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"Metro/urban areas can be defined using several criteria. Once this is done, nonmetro/rural is then defined by exclusion -- any area that is not metro/urban is nonmetro/rural. Determining the criteria used has a great impact on the resulting classification of areas as metro/ nonmetro or urban/rural. The Census Bureau classifies 61.7 million (25 percent) of the total population as rural, OMB classifies 55.9 million (23 percent) of the total population as nonmetro. According to the Census definition, 97.5 percent of the total U.S. land area is rural; according to the OMB definition, 84 percent of the land area is nonmetropolitan. USDA/ERS estimates that, in 1990, 43 percent of the rural population lived in metropolitan counties.

A further problem with dichotomous definitions is that they permit classification into only two categories -- metro/urban or nonmetro/rural. This cannot describe the metro/nonmetro continuum or the range of variation that exists in nonmetro areas. ERS attempts to overcome this limitation by further subdividing metro/nommetro categories. ... However, as with any definition, any broad generalizations about nonmetro conditions will not necessarily be representative for a subset of those areas.

For the purpose of illustration, the primary three definitions are presented here:

1. The Bureau of the Census defines an urbanized area (UA) by population density. According to this definition, each UA includes a central city and the surrounding densely settled territory that together have a population of 50,000 or more and a population density generally exceeding 1,000 people per square mile. A "county" is a political distinction and is not incorporated in the Bureau of the Census' classification scheme, so one UA may cover parts of several counties.
   
   Under this definition, all persons living in UA's and in places (cities, towns, villages, etc.) with a population of 2,500 or more outside of UA's are considered the urban population. All others are considered rural.
   
   
2. OMB designates areas as metro on the basis of standards released in January 1980. According to this definition, each metropolitan statistical area (MSA) must include at least:
   • one city with 50,000 or more inhabitants or
   • an urbanized area (defined by the Bureau of the Census) with at least 50,000 inhabitants and a total MSA population of at least 100,000 (75,000 in New England).
   These standards provide that each MSA must include the county in which the central city is located (the central county) and additional contiguous counties (fringe counties), if they are economically and socially integrated with the central county. Any county not included in an MSA is considered nonmetro.
   
   OMB periodically reclassifies counties on the basis of Census data and population estimates.
   
   
3. ERS [USDA] uses rural-urban continuum codes to distinguish metro counties by size and nonmetro counties by their degree of urbanization or proximity to metro areas. USDA defines codes zero to 3 as metro, and 4 to 9 as nonmetro."1 [e.g., 4 = Urban population of 20,000 or more, adjacent to a metro area, and 9 = Completely rural or urban population of fewer than 2,500, not adjacent to a metro area]

In March 2002, the Bureau of the Census released new criteria for defining urban and rural areas based on the results of Census 2000. These criteria replace and supercede the 1990 census definitions for defining urban and rural areas. The Economic Research Service summarized the definition changes in New Definitions 2003.

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1Rural Development : Profile of Rural Areas. United States General Accounting Office. Fact Sheet for Congressional Requestors. GAO/RECD-93-40FS. Washington, DC: The Office, 1993: pp. 26-30.

Define Rural

• Census Tracts More Precisely Define Rural Populations and Areas, ERS, pdf file
• Commuting Zones and Labor Market, ERS
• County Typology Codes, ERS
• Defining "Rural" Areas: Impact on Health Care Policy and Research, Maria Hewitt. Health Program, Office of Technology Assessment, Congress of the United States, 1989.
• Definitions of Rural: A Handbook for Health Policy Makers and Researchers, June 1998, pdf file
• Geographic Areas Reference Manual: Chapter 12 -- The Urban and Rural Classifications, U.S. Census Bureau, pdf file
• Guidelines for Using Rural-Urban Classification Systems for Public Health Assessment
• Improving the Operational Definition of "Rural Areas" for Federal Programs (Goldsmith Modification)
• Measuring Rurality, ERS
• The Revised ERS County Typology
• Rural By the Numbers, RUPRI
• Rural Development : Profile of Rural Areas. United States General Accounting Office. GAO/RECD-93-40FS, 1993.
• Rural Policy Context, RUPRI
• Rural-Urban Commuting Area Code, ERS
• Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes: Charts, Maps, etc., RUCAS
• Rural-Urban Continuum Codes, ERS
• Rural/Urban Definitions: Alternatives and Numbers by State
• Standards for Defining Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Area, OMB, pdf file and html file
• Trends in Special Medicare Payments and Service Utilization for Rural Areas in the 1990s
• Urban and Rural Definitions and Data, U.S. Census Bureau
• Urban Influence Codes, ERS
• What is a Micropolitan Area?, ERS
• What is Rural? and New Definitions in 2003, ERS
• What's Rural, NCES

Define Frontier

• Defining and Describing Frontier Areas in the United States: An Update, Letter to the Field No. 22
• Defining Frontier, FEC
• Frontier Counties, 2000 (Map) , FEC
• List of Frontier Counties from 2000 U.S. Census
• List of Frontier Counties from 1990 U.S. Census
• Focusing on "Frontier": Isolated Rural America, Letter to the Field, No. 2.
• Low Density Counties with Different Types of Sociodemographic, Economic and Health/Mental Health Characteristics, Letter to the Field No. 18

Rural Data and Maps

• Community Information Resources Center: Create Your Own Maps
• Defining "Rural": Cartographic Archive
• Geographic Eligibility for Rural Health Grant Programs, ORHP
• Maps of Rural Areas based on OMB and RUCAs Definitions
• Nonmetropolitan and Metropolitan Counties, 2003 (Map) , ERS
• Rural America at a Glance, ERS
• Rural Counties By State
• Rural County Data by State, NACO
• Rural Families Data Center
• Rural Indicators Map Machine, ERS
  • State Fact Sheets -- Provides nonmetro information by state
• Rural Population as a Percent of State Total By State, 2000
• Rural Population and Health Care Providers: A Map Book
• Rural-Urban Continuum Codes, 2003, ERS
• Rural Zip Code Search
• Urban and Rural Population: 1900 to 1990
• Urban Influence Codes, 2003, ERS

Rural Values

• Perceptions of Rural America
• Perceptions of Rural America: Congressional Perspectives
• Rural Values, ERS

Rural Character

• Defining Rural Character and Planning for Rural Lands
• Keeping the Rural Vision:Protecting Rural Character and Planning for Rural Development
• Maintaining Rural Character in Northwest Fulton County, Georgia
• Preserving Endangered Rural Character
• Preserving Rural Character: The Agriculture Connection
• Rural Character
• A Survey of Attitudes and Perspectives on Rural Character and Economic Development in Lewis County
• What is Rural Character?

Additional Resources

• Enhanced Quality of Life for Rural Americans: Research Emphasis, ERS
• "Rural" -- A Concept Beyond Definition? ERIC Digest.
• Rural America At a Glance, ERS
• Rural America: Key Topic, ERS
• Rural America: Opportunities and Challenges, ERS
• Understanding Rural America, ERS

ric@nal.usda.gov | Disclaimers | http://www.nal.usda.gov/ric/ | Last Updated October 15, 2004