overview
The economic and social character of rural places varies greatly across the United States. The economy of some rural areas still depends on employment in farming, mining, and timber work--traditional rural extractive industries. Many of these communities face declining job opportunities and population loss. Shrinking economies force workers to find new ways of making a living, often in metropolitan cities. Low density settlement patterns often make it more costly for communities and businesses to provide critical services. In contrast, other rural areas, particularly those rich in natural amenities, have experienced economic transformation and rapid population growth. Community leaders in these areas are struggling to provide new roads, schools, and other community services. Frequently, growth transforms the character of the community itself. ERS has developed alternative classifications of rural places that capture the diversity of rural America in ways that are meaningful for developing public policies and programs. More overview...

contents

• What is rural?
• New definitions in 2003
• County typology codes
• Commuting zones and labor market areas
• Rural-urban continuum codes
• Urban influence codes

features
What is a "micropolitan" area?—Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was urged by various sources in the last decade to delineate the entire land surface of the country into areas, and not leave the territory outside of metro areas as an undifferentiated residual. As a partial response, OMB designated micro areas using the same procedure as that for metro areas. Find out more about the new classisfications here.

Nonmetro Recreation Counties:Their Identification and Rapid Growth—For rural communities struggling to offset job losses from farming, mining, and manufacturing, capitalizing on the recreational appeal of an area fosters economic development, attracts new residents, and retains existing population. This article outlines a method to identify nonmetro counties with high recreation development.

Measuring Rural Diversity Conference—November 21-22, 2002, at the Economic Research Service, Washington, DC. At the conference, researchers presented their current work on rural conditions, such as demographic changes, business trends, and local distress. For details on topics and speakers, see the conference agenda. The proceedings for most of the papers are available at the Southern Rural Development Center.

recommended readings
U.S. Commuting Zones and Labor Market Areas: A 1990 Update—This report explains the rationale and methodology used to develop commuting zones and labor market areas, and categorizes these areas by size of the largest city.

A County-Level Measure of Urban Influence—This article looks at how an area's geographic context affects its economic development. The methodology and rationale behind the Urban Influence Codes are explained.

The Revised ERS County Typology: An Overview—This report describes ERS' classification of nonmetro counties by economic activity and policy types.

recommended data products
Rural-Urban Continuum Codes—Classifies U.S. counties by urbanization and nearness to a metropolitan area. Updated in 2003 to reflect new metro designations.

Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes (RUCA)—Classifies U.S. census tracts using measures of urbanization, population density, and daily commuting from the 1990 decennial census.

Rural Indicators Map Machine—The Rural Indicators Map Machine is an internet-based mapping utility that provides a visualization of indicators for rural areas available from ERS.

Urban Influence Codes—Classifies U.S. counties by size of the largest city and nearness to metropolitan and micropolitan areas.

PUMS-L Data Delivery System—Provides 1990 individual-level census data that identify the Labor Market Area in which a person resides.

See all recommended data products...

recent research developments
Natural Amenities Drive Rural Population Change—This report examines how climate, topography, and water area are highly related to rural county population change over the past 25 years.

our newsletter
RuralUSA—ERS electronic publication announcement list for rural related research and data.

• Infrastructure and rural development policy
• Race and ethnicity in rural America
• Rural industry
• Rural income, poverty, and welfare
• Rural labor and education
• Rural population and migration
• Rural transportation

related links
U.S. Census Bureau—Rural and urban population estimates, lists of metropolitan counties, and lots of data.

Metropolitan Area Standards Review Project—The latest on the new definition of metropolitan areas.

See all related links...

maps and images gallery
Rural Gallery—The most up-to-date information on rural indicators including population and demographics, employment and unemployment, income and poverty, housing, industry, rural credit and agricultural finance, and Federal funds to rural America.

for more information, contact: Tim Parker
web administration: webadmin@ers.usda.gov
page updated: January 23, 2004