives in a rent-burdened household. From this information, your candidate can put resources into a social media campaign that promotes their policies on affordable housing, allowing them to best reach their voting base.

Using Tapestry data enabled your candidate to reach this conclusion while only mapping a single data variable. While they may have been able to reach similar conclusions after mapping several demographic, housing, employment, and media consumption variables, the Tapestry dataset provides this information in one place and can be used alongside other datasets and layers to add more context to the analysis.

This tutorial covered only one of the ways Tapestry data can be used, but it has many more applications than only campaign planning. To learn about other use cases, such as disaster response planning and real estate, see the ArcGIS Tapestry story. To learn more about Tapestry segments, see the ArcGIS Tapestry Segment Infographics Dashboard.

You can find more tutorials in the tutorial gallery.

Acknowledgements

• Esri Demographics data accessed with ArcGIS Business Analyst. Terms of use.
• World Street Map tile layer sources: Esri, TomTom, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS User Community