Geographic context shapes how people perceive environmental issues, health risks, and policy decisions, yet collecting location data in web-based surveys presents challenges related to privacy, accuracy, and analytic precision. Traditional methods, such as device tracking or collecting residential addresses, are intrusive, while broader units like states or counties are too coarse for many research questions. This study tested the feasibility of collecting census tract codes through participant self-report to balance methodological rigor with ethical concerns. Manual entry of census tract codes introduced substantial formatting inconsistencies — including omitted leading zeros and inconsistent decimal notation — relative to the official census …