Rural/Urban/Metro/Nonmetro and Frontier Discussion: Definitions and North Dakota Maps

DEFINITIONS AND RESOURCES

WHAT IS "RURAL"?

"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.

In rural areas, as elsewhere, the old adage applies: The only constant is change. During the 20th century, America became a predominantly urban Nation. The rural countryside of 1940, when one in four Americans lived on farms, is no longer. Along the way, the decennial census has allowed us to gauge the growth and spread of cities and to modify in each decade what we view as urban and rural.

In conjunction with the 2000 decennial census, the U.S. Census Bureau made far-reaching changes to its urban and rural classification scheme. In addition, the Office of Management and Budget extensively modified its metropolitan area system, simplifying criteria and adding a new micropolitan classification. Released in June 2003, the new category subdivides previously undifferentiated nonmetropolitan territory into two distinct types of counties—micropolitan and noncore—that may better help target rural-based programs.” - From the ERS (USDA) website: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Rurality/

There are three government agencies whose definitions are in wide use: the U.S. Census Bureau, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the Economic Research Service (ERS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The principal differences between the three definitions created by these agencies are described below.

1. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU DEFINITION
SEE MAP OF URBAN/RURAL; SEE TABLE COMPARING THREE DEFINITIONS

The U.S. Census Bureau defines what is rural by exclusion. For Census 2000, the Census Bureau classifies as ‘urban’ all territory, population, and housing units located within an urbanized area (UA) or an urban cluster (UC). It delineates UA and UC boundaries to encompass densely settled territories which do not necessarily follow municipal boundaries. They consist of:

• Core census block groups or blocks that have a population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile.
• Surrounding census blocks that have an overall density of at least 500 people per square mile.
• In addition, under certain conditions, less densely settled territory may be part of each UA or UC.

UAs include a central city and the surrounding area with a population of 50,000 or more. A UC consists of densely settled territory that has at least 2,500 people but fewer than 50,000. According to this system, rural areas consist of all territory located outside of urbanized areas and urban clusters. The U.S. rural population was 59 million (21 percent) in 2000; North Dakota’s was 283,242 (44 percent).

• For more detailed definitions, visit http://www.census.gov/geo/www/ua/ua_2k.html
• For additional clarification, visit http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf3.pdf, Appendix A, Geographic Terms and Concepts.

2. OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET (OMB) DEFINITION
SEE MAP OF METRO/NONMETRO; SEE TABLE COMPARING THREE DEFINITIONS

"Researchers and others who discuss conditions in ‘rural’ America most often refer to conditions in nonmetropolitan areas. Metropolitan (metro) and nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) areas are defined on the basis of counties. Counties are typically active political jurisdictions, usually have programmatic importance at the Federal and State level, and estimates of population, employment, and income are available for them annually. They are also frequently used as basic building blocks for areas of economic and social integration.

Metro and nonmetro areas are defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). In 2003, OMB defined metro areas as (1) central counties with one or more UAs (see #1 above), and (2) outlying counties that are economically tied to the central counties as measured by work commuting. Outlying counties are included if 25 percent of workers living in the county commute to the central counties, or if 25 percent of the employment in the county consists of workers coming out from the central counties—the so-called ‘reverse’ commuting pattern. Nonmetro counties are outside the boundaries of metro areas and are further subdivided into two types: micropolitan areas, centered on UCs (see #1 above) of 10,000 or more persons, and all remaining counties.

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. Any nonmetro county with an urban cluster of at least 10,000 persons or more becomes the central county of a micro area. As with metro areas, outlying counties are included if commuting to the central county is 25 percent or higher, or if 25 percent of the employment in the outlying county is made up of commuters from the central county. Because they are county-based and include outlying areas, the total area population reaches well beyond 50,000 for many micro areas throughout the U.S. The inaugural set of 560 micro areas includes 674 counties and ranges in size from 13,000 (Andrews, Texas) to 182,000 (Torrington, Connecticut).

OMB's new designation of micro areas is an important step in recognizing nonmetro diversity. It provides a framework for better understanding population growth and economic restructuring in small towns and cities that up to now have received less attention than metro areas. Micro areas embody a widely-shared residential preference for a small-town lifestyle—the ideal compromise between large urban and completely rural settings. As information about these places makes its way into government data and publications alongside metro areas in the coming years, micro areas will draw increased attention from policymakers and the business community.

Federal data for certain social and economic characteristics of counties are available on an annual basis, some even more frequently. In contrast, data on the characteristics of rural and urban residents are available only from the decennial censuses. Using population counts from Census 2000, Table 2 (below) shows the number of residents of rural and urban areas versus nonmetro and metro areas. Nationwide, there were 59.1 million rural residents in 2000, a little less than half (49 percent) of whom lived in nonmetro counties. There were 49.2 million nonmetro county residents, 59 percent of whom lived in rural areas. Metro county residents are preponderantly urban area residents—91 percent. Overall, 17 percent of the national population lived in nonmetro counties and 21 percent lived in rural areas in 2000. For the first time, a slight majority of rural people now live in metro areas.” - From the ERS (USDA) website: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Rurality/

Table 3 (below) represents the same urban/rural - metro/nonmetro distribution for North Dakota. Statewide, there were 283,242 rural residents in 2000, the majority (83 percent) of whom lived in nonmetro counties. There were 358,234 nonmetro county residents, 66 percent of whom lived in rural areas. One-third of urban area residents are metro area residents—66 percent. Overall, 56 percent of North Dakota’s population lived in nonmetro counties and 44 percent lived in rural areas in 2000.

