diff --git a/tmd/areas/chisquare_test.py b/tmd/areas/chisquare_test.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..06a8b118
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tmd/areas/chisquare_test.py
@@ -0,0 +1,228 @@
+"""
+Conduct chi-square test of the similarity of two distributions of weights by
+income tax liability categories for the same area that are generated using
+different targets.  The two area weights files are assumed to be located in
+the tmd/areas/weights folder.
+All test output is written to stdout; error messages are written to stderr.
+
+For background information on the chi-square test that compares two
+categorical (that is, binned) data sets, see Section 14.3: Are Two
+Distributions Different? in Press, et al., Numerical Recipies in C:
+The Art of Scientific Computing, Second Edition (Cambridge University
+Press, 1992).  This script uses the chi2_contingency function in the
+Python scipy package, which is documented at the following URL:
+https://docs.scipy.org/doc/scipy/reference/generated/scipy.stats.chi2_contingency.html
+
+Critical chi-square statistic values (say, at p=0.05) for large
+degrees-of-freedom values (which equals numbins-1 in this test)
+are available from the following online calculator:
+https://www.danielsoper.com/statcalc/calculator.aspx?id=12
+For example: Xsq(p=0.05,dof= 100)=  124.34
+             Xsq(p=0.05,dof= 200)=  233.99
+             Xsq(p=0.05,dof=1000)= 1074.68
+             Xsq(p=0.05,dof=2000)= 2105.15
+
+USAGE: python chisquare_test.py WGHT1 WGHT2 [numbins] [dump]
+
+EXAMPLE using default numbins (equal to 100) and with no details dump:
+areas% python chisquare_test.py pa08 pa08A
+"""
+
+import os
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+import numpy as np
+import pandas as pd
+from scipy.stats import chi2_contingency
+from tmd.areas import AREAS_FOLDER
+from tmd.storage import STORAGE_FOLDER
+
+USAGE = "USAGE: python chisquare_test.py WGHT1 WGHT2 [numbins] [dump]"
+CACHED_ITAX_PATH = STORAGE_FOLDER / "output" / "cached_iitax.npy"
+TAX_YEAR = 2021
+MINIMUM_NUM_BINS = 50
+DEFAULT_NUM_BINS = 200
+ITXBINS_DEFINED_USING_AREA_WEIGHTS = False  # default is using national weights
+
+
+def check_arguments():
+    """
+    Check validity of arguments and return the following tuple:
+    (wname1, wpath1, wname2, wpath2, numbins, dump)
+    containing name of and path to the WGHT1 and WGHT2 weights files,
+    plus requested number of income tax categories (or bins) and
+    whether or not detailed dump information is included in output.
+    """
+    numargs = len(sys.argv) - 1
+    if not 2 <= numargs <= 4:
+        sys.stderr.write(
+            f"ERROR: number of arguments not in [2,4] range\n{USAGE}\n"
+        )
+        sys.exit(1)
+    all_ok = True
+    wname1 = sys.argv[1]
+    wpath1 = AREAS_FOLDER / "weights" / f"{wname1}_tmd_weights.csv.gz"
+    if not wpath1.exists():
+        sys.stderr.write(f"ERROR: WGHT1 {str(wpath1)} file does not exist\n")
+        all_ok = False
+    wname2 = sys.argv[2]
+    wpath2 = AREAS_FOLDER / "weights" / f"{wname2}_tmd_weights.csv.gz"
+    if not wpath2.exists():
+        sys.stderr.write(f"ERROR: WGHT2 {str(wpath2)} file does not exist\n")
+        all_ok = False
+    if not CACHED_ITAX_PATH.exists():
+        sys.stderr.write(
+            f"ERROR: {str(CACHED_ITAX_PATH)} file does not exist\n"
+        )
+        all_ok = False
+    numbins = DEFAULT_NUM_BINS
+    if numargs >= 3:
+        numbins = int(sys.argv[3])
+        if numbins < MINIMUM_NUM_BINS:
+            sys.stderr.write(
+                f"ERROR: numbins must be no less than {MINIMUM_NUM_BINS}\n"
+            )
+            all_ok = False
+    dump = False
+    if numargs >= 4:
+        if sys.argv[4] == "dump":
+            dump = True
+        else:
+            sys.stderr.write("ERROR: optional fourth argument must be dump\n")
+            all_ok = False
+    if not all_ok:
+        sys.stderr.write(f"{USAGE}\n")
+        sys.exit(1)
+    return (wname1, wpath1, wname2, wpath2, numbins, dump)
+
+
+def weights_array(wghts_path: Path):
+    """
+    Return array containing TAX_YEAR weights in area weights file with wpath.
