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 nonmetropolitan, 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:
1
Counties in metro areas of 1 million population or more
2
Counties in metro areas of 250,000 to 1 million population
3
Counties in metro areas of fewer than 250,000 population
Nonmetro counties:
4
Urban population of 20,000 or more, adjacent to a metro area
5
Urban population of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to a metro area
6
Urban population of 2,500 to 19,999, adjacent to a metro area
7
Urban 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:
1
In large metro area of 1+ million residents
413
149,224,067
267,423
558.0
2
In small metro area of less than 1 million
residents
676
83,355,873
629,671
132.4
92
5,147,233
94,178
54.7
Non-metropolitan counties:
3
Micropolitan area adjacent to large metro area
4
Noncore adjacent to large metro area
123
2,364,159
88,229
26.8
5
Micropolitan area adjacent to small metro area
301
14,668,144
285,527
51.4
6
Noncore adjacent to small metro area and
contains a town of at least 2,500 residents
358
7,855,590
334,361
23.5
7
Noncore adjacent to small metro area and does
not contain a town of at least 2,500 residents
185
1,879,264
336,499
5.6
8
Micropolitan area not adjacent to a metro area
282
9,139,821
338,256
27.0
9
Noncore adjacent to micro area and contains a
town of at least 2,500 residents
201
3,227,833
193,200
16.7
10
Noncore adjacent to micro area and does not
contain a town of at least 2,500 residents
198
1,313,175
196,269
6.7
11
Noncore not adjacent to metro or micro area and
contains a town of at least 2,500 residents
138
2,247,189
488,521
4.6
12
Noncore not adjacent to metro or micro area and
does not contain a town of at least 2,500
residents
174
999,558
285,304
3.5
Links
• Measuring rurality
• Rural trends (amber waves and Rural
America at a glance)
• Data sources on codes and other
measures