The rural-urban commuting area codes (RUCA) classify U.S. census tracts using measures of urbanization, population density, and daily commuting from the decennial census. The most recent RUCA codes are based on data from the 2000 decennial census. The classification contains two levels. Whole numbers (1-10) delineate metropolitan, micropolitan, small town, and rural commuting areas based on the size and direction of the primary (largest) commuting flows. These 10 codes are further subdivided to permit stricter or looser delimitation of commuting areas, based on secondary (second largest) commuting flows. The approach errs in the direction of more codes, providing flexibility in combining levels to meet varying definitional needs and preferences. The 1990 codes are similarly defined. However, the Census Bureau's methods of defining urban cores and clusters changed between the two censuses. And, census tracts changed in number and shapes. The 2000 rural-urban commuting codes are not directly comparable with the 1990 codes because of these differences. An update of the Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes is planned for late 2013.

Income and Urban vs. Rural Population Dataset

Overview

This dataset provides insights into the population distribution and income levels across counties in the United States, with a classification of counties as either "Urban" or "Rural." The data was sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey (ACS).

Methodology

1. Data Source:

   • API Endpoint: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 API
   • Variables:
     • B01003_001E: Total population.
     • B19013_001E: Median household income.

2. Processing:

   • Counties were classified as "Urban" if their population was above the median population; otherwise, they were classified as "Rural."
   • FIPS codes were generated by concatenating State and County FIPS codes.

3. Columns:

   • County: County name.
   • State: State name.
   • FIPS: Combined state and county FIPS code.
   • State FIPS Code: State's Federal Information Processing Standard code.
   • County FIPS Code: County's FIPS code.
   • Total Population: Total population of the county.
   • Median Household Income: Median household income for the county.
   • Urban-Rural: Classification based on population (Urban or Rural).

Usage

This dataset can be used for: - Urban vs. rural demographic and economic analysis. - Income distribution studies. - Data visualization and mapping using FIPS codes.

License

This dataset is provided under the public domain. Proper attribution to the U.S. Census Bureau is appreciated.

In 2023, there were approximately ***** million people living in rural areas in the United States, while about ****** million people were living in urban areas. Within the provided time period, the number of people living in urban U.S. areas has increased significantly since totaling only ****** million in 1960.

The Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project, Version 1 (GRUMPv1): Urban Extents Grid distinguishes urban and rural areas based on a combination of population counts (persons), settlement points, and the presence of Nighttime Lights. Areas are defined as urban where contiguous lighted cells from the Nighttime Lights or approximated urban extents based on buffered settlement points for which the total population is greater than 5,000 persons. This data set is produced by the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), The World Bank, and Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT).

Rural Urban ClassificationThe 2021 RUC is a statistical classification to provide a consistent and standardised method for classifying geographies as rural or urban. This is based on address density, physical settlement form, population size, and Relative Access to Major towns and cities (populations of over 75,000 people). The classification is produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) with advice from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Welsh Government and colleagues from the Government Geography Profession (GGP).This is the 2021 rural-urban classification (RUC) of the 2021 Local Authority Districts in England and Wales. This means that the 2021 RUC methodology has been applied to the 2021 LAD boundaries. LAD classifications are divided into four categories based on their populations:<!--1. Majority Rural: had at least 50% of their population residing in Rural OAs.<!--2. Intermediate Rural: 35-50% rural population<!--3. Intermediate Urban: 20-35% rural population<!--4. Urban: 20% or less of the population live in rural OAs.Each 2021 LAD category is split into one of two Relative Access categories, using the same data as the 2021 Output Area RUC. If more than 50% of a LAD population lives in ‘nearer to a major town or city’ OAs, it is deemed ‘nearer a major town or city’; otherwise, it is classified as ‘further from a major town or city. Where data is unavailable for Super Output Area geographies, it may be appropriate for users to undertake analysis at the LAD level. At this level, the categorisation works slightly differently in that most areas will include a mix of both rural and urban areas - so the LAD RUC categorisation is a reflection of this. A statistical geography may contain substantial portions of open countryside but still be given an ‘Urban’ classification if the majority of the population within the area live in settlements that are urban in nature. Users should take this into consideration to ensure correct interpretations of any analysis of RUC LAD categories

The Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project, Version 1 (GRUMPv1): Land and Geographic Unit Area Grids measure land areas in square kilometers and the mean Unit size (population-weighted) in square kilometers. The land area grid permits the summation of areas (net of permanent ice and water) at the same resolution as the population density, count, and urban-rural grids. The mean Unit size grids provide a quantitative surface that indicates the size of the input Unit(s) from which population count and density grids are derived. Additional global grids are created from the 30 arc-second grid at 1/4, 1/2, and 1 degree resolutions. This data set is produced by the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), The World Bank, and Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT).

