Overview
The classification of people and territory as rural poses a number of challenges
for researchers, policy makers, and program managers throughout the Federal
system and beyond. Most Americans share a common image of rural—open countryside
and small towns at some distance from large urban centers—but disagree
on where and how to draw the line between rural and urban. Drawing such a line
requires answering two questions:
- At what population threshold do rural places become urban?
- Where along the urban periphery do suburbs give way to rural
territory?
Answers to these questions vary substantially among the profusion of rural
definitions currently in use. Population thresholds dividing rural from urban
locations range from 2,500 to 50,000.
Methods of designating the urban periphery range from the use of municipal
boundaries to definitions based on counties.
Definitions based on municipal boundaries may classify as rural much of what
would typically be considered suburban. Definitions that delineate the
urban periphery based on counties may include extensive segments of a county
that many would consider rural.
We have selected a representative set of nine alternative rural definitions
and compare social and economic indicators from the 2000 decennial
census across the nine definitions. We chose socioeconomic indicators (population,
education, poverty, etc.) that are commonly used to highlight differences
between urban and rural areas.
Data and Maps
We present nine rural definitions and selected indicators through three
display options. The options allow users to make comparisons of rural
definitions between/across indicators and States:
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National and State Indicator Tables  —Selected
socioeconomic indicators (such as population, education, poverty, etc.)
for each definition of rural. Each spreadsheet allows the user to easily
compare a particular indicator across the different definitions of rural.
By selecting different States from the pull down menu, the user can make
quick comparisons of indicators across States. |
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State-Level Maps  —A
set of maps show the nine rural definitions. These maps allow the user
to compare the geographic coverage provided by different definitions for
each State. The PDF file also contains the same indicators available in
the Excel tables for the selected State as reference. |
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Rural Definition Mapping
Utility  —An interactive mapping
utility for comparing the rural definitions. |
Data Documentation and Methods
Get details about the nine rural definitions and how the socioeconomic
indicators were computed.
Related Resources
Related Links
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