About the National Land Cover Database (NLCD)
The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Land Cover program has leveraged methodologies from legacy land cover projects together with modern innovations in geospatial methods to create the next generation of land cover and land change information. The result is Annual NLCD from 1985 to present.
The Annual NLCD land cover provides a categorical sixteen-class land cover classification system. The land cover product represents the predominant surface state within the mapping year with respect to broad categories of artificial or natural surface
cover.
Why We Are Using NLCD
Coming Soon!
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 2024, Annual NLCD Collection 1 Science Products: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P94UXNTS
Download or Connect
Coming Soon!
Service
Map Service: Look for the CT Land Cover and Change Category and the CT NOAA High Resolution Land Cover layer (CCAP_Landcover2016_1m)
More Information
Annual National Land Cover Database (NLCD) Collection 1 Products (ver.1.1, June 2025) Report | pdf
Annual NLCD Information from the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC)
National Land Cover Database (NLCD) Classes
Land Cover Classes
| Class |
Class |
Description |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Open Water | areas of open water, generally with less than 25% cover of vegetation or soil. | |
| 24 | Developed, High Intensity | highly developed areas where people reside or work in high numbers. Examples include apartment complexes, row houses and commercial/industrial. Impervious surfaces account for 80% to 100% of the total cover. | |
| 23 | Developed, Medium Intensity | areas with a mixture of constructed materials and vegetation. Impervious surfaces account for 50% to 79% of the total cover. These areas most commonly include single-family housing units. | |
| 22 | Developed, Low Intensity | areas with a mixture of constructed materials and vegetation. Impervious surfaces account for 20% to 49% percent of total cover. These areas most commonly include single family housing units. | |
| 21 | Developed, Open Space | areas with a mixture of some constructed materials, but mostly vegetation in the form of lawn grasses. Impervious surfaces account for less than 20% of total cover. These areas most commonly include large-lot single-family housing units, parks, golf courses, and vegetation planted in developed settings for recreation, erosion control, or aesthetic purposes. | |
| 41 | Deciduous Forest | areas dominated by trees generally greater than 5 meters tall, and greater than 20% of total vegetation cover. More than 75% of the tree species shed foliage simultaneously in response to seasonal change. | |
| 42 | Evergreen Forest | areas dominated by trees generally greater than 5 meters tall, and greater than 20% of total vegetation cover. More than 75% of the tree species maintain their leaves all year. Canopy is never without green foliage. | |
| 43 | Mixed Forest | areas dominated by trees generally greater than 5 meters tall, and greater than 20% of total vegetation cover. Neither deciduous nor evergreen species are greater than 75% of total tree cover. | |
| 52 | Shrub/Scrub | areas dominated by shrubs; less than 5 meters tall with shrub canopy typically greater than 20% of total vegetation. This class includes true shrubs, young trees in an early successional stage or trees stunted from environmental conditions. | |
| 71 | Grassland/Herbaceous | areas dominated by graminoid or herbaceous vegetation, generally greater than 80% of total vegetation. These areas are not subject to intensive management such as tilling but can be utilized for grazing. | |
| 81 | Pasture/Hay | areas of grasses, legumes, or grass-legume mixtures planted for livestock grazing or the production of seed or hay crops, typically on a perennial cycle. Pasture/hay vegetation accounts for greater than 20% of total vegetation. | |
| 82 | Cultivated Crops | areas used to produce annual crops, such as corn, soybeans, vegetables, tobacco, and cotton, and perennial woody crops such as orchards and vineyards. Crop vegetation accounts for greater than 20% of total vegetation. This class also includes all land being actively tilled. | |
| 90 | Woody Wetlands | areas where forest or shrubland vegetation accounts for greater than 20% of vegetative cover and the soil or substrate is periodically saturated with or covered with water. | |
| 95 | Emergent Herbaceous Wetlands | areas where perennial herbaceous vegetation accounts for greater than 80% of vegetative cover and the soil or substrate is periodically saturated with or covered with water. | |
| 31 | Barren (Rock/Sand/Clay) | areas of bedrock, desert pavement, scarps, talus, slides, volcanic material, glacial debris, sand dunes, strip mines, gravel pits and other accumulations of earthen material. Generally, vegetation accounts for less than 15% of total cover. |
Full descriptions on the MRLC (Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium) National Land Cover Database Class Legend and Description page. Note that some class colors have been modified and that some NLCD classes do not occur in the study area including Perennial Ice/Snow, Dwarf Scrub, Lichens, and Moss.
Change To Classes
Change To Classes
| Developed before 1985 | |
| Developed Open Space before 1985 | |
| Water | |
| Undeveloped | |
| Change to Developed between 1985 and 2023 | |
| Change to Developed Open Space between 1985 and 2023 | |
| Other |
Developed is a combination of the NLCD classes of low, medium, and high density developed.
See Land Cover Classes tab for full class descriptions.
Change From Classes
Change From Classes
| Developed before 1985 | |
| Developed Open Space before 1985 | |
| Water | |
| Undeveloped | |
| Agriculture to Developed between 1985 and 2023 | |
| Agriculture to Developed Open Space between 1985 and 2023 | |
| Forest to Developed* between 1985 and 2023 | |
| Forest to Developed Open Space between 1985 and 2023 | |
| Other Classes to Developed between 1985 and 2023 | |
| Other Classes to Developed Open Space between 1985 and 2023 | |
| Other |
Developed is a combination of the NLCD classes of low, medium, and high density developed.
Agriculture is a combination of the Crop and Hay/Pasture classes
Forest is a combination of Deciduous Forest, Coniferous Forest, Mixed Forest, Shrub, and Forested Wetland.
See Land Cover Classes tab for full class descriptions.