This table uses U.S. Census data to create a dataset that identifies all Virginia localities as either Mostly Urban, Mostly Rural or Completely Rural. Total population and breakdown between urban and rural populations are included.

For information on the U.S. Census Bureau's use of these designations see https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/guidance/geo-areas/urban-rural.html. (Source data for this dataset is found at this link and is titled "County Classification Lookup Table [XLS]".)

CLICK ON THE ABOVE IMAGE TO LAUNCH THE MAP - Healthcare access issues vary greatly between urban and rural areas of New Mexico. Launch the map to explore alternate ways to classify geographies as urban or rural. These classifications are often used for food access as well as healthcare access.BIBLIOGRAPHY WITH LINKS:US Census Bureau, Urban Area - Urban Cluster FAQ - https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/reference/ua/2010ua_faqs.pdfAre the problems with Rural areas actually just a result of definitions that change?: "When a rural county grows, it transmutes into an urban one." - The real (surprisingly comforting) reason rural America is doomed to decline, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/05/24/real-surprisingly-comforting-reason-rural-america-is-doomed-decline/ (See also the complete study - http://programme.exordo.com/2018annualmeeting/delegates/presentation/130/ )Rural Definitions for Health Policy, Harvey Licht, a presentation for the University of New Mexico Center for Health Policy: : http://nmcdc.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=7076f283b8de4bb69bf3153bc42e0402Rural Definitions for Health Policy, update of 2019, Harvey Licht, a presentation to the NMDOH Quarterly Epidemiology Meeting, November, 2019 - http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=a60a73f4e5614eb3ab01e2f96227ce4bNew Mexico Rural-Urban Counties Comparison Tables - October 2017, Harvey Licht, A preliminary compilation for the National Conference of State Legislators Rural Health Plan Taskforce : https://nmcdc.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=d3ca56e99f8b45c58522b2f9e061999eNew Mexico Rural Health Plan - Report of the Rural Health Planning Workgroup convened by the NM Department of Health 2018-2019 - http://nmcdc.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=d4b9b66a5ca34ec9bbe90efd9562586aFrontier and Remote Areas Zip Code Map - http://nmcdc.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=56b4005256244499a58f863c17bbac8aHOUSING ISSUES, RURAL & URBAN, 2017 - http://nmcdc.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=3e3aeabc04ac4672994e25a1ec94df83FURTHER READING:What is Rural? Rural Health Information Hub: https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/topics/what-is-ruralDefining Rural. Research and Training Center on Disability in Rural Communities: http://rtc.ruralinstitute.umt.edu/resources/defining-rural/What is Rural? USDA: https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/rural-economy-population/rural-classifications/what-is-rural/National Center for Health Statistics Urban–Rural Classification Scheme: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/urban_rural.htm.Health-Related Behaviors by Urban-Rural County Classification — United States, 2013, CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/ss/ss6605a1.htm?s_cid=ss6605a1_wExtending Work on Rural Health Disparities, The Journal of Rural Health: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jrh.12241/fullMinority Populations Driving Community Growth in the Rural West, Headwaters Economics: https://headwaterseconomics.org/economic-development/trends-performance/minority-populations-driving-county-growth/ Methodology - https://headwaterseconomics.org/wp-content/uploads/Minorities_Methods.pdfThe Role of Medicaid in Rural America, Kaiser Family Foundation: http://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/the-role-of-medicaid-in-rural-america/The Future of the Frontier: Water, Energy & Climate Change in America’s Most Remote Communities: http://frontierus.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/FUTURE-OF-THE-FRONTIER_Final-Version_Spring-2017.pdfRural and Urban Differences in Passenger-Vehicle–Occupant Deaths and Seat Belt Use Among Adults — United States, 2014, CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/ss/ss6617a1.htm

