Rationalizing Rural Area Classifications for the Economic Research Service A Workshop Summary (2016) / Chapter Skim
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2 Official U.S. Rural Area Classification Systems
2 Official U.S. Rural Area Classification Systems
Pages 7-26
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From page 7... ...
The Census Bureau and OMB classifications yield several kinds of statistical entities. First, the urban and rural program provides two entities: urbanized areas and urban clusters.
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From page 8... ...
The latter classification is widely used by the Census Bureau, but the metropolitan and micropolitan program also receives use across the federal statistical system. The two programs have fundamentally different conceptual foundations: urbanized areas and urban clusters are 1 Additional types of statistical areas are delineated under the OMB classification, including combined statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and New England city and town areas.
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From page 9... ...
The Census Bureau published the "Urban Area Criteria for the 2010 Census" in 2011 and then applied those criteria with 2010 census data to produce updated urban area delineations.2 Urban areas, both urbanized areas and urban clusters, are densely settled. Using census tracts and census blocks as geographic components, urban areas extend as far as a minimum population density of 500 people per square mile warrants.
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From page 10... ...
But the late 1940s was not the first time agencies had the idea for a statistical entity that would capture more than the incorporated place and instead capture something at a broader scale. Before then, in 1905, the Census Bureau delineated industrial districts for use in the Census of Manufactures, and in 1920 the agency delineated metropolitan districts, used for the decennial census through 1940.
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From page 11... ...
The very largest metropolitan statistical areas based on the size of the core -- those that have an urbanized area of at least 2.5 million -- can be divided into smaller units called metropolitan divisions. In 2013, 11 of current metropolitan statistical areas with a minimum core size of 2.5 million population were divided into 31 metropolitan divisions.
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From page 12... ...
From the other direction, even within territory outside of both metro and micro areas, 25 percent of the population is urban. Focusing on the Census Bureau's urban-rural classification to see how it intersects with metro-micro status, 24.6 percent of the rural population is not in a core-based statistical area, while another quarter of the rural population is in micropolitan statistical areas, and fully half of the rural population of the United States is in metropolitan statistical areas.
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From page 13... ...
Criteria for determining the geographic extent of areas go to the conceptual basis of a statistical area program. The conceptual underpinnings translate into selection of population density for the urban-rural program, but for the metropolitan or micropolitan statistical areas -- a functional areas classification -- it means journey to work.
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From page 14... ...
The commuting measures are from the American Community Survey. He said use of Census Bureau data reflects not just a concern for consistency across the nation, although that consideration played a key role, but also concerns regarding the openness, transparency, and accessibility of data.
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From page 15... ...
Fitzsimmons explained that the standards preceding 2000 used a sliding scale in determining outlying county qualifications. Commuting patterns were taken into account, but the weaker the commuting ties displayed, the more the measure of "metropolitan character" played a role.
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From page 16... ...
6 nonmetro metro area For nonmetro counties: Total urban population and adjacency to metro areas Urban Influence Counties 12 categories: For metro counties: 1997 Codes (UIC) 2 metro Population of 10 nonmetro metro area For nonmetro counties: Size of largest city, adjacency to metro areas by size of metro area, and micropolitan status Rural-Urban Census tracts; 10 primary Primary codes: 1998 Commuting results used codes: Urban area size; Area (RUCA)
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From page 17... ...
Rural equals nonmetro; thus, the 50,000 population threshold is a key dividing line, making the Census Bureau's urbanized areas a key construct. Urbanized areas form the basis of metro areas, and they form the beginning points for all ERS classifications.
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From page 18... ...
This change provided align ment with central-place principles showing employment oppor tunities and service provision varying by city size. The updated UIC classification based on the 2000 decennial census has 12 categories, 2 for metropolitan counties and 10 for nonmetropolitan counties.
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From page 19... ...
As a result, a more complex classification was adopted, providing flexibility for researchers interested in analyzing a variety of settlement patterns and functional relationships between areas. Cromartie explained the method used in developing the codes as follows: Replace counties with census tracts, and aggregate tracts to form urban area approximations; then, using data from a special tabulation of tract-to-tract commuting flows prepared by the Census Bureau, analyze commuting flows between rural tracts and urban areas.
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From page 20... ...
For each grid cell, distance was calculated as travel time by car to the edge of a nearby urban area in four urban population size classes: 2,500–9,999; 10,000–24,999; 25,000–49,999; and 50,000 or more. Four FAR levels were identified at the grid level, based on different urban classes, then aggregated to zip code areas based on population.
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From page 21... ...
described social characteristics of urban and rural areas. For the 1960 decennial census, a census monograph, Hathaway, Beegle, and Bryant (1968)
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From page 22... ...
On the other hand, he said, census data are easier to use with census tracts. Zip codes and census tract data are both useful, he concluded.
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From page 23... ...
He suggested that an area close to a wealthy city, even controlling for population size, might have more economic opportunities than one close to a poor city. Cromartie responded that the area of focus he saw in the 1990s was total population size and how that size affected the impact of adjacency and population change.
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From page 24... ...
She asked about any available dataset that provides the proportion of a county that lives in a FAR area and a proportion of county land that is designated as a FAR area. Cromartie responded that on the analysis file, ERS currently has four geographies, and the plan is to aggregate to census tracts, ZCTAs, and counties, as well as to zip codes.
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From page 25... ...
He noted the conditions of roads in many places make a difference. Logan stated he was surprised at the use of census tract commuting data because of a lack of confidence in the quality of the data.
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