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Rural Definitions—Most
Americans share a common image of rural—open countryside
and small towns at some distance from large urban centers—but
not a common consensus on where and how to draw the line
between rural and urban. Dozens of definitions are currently
used by federal and State agencies, researchers, and policy
makers. The ERS Rural Definition data product allows users
to make comparisons among nine representative rural definitions,
for the U.S. as a whole and for individual States. We
include socioeconomic indicators (population, education,
poverty, etc.) that are commonly used to highlight differences
between urban and rural areas. Three display options are
available: national and State indicator tables; State-level
maps; and an interactive mapping utility.
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.
Urban Influence Codes—Classifies
U.S. counties by size of the largest city and nearness
to metropolitan and micropolitan areas.
Population
Interaction Zones for Agriculture (PIZA)—These
indexes measure the degree of influence that nearby urban-related
population exerts on agricultural land. The county-level
and 5-kilometer indexes are based on a "gravity model"
of urban influences.
State Fact Sheets—State
Fact Sheets provide information on population, per-capita
income, earnings per job, poverty, number of jobs, unemployment
rate, percent employment change, farm and farm-related
jobs, top export commodities, farm characteristics, and
farm financial indicators.
See all recommended
data products...
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