In 2024, about 943.5 million people lived in urban regions in China and 464.8 million in rural. That year, the country had a total population of approximately 1.41 billion people. As of 2024, China was the second most populous country in the world. Urbanization in China Urbanization refers to the process by which people move from rural to urban areas and how a society adapts to the population shift. It is usually seen as a driving force in economic growth, accompanied by industrialization, modernization and the spread of education. Urbanization levels tend to be higher in industrial countries, whereas the degree of urbanization in developing countries remains relatively low. According to World Bank, a mere 19.4 percent of the Chinese population had been living in urban areas in 1980. Since then, China’s urban population has skyrocketed. By 2024, about 67 percent of the Chinese population lived in urban areas. Regional urbanization rates In the last decades, urbanization has progressed greatly in every region of China. Even in most of the more remote Chinese provinces, the urbanization rate surpassed 50 percent in recent years. However, the most urbanized areas are still to be found in the coastal eastern and southern regions of China. The population of Shanghai, the largest city in China and the world’s seventh largest city ranged at around 24 million people in 2023. China’s urban areas are characterized by a developing middle class. Per capita disposable income of Chinese urban households has more than doubled between 2010 and 2020. The emerging middle class is expected to become a significant driver for the continuing growth of the Chinese economy.

This dataset is the definitive set of annually released urban rural boundaries for 2022 as defined by Stats NZ. This version contains 722 urban rural features.

The urban rural geography was introduced as part of the Statistical Standard for Geographic Areas 2018 (SSGA18) which replaced the New Zealand Standard Areas Classification (NZSAC92). The urban rural geography replaces the (NZSAC92) urban area geography.

Urban rural is an output geography that classifies New Zealand into areas that share common urban or rural characteristics and is used to disseminate a broad range of Stats NZ’s social, demographic, and economic statistics.

The urban rural indicator complements the urban rural geography and is an attribute in this dataset. Further information on the urban rural indicator is available on the Stats NZ classification and coding tool ARIA.

Names are provided with and without tohutō/macrons. The name field without macrons is suffixed ‘ascii’.

This generalised version has been simplified for rapid drawing and is designed for thematic or web mapping purposes.

Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.

This file provides a rural-urban view of 2001 Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MSOA) in England and Wales. The ZIP file contains the Rural Urban Classification in XLSX and CSV format and includes a user guide. The files were originally from the NeSS website. Click on the Download button to download the ZIP file.The classification of rural and urban areas is the outcome of a project co-sponsored by:Office for National Statistics (ONS);Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra);Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (now Communities and Local Government);Countryside Agency (CA); andNational Assembly for Wales (NAW).The classification was developed in 2004 by a consortium co-ordinated by Prof. John Shepherd from Birkbeck College. The technical work was lead by Peter Bibby of University of Sheffield and the project also involved the University of Glamorgan and Geowise. The rural and urban classification of Output Areas, Super Output Areas (this dataset) and Wards has been provided to enable datasets to be analysed according to the classification. This provides a powerful tool for the development and monitoring of rural and urban policies.Please Note: Super Output Areas do not have all the same codes as the OA level Dataset. For SOAs and Wards the classifications for ‘Villages, Hamlets and Isolated Dwellings’ have been combined.Similar procedures to those used to classify Output Areas apply to the classification to the 7,194 Middle Layer Super Output Areas in the dataset. However the morphological classification differs in the number of categories as very few MSOAs can be classified as predominantly dispersed settlements. MSOAs are categorised into just three domains: urban 10k, town and fringe and villages, hamlets and isolated dwellings, using the key below:2005 Rural and Urban morphology indicator1 - denotes predominantly urban >10k2 - denotes predominantly town and fringe3 - denotes other rural (including village, hamlet and isolated dwellings)2005 Rural and Urban context indicator0 - denotes less sparsely populated areas1 - denotes sparsely populated areas

The Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project, Version 1 (GRUMPv1): National Administrative Boundaries are derived from the land area grid to show the outlines of pixels (cells) that contain administrative Units in GRUMPv1 on a per-country/territory basis. They are derived from the pixels as polygons and thus have rectilinear boundaries at a large scale. The polygons that outline the countries and territories are not official representations; rather they represent the area covered by the statistical data as provided. This data set is produced by the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), The World Bank, and Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT).

The Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project, Version 1 (GRUMPv1): Population Count Grid estimates human population for the years 1990, 1995, and 2000 by 30 arc-second (1 km) grid cells and associated data sets dated circa 2000. A proportional allocation gridding algorithm, utilizing more than 1,000,000 national and sub-national geographic Units, is used to assign population values (counts, in persons) to grid cells. This data set is produced by the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), The World Bank, and Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT).