+    """
+    wdf = pd.read_csv(wghts_path)
+    warray = wdf[f"WT{TAX_YEAR}"]
+    return warray
+
+
+def weighted_qcut_variable(values, weights, numbins):
+    """
+    Return weighted quantile bin variable for specified values.
+    """
+    quantiles = np.linspace(0, 1, numbins + 1)
+    order = weights.iloc[values.argsort()].cumsum()
+    bins = pd.cut(order / order.iloc[-1], quantiles, right=True, labels=False)
+    return bins.sort_index()
+
+
+def sorted_vdf_with_itxbin(vdf: pd.DataFrame, numbins: int):
+    """
+    Expects vdf to include two area weights arrays and an itax array.
+    Returns itax-sorted vdf with added itxbin given NUM_BINS environ variable.
+    """
+    # check contents of vdf
+    assert "wght1" in vdf, "wght1 variable not in vdf"
+    assert "wght2" in vdf, "wght2 variable not in vdf"
+    assert "itax" in vdf, "itax variable not in vdf"
+    # add itxbin variable to vdf
+    if ITXBINS_DEFINED_USING_AREA_WEIGHTS:
+        wght = 0.5 * (vdf.wght1 + vdf.wght2)
+    else:  # using national weights
+        wght = weights_array(STORAGE_FOLDER / "output" / "tmd_weights.csv.gz")
+    vdf["itxbin"] = weighted_qcut_variable(vdf.itax, wght, numbins)
+    # return sorted vdf
+    vdf.sort_values("itax", inplace=True)
+    return vdf
+
+
+# -- High-level logic of the script:
+
+
+def main(
+    wname1: str,
+    wpath1: Path,
+    wname2: str,
+    wpath2: Path,
+    numbins: int,
+    dump: bool,
+):
+    """
+    Conduct chi-square two-variable test using the WGHT1 weights (wpath1)
+    and the WGHT2 weights (wpath2), which are weights for the same area
+    generated using different targets, using specified income tax numbins.
+    """
+    # read cached iitax amounts, which are the same for each area weights file
+    itax = np.load(CACHED_ITAX_PATH)
+
+    # construct vdf DataFrame and sort it and add itxbin variable to it
+    wght1 = weights_array(wpath1)
+    wght2 = weights_array(wpath2)
+    assert len(wght1) == len(wght2) == len(itax)
+    vdf = pd.DataFrame({"wght1": wght1, "wght2": wght2, "itax": itax})
+    vdf = sorted_vdf_with_itxbin(vdf, numbins)
+    if dump:
+        print("***** vdf=\n", vdf)
+        pct = np.linspace(0.1, 0.9, num=9)
+        print("***** vdf.describe=\n", vdf.describe(percentiles=pct))
+
+    # prepare frequency data for chi-square test
+    unweighted_count = len(vdf)
+    wght1_sum = wght1.sum()
+    wght2_sum = wght2.sum()
+    if dump:
+        print(f"***** {wname1:>5}_weight_total= {wght1_sum:.5f}")
+        print(f"***** {wname2:>5}_weight_total= {wght2_sum:.5f}")
+        ratio = wght2_sum / wght1_sum
+        print(f"*****       ==> ratio= {ratio:.8f}")
+    gvdf = vdf.groupby(by=["itxbin"], sort=False, observed=True)
+    if dump:
+        itxtop = gvdf["itax"].max()
+        print("***** itax_at_bin_top=\n", itxtop)
+    freq1 = (unweighted_count / wght1_sum) * gvdf["wght1"].sum()
+    freq2 = (unweighted_count / wght2_sum) * gvdf["wght2"].sum()
+    if dump:
