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ERS has developed several classification schemes to measure rurality and to capture the economic and social diversity in rural America. These schemes classify areas on the basis of population size, proximity to a metropolitan area, degree of urbanization, population of the largest city, commuting patterns, as well as primary economic activity and policy relevancy.
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- offer an indepth discussion synthesizing ERS research
feature
2003 Rural-urban continuum
codesThe 2003 Rural-urban Continuum Codes form a classification
scheme that distinguishes metropolitan counties by size and nonmetropolitan
counties by degree of urbanization and proximity to metro areas. The standard
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) metro and nonmetro categories have
been subdivided into three metro and six nonmetro categories, resulting
in a 9-part county codification. This scheme allows researchers to break
county data into finer residential groups, beyond metro and nonmetro,
particularly for the analysis of trends in nonmetro areas that are related
to population density and metro influence.
web administration: webadmin@ers.usda.gov
updated: August 26, 2003
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