This dataset contains measures of the urban/rural characteristics of each census tract in the United States. These include proportions of urban and rural population, population density, rural/urban commuting area (RUCA) codes, and RUCA-based four- and seven- category urbanicity scales. A curated version of this data is available through ICPSR at https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/ICPSR/studies/38606/versions/V1

The 2013 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes form a classification scheme that distinguishes metropolitan counties by the population size of their metro area, and nonmetropolitan counties by degree of urbanization and adjacency to a metro area.

The official Office of Management and Budget (OMB) metro and nonmetro categories have been subdivided into three metro and six nonmetro categories. Each county in the U.S. is assigned one of the 9 codes. This scheme allows researchers to break county data into finer residential groups, beyond metro and nonmetro, particularly for the analysis of trends in nonmetro areas that are related to population density and metro influence. The Rural-Urban Continuum Codes were originally developed in 1974. They have been updated each decennial since (1983, 1993, 2003, 2013), and slightly revised in 1988. Note that the 2013 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes are not directly comparable with the codes prior to 2000 because of the new methodology used in developing the 2000 metropolitan areas. See the Documentation for details and a map of the codes.

An update of the Rural-Urban Continuum Codes is planned for mid-2023.

The 2013 Urban Influence Codes form a classification scheme that distinguishes metropolitan counties by population size of their metro area, and nonmetropolitan counties by size of the largest city or town and proximity to metro and micropolitan areas. The standard Office of Management and Budget (OMB) metro and nonmetro categories have been subdivided into two metro and 10 nonmetro categories, resulting in a 12-part county classification. This scheme was originally developed in 1993. This scheme allows researchers to break county data into finer residential groups, beyond metro and nonmetro, particularly for the analysis of trends in nonmetro areas that are related to population density and metro influence.

An update of the Urban Influence Codes is planned for mid-2023.This record was taken from the USDA Enterprise Data Inventory that feeds into the https://data.gov catalog. Data for this record includes the following resources: Webpage with links to Excel files For complete information, please visit https://data.gov.

The Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project, Version 1 (GRUMPv1): Urban Extent Polygons, Revision 02 is an update to Revision 01, which included new settlements and represented the first time that SEDAC released polygons (in Esri shapefile format) with the settlement name (or name of the largest city in the case of multi-city agglomerations). The shapefile consists of polygons defined by the extent of the nighttime lights and approximated urban extents (circles) based on buffered settlement points. Revision 01 also included new urban extents identified from multiple sources and corrected georeferencing for some settlements (see separate documentation for Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project, Version 1 (GRUMPv1): Settlement Points, Revision 01 for the data and methods). Revision 01 was produced by the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) in collaboration with CUNY Institute for Demographic Research (CIDR). Revision 02 was produced by CIESIN.

Summary File 1 (SF1) Urban/Rural Update contains summary statistics on population and housing subjects derived from the responses to the 2010 Census questionnaire. Population items include sex, age, race, Hispanic or Latino origin, household relationship, household type, household size, family type, family size, and group quarters. Housing items include occupancy status, vacancy status, and tenure (whether a housing unit is owner-occupied or renter-occupied). The summary statistics are presented in 333 tables, which are tabulated for multiple levels of observation (called "summary levels" in the Census Bureau's nomenclature), including, but not limited to, regions, divisions, states, metropolitan/micropolitan statistical areas, counties, county subdivisions, places, congressional districts, American Indian Areas, Alaska Native Areas, Hawaiian Home Lands, ZIP Code tabulation areas, census tracts, block groups, and blocks. There are 177 population tables and 58 housing tables shown down to the block level; 84 population tables and 4 housing tables shown down to the census tract level; and 10 population tables shown down to the county level. Some of the summary areas are iterated for "geographic components" or portions of geographic areas, e.g., the principal city of a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) or the urban and rural portions of a MSA. With one variable per table cell and additional variables with geographic information, the collection comprises 2,597 data files, 49 per state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the National File. The Census Bureau released SF1 in three stages: initial release, National Update, and Urban/Rural Update. The National Update added summary levels for the United States, regions, divisions, and geographic areas that cross state lines such as Combined Statistical Areas. This update adds urban and rural population and housing unit counts, summary levels for urban areas and the urban/rural components of census tracts and block groups, geographic components involving urbanized areas and urban clusters, and two new tables (household type by relationship for the population 65 years and over and a new tabulation of the total population by race). The initial release and National Update is available as ICPSR 33461. ICPSR supplies this data collection in 54 ZIP archives. There is a separate archive for each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the National File. The last archive contains a Microsoft Access database shell and additional documentation files besides the codebook.