def strip_prefix(series):
    """
    Strip any shared prefix off of a series of strings.

    Sometimes comes in handy for the junk prefixes on GEOIDs.
    """
    prefix = ''
    maxlen = 100
    # find the longest starting string that all the values have in common.
    for i in range(maxlen):
        vals = None
        try:
            vals = series.str[i]
        except IndexError:
            break
        if vals is None or vals.empty:
            break
        valset = set(vals.values)
        if len(valset) > 1:
            break
        prefix += list(valset)[0]
    return series.str.replace(prefix, '')