• For detailed definitions, visit: Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 249 / Wednesday, December 27, 2000 / Notices, p.82228-82229, http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/00-32997.pdf
• Another useful resource for Micro/Metro is http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/metroarea.html

3. ECONOMIC RESEARCH SERVICE (ERS) DEFINITION
SEE MAP OF CONTINUUM CODES; SEE TABLE COMPARING THREE DEFINITIONS

The Economic Research Service (ERS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 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.

ERS has developed several classifications to measure rurality and assess the economic and social diversity of rural America. The Rural-Urban Continuum Codes, the Urban-Influence Codes, and the Rural-Urban Commuting Areas are used to classify counties, census tracts, and ZIP codes by degree of rurality. The ERS Typology Codes classify rural counties by their economic and policy types. These classification schemes have been used to determine eligibility for Federal programs that assist rural areas. Table 4 (below) shows the Rural-Urban Continuum Code Scheme:

Rural-Urban Continuum Codes form a classification scheme that distinguishes metropolitan (metro) counties by the population size of their metro area, and nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) counties by degree of urbanization and adjacency to a metro area or areas. The metro and nonmetro categories have been subdivided into three metro and six nonmetro groupings, resulting in a nine-part county codification. The codes allow researchers working with county data to break such data into finer residential groups beyond a simple metro-nonmetro dichotomy, particularly for the analysis of trends in nonmetro areas that may be related to degree of rurality and metro proximity.

All U.S. counties and county equivalents are grouped according to their official metro-nonmetro status announced by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in June 2003, when the population and worker commuting criteria used to identify metro counties were applied to results of Census 2000. Metro counties are distinguished by population size of the Metropolitan Statistical Area of which they are part. Nonmetro counties are classified according to the aggregate size of their urban population. Within the three urban size categories, nonmetro counties are further identified by whether or not they have some functional adjacency to a metro area or areas. A nonmetro county is defined as adjacent if it physically adjoins one or more metro areas, and has at least 2 percent of its employed labor force commuting to central metro counties. Nonmetro counties that do not meet these criteria are classed as nonadjacent.

• For detailed definitions, visit http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/rurality/RuralUrbCon/

STATEMENT ABOUT "FRONTIER"
SEE MAP OF FRONTIER

"Frontier is more of a concept than a specific definition, so the number of people living in the frontier and the amount of land that is frontier will vary depending on the definition you select.

Frontier areas are sparsely populated rural areas that are isolated from population centers and services. Frontier is sometimes defined as places having a population density of six or fewer people per square mile. However, this definition does not take into account some of the other factors that may isolate a community. Therefore, other definitions are more complex and address isolation by considering distance in miles and travel time in minutes to services.

Definitions of frontier for specific state and federal programs vary, depending on the purpose of the project being funded. Some of the issues that may be considered in classifying an area as frontier include population density, distance from a population center or specific service, travel time to reach a population center or service, functional association with other places, availability of paved roads, and seasonal changes in access to services. Frontier may be defined at the county level, by ZIP code or by census tract.

Rural-Urban Commuting Areas (see rural definition #3 above) can also be used to identify very remote areas, which could be considered frontier-like due to their isolation from population centers." - From the Rural Assistance Center website: http://www.raconline.org/info_guides/frontier/frontierfaq.php

• Additional discussion of what frontier means and what challenges face frontier areas can be found on the Rural Assistance Center Frontier Frequently Asked Questions page
• A definition from the Frontier Education Center is presented at Frontier: A New Definition
• The RUPRI website also offers a discussion of Frontier Areas

RESOURCES FOR DEFINITIONS

• Definition 1: U.S. Census Bureau
  • Census 2000 Urban and Rural Classification (U.S. Census Bureau)
  • Summary File 3 Technical Documentation: Appendix A, Geographic Terms and Concepts (U.S. Census Bureau)
• Definition 2: Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
  • Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 249 / Wednesday, December 27, 2000 / Notices, p.82228-82229 (Office of Management and Budget)
  • Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas (U.S. Census Bureau)
• Definition 3: Economic Research Service (ERS)
  • Measuring rurality: Rural-urban continuum codes (Economic Research Service, USDA)
• Measuring Rurality (Economic Research Service, USDA)
• Discussion of Frontier
  • Frontier Frequently Asked Questions (Rural Assistance Center)
  • Frontier: A New Definition (Frontier Education Center)
  • Frontier Areas (RUPRI)