Measuring Rurality

Overview ERS has developed several classifications to measure rurality and assess the economic and social diversity of rural America. Rural-Urban Continuum Codes—Classifies U.S. counties by urbanization and nearness to a metropolitan area. Urban Influence Codes—Classifies U.S. counties by size of the largest city and nearness to metropolitan and micropolitan areas. Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes (RUCA)— Classifies U.S. census tracts using measures of urbanization, population density, and daily commuting. The ERS Typology Code -- classifies rural counties by their economic and policy types.

U.S. Census Bureau definitions Rural areas comprise open country and settlements with fewer than 2,500 residents. Urban areas comprise larger places and densely settled areas around them. (That do not necessarily follow municipal boundaries). Most counties, whether metropolitan or non- metropolitan, contain a combination of urban and rural populations.

Definitions (areas) Urban areas are of two types: Urbanized areas –Contain urban nucleus of 50,000 or more people. (They may or may not contain any individual cities of 50,000 or more) –And must have a core with a population density of 1,000 persons per square mile and may contain adjoining territory with at least 500 persons per square mile. Urban clusters –Have the same density criteria but are 2,899-50,000 in population Rural areas consist of all territory located outside of urbanized areas and urban clusters.

Counties: Counties are typically active political jurisdictions Usually have programmatic importance at the Federal and State level Estimates of population, employment, and income are available for them annually. They are also frequently used as basic building blocks for areas of economic and social integration.

Definitions (Counties) Metro and non-metro areas are defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Metro counties are central counties with one or more urbanized areas Or outlying counties that are economically tied to the core counties as measured by work commuting. –Outlying counties are included if 25 percent of workers living in the county commute to the central counties, –or if 25 percent of the employment in the county consists of workers coming out from the central counties—the so-called "reverse" commuting pattern. Non-metropolitan counties are all counties that do not fit this definition

County status

2003 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes Metro counties: 1Counties in metro areas of 1 million population or more 2Counties in metro areas of 250,000 to 1 million population 3Counties in metro areas of fewer than 250,000 population Nonmetro counties: 4Urban population of 20,000 or more, adjacent to a metro area 5Urban population of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to a metro area 6Urban population of 2,500 to 19,999, adjacent to a metro area 7Urban population of 2,500 to 19,999, not adjacent to a metro area 8 Completely rural or less than 2,500 urban population, adjacent to a metro area 9 Completely rural or less than 2,500 urban population, not adjacent to a metro area

2003 Urban Influence Codes Code Descriptions counties population area density Metropolitan counties: 1In large metro area of 1+ million residents413149,224,067267, In small metro area of less than 1 million residents 67683,355,873629, Non-metropolitan counties: 3Micropolitan area adjacent to large metro area925,147,23394, Noncore adjacent to large metro area1232,364,15988, Micropolitan area adjacent to small metro area30114,668,144285, Noncore adjacent to small metro area and contains a town of at least 2,500 residents 3587,855,590334, Noncore adjacent to small metro area and does not contain a town of at least 2,500 residents 1851,879,264336, Micropolitan area not adjacent to a metro area2829,139,821338, Noncore adjacent to micro area and contains a town of at least 2,500 residents 2013,227,833193, Noncore adjacent to micro area and does not contain a town of at least 2,500 residents 1981,313,175196, Noncore not adjacent to metro or micro area and contains a town of at least 2,500 residents 1382,247,189488, Noncore not adjacent to metro or micro area and does not contain a town of at least 2,500 residents ,558285,3043.5

Links Measuring rurality Rural trends (amber waves and Rural America at a glance) Data sources on codes and other measures