How to join long-format ZIP code data to shapefile in ArcGIS Pro for dashboard use?

[YashChikara]

Hi all,

I have a dataset in Excel that I’ve structured in long format — meaning for each ZIP code, I have multiple rows representing different categories. For example:

ZIP       Category  Value
10001      A           10
10001      B           20
10001      C          15
10002      A           8
10002      B           12

I'm trying to join this file to a ZIP code shapefile in ArcGIS Pro. However, when I use the Add Join or Join Field tools, it performs a one-to-one match and only includes the first match for each ZIP, ignoring the additional rows.

The goal is to use this in a dashboard where I can enable a category selector that filters by "Category" (A, B, C, etc.). If the data were in wide format, that functionality wouldn’t work as intended.

Can anyone suggest the best way to join this long-format data to a shapefile while preserving all rows? Or is there a workaround that supports this kind of structure for dashboards?

[Melissa_B]

Yash,

I would personally convert the shapefile to a feature class and then perform a join from the feature class to the table using a "Join one to many" join operation (last drop down of the Add Join dialog). Assuming your feature class of ZIP codes has unique features, that one to many will allow one feature to join to many records in the join table.