+        fdf = pd.DataFrame({"freq1": freq1, "freq2": freq2})
+        pct = np.linspace(0.1, 0.9, num=9)
+        print("***** freq.describe=\n", fdf.describe(percentiles=pct))
+    assert len(freq1) == len(freq2)
+    assert np.allclose([freq1.sum()], [freq2.sum()])
+    witax1 = (wght1 * itax).sum() * 1e-9
+    witax2 = (wght2 * itax).sum() * 1e-9
+    witax_ratio = witax2 / witax1
+    print(
+        f"{wname1},{wname2}_weighted_iitax($B)= {witax1:.3f} {witax2:.3f}"
+        f"  ===>  ratio= {witax_ratio:.4f}"
+    )
+    min_bin_cnt = min(np.min(freq1), np.min(freq2))
+    print(f"numbins,minimum_bin_freqency_count= {numbins} {min_bin_cnt:.1f}")
+    if min_bin_cnt < 5:
+        if numbins > MINIMUM_NUM_BINS:
+            print("WARNING: reduce value of numbins command-line argument")
+            print("         to get minimum_bin_fredquency_count above five")
+        else:
+            print("WARNING: minimum_bin_fredquency_count is below five")
+            print("         so use TMD_AREA_ITXBINS=1 environment variable")
+        print(USAGE)
+        return 1
+
+    # conduct chi-square test
+    print("Conducting chi-square two-variable independence test:")
+    ctable = pd.DataFrame({"1": freq1, "2": freq2})
+    res = chi2_contingency(ctable)
+    print(f"Xsq_statistic= {res.statistic:.3f}")
+    print(f"Xsq_test_pval= {res.pvalue:.3f}   where dof= {res.dof}")
+    if dump:
+        print("***** Xsq(pval=0.05,dof= 100)=  124.34")
+        print("***** Xsq(pval=0.05,dof= 200)=  233.99")
+        print("***** Xsq(pval=0.05,dof=1000)= 1074.68")
+        print("***** Xsq(pval=0.05,dof=2000)= 2105.15")
+
+    return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    if "TMD_AREA_ITXBINS" in os.environ:
+        ITXBINS_DEFINED_USING_AREA_WEIGHTS = True
+    awname1, awpath1, awname2, awpath2, num_bins, dump_ = check_arguments()
+    RCODE = main(awname1, awpath1, awname2, awpath2, num_bins, dump_)
+    sys.exit(RCODE)
diff --git a/tmd/areas/create_area_weights.py b/tmd/areas/create_area_weights.py
index 57d89cab..76baa325 100644
--- a/tmd/areas/create_area_weights.py
+++ b/tmd/areas/create_area_weights.py
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@
 AREA prefix for state areas are the two lower-case character postal codes.
 AREA prefix for congressional districts are the state prefix followed by
 two digits (with a leading zero) identifying the district.  States with
-only one congressional district have 00 as the two digits.
+only one congressional district have 00 as the two digits to align names
+with IRS data.
 """
 
 import sys
@@ -47,6 +48,11 @@
 OPTIMIZE_IPRINT = 0  # 20 is a good diagnostic value; set to 0 for production
 OPTIMIZE_RESULTS = False  # set to True to see complete optimization results
 
+# assumption about which Congress the congressional districts are defined for:
+# ... 2010 implies districts for the 117th Congress
+# ... 2020 implies districts for the 118th Congress
+CD_CENSUS_YEAR = 2010
+
 
 def valid_area(area: str):
     """