NOTE: Years of teaching experience counts 1 year of part-time teaching the same as 1 year of full-time teaching. Cities are territories that are inside both an urbanized area and a principal city; suburbs are territories that are inside an urbanized area but outside a principal city. Urbanized areas are densely settled areas containing at least 50,000 people. A principal city is a city that contains the primary population and economic center of a metropolitan statistical area. Large cities and suburbs have populations of 250,000 or more; midsize cities and suburbs have populations of less than 250,000 and greater than or equal to 100,000; and small cities and suburbs have populations of less than 100,000. Towns are territories that are outside of any urbanized area, but inside an urban cluster. Urban clusters are densely settled areas with populations of 2,500 to 49,999. Fringe towns are 10 miles or less from an urbanized area; distant towns are more than 10 miles and less than or equal to 35 miles from an urbanized area; and remote towns are more than 35 miles from an urbanized area. Rural areas are located outside any urbanized area or urban cluster. Fringe rural areas are 5 miles or less from an urbanized area and 2.5 miles or less from an urban cluster. Distant rural areas are more than 5 miles but less than or equal to 25 miles from an urbanized area, and more than 2.5 miles but less than or equal to 10 miles from an urban cluster. Remote rural areas are more than 25 miles from an urbanized area and more than 10 miles from an urban cluster. For more details on Census-defined areas, click here. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey, "Teacher Questionnaire," 2003–04.