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.

2010 Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes (revised 7/3/2019) , joined to SD, SPA, and CSA as of Dec. 2023.Data from https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural-urban-commuting-area-codes/. Downloaded 1/9/2024.Primary RUCA Codes, 20101 Metropolitan area core: primary flow within an urbanized area (UA)2 Metropolitan area high commuting: primary flow 30% or more to a UA3 Metropolitan area low commuting: primary flow 10% to 30% to a UA4 Micropolitan area core: primary flow within an Urban Cluster of 10,000 to 49,999 (large UC)5 Micropolitan high commuting: primary flow 30% or more to a large UC6 Micropolitan low commuting: primary flow 10% to 30% to a large UC7 Small town core: primary flow within an Urban Cluster of 2,500 to 9,999 (small UC)8 Small town high commuting: primary flow 30% or more to a small UC9 Small town low commuting: primary flow 10% to 30% to a small UC10 Rural areas: primary flow to a tract outside a UA or UC99 Not coded: Census tract has zero population and no rural-urban identifier informationSecondary RUCA Codes, 20101 Metropolitan area core: primary flow within an urbanized area (UA)1No additional code1.1Secondary flow 30% to 50% to a larger UA2 Metropolitan area high commuting: primary flow 30% or more to a UA2No additional code2.1Secondary flow 30% to 50% to a larger UA3 Metropolitan area low commuting: primary flow 10% to 30% to a UA3No additional code4 Micropolitan area core: primary flow within an Urban Cluster of 10,000 to 49,999 (large UC)4No additional code4.1Secondary flow 30% to 50% to a UA5 Micropolitan high commuting: primary flow 30% or more to a large UC5No additional code5.1Secondary flow 30% to 50% to a UA6 Micropolitan low commuting: primary flow 10% to 30% to a large UC6No additional code7 Small town core: primary flow within an Urban Cluster of 2,500 to 9,999 (small UC)7No additional code7.1Secondary flow 30% to 50% to a UA7.2Secondary flow 30% to 50% to a large UC8 Small town high commuting: primary flow 30% or more to a small UC8No additional code8.1Secondary flow 30% to 50% to a UA8.2Secondary flow 30% to 50% to a large UC9 Small town low commuting: primary flow 10% to 30% to a small UC9No additional code10 Rural areas: primary flow to a tract outside a UA or UC10No additional code10.1Secondary flow 30% to 50% to a UA10.2Secondary flow 30% to 50% to a large UC10.3Secondary flow 30% to 50% to a small UC99 Not coded: Census tract has zero population and no rural-urban identifier informationData Sources:Population data for census tracts, by urban-rural components, 2010:U.S. Census Bureau, Census of Population and Housing, 2010. Summary File 1, FTP download: https://www.census.gov/census2000/sumfile1.htmlAssignment of census tracts to specific urban areas or to rural status was completed using ESRI's ArcMap software and Census Bureau shape files:U.S. Census Bureau. Tiger/Line Shapefiles, Census Tracts and Urban Areas, 2010: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography.htmlCensus tract commuting flows, 2006-2010:U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2006-2010 Five-year estimates. Special Tabulation: Census Transportation Planning Products, Part 3, Worker Home-to-Work Flow Tables. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/census_issues/ctpp/data_products/2006-2010_table_list/sheet04.cfmTract-to-tract commuting flow files were constructed from ACS data as part of a special tabulation for the Department of Transportation—the Census Transportation Planning Package. To derive estimates for small geographic units such as census tracts, information collected annually from over 3.5 million housing units was combined across 5 years (2006-2010). As with all survey data, ACS estimates are not exact because they are based on a sample. In general, the smaller the estimate, the larger the degree of uncertainty associated with it.

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.

Census tracts with 4, 5, 6 and 10 tier classifications. We'll be adding 2020 data when its available from the USDA or the Census.From Asnake Hailu,The schemes shared in the RUCAGuide.pdf are DOH modified layers, prepared merely for epidemiological purposes [I.e., to delineate geography for a comprehensive epidemiologic assessment, describing rural-urban differences in demographics, health outcomes, risk factors, access to services, and the like.] Those are not as such rural/urban designation tools for census block areas, nor for any of the other geography categories. The files with the DOH modified layers are available at https://doh.wa.gov/public-health-healthcare-providers/rural-health/data-maps-and-other-resources under the sub-county level: Zip Code and Census Tract sub-heading.Please note: those files are essentially a decade old. We were anticipating to update our core products that are on our website, if and when the Federal Office of Rural Health and Policy (FORHP) produces a newer version of RUCA codes based on census 2020. The FORHP customarily contracts with a university for that task. We are three years away from 2020, except there is no update posted on the webpage I am familiar to get the original RUCA delineations. Here is a path where I go to check for the newer version: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural-urban-commuting-area-codes/

This dataset contains two measures designed to be used in tandem to characterize United States census tracts, originally developed for use in stratified analyses of the Diabetes Location, Environmental Attributes, and Disparities (LEAD) Network. The first measure is a 2010 tract-level community type categorization based on a modification of Rural-Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) Codes that incorporates census-designated urban areas and tract land area, with five categories: higher density urban, lower density urban, suburban/small town, rural, and undesignated (McAlexander, et al., 2022). The second measure is a neighborhood social and economic environment (NSEE) score, a community-type stratified z-score sum of 6 US census-derived variables, with sums scaled between 0 and 100, computed for the year 2000 and 2010. A tract with a higher NSEE z-score sum indicates more socioeconomic disadvantage compared to a tract with a lower z-score sum. Analysts should not compare NSEE scores across LEAD community types, as values have been computed and scaled within community type.

{"definition": "9-level classification of counties by metro-nonmetro status, location, and urban size", "availableYears": "2010 (Released May 2013)", "name": "Rural-urban continuum code, 2013", "units": "Classification", "shortName": "RuralUrbanContinuumCode2013", "geographicLevel": "County", "dataSources": "U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau"}

© RuralUrbanContinuumCode2013 This layer is sourced from gis.ers.usda.gov.

The counties comprising Appalachia, based on the Appalachian Regional Commission (https://www.arc.gov/appalachian-counties-served-by-arc), plus the counties that fall within a 10-mile buffer of the ARC counties, with 2010 RUCA codes joined. The original source of the counties shapefile was the U.S. Census Bureau's 2020 Cartographic Boundary Files. The original source of the data was the USDA ERS (https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural-urban-commuting-area-codes.aspx), averaged from the tract level to the county level using the FIPS code.

This data set includes annual counts and percentages of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollees by urban or rural residence. Results are shown overall; by state; and by four subpopulation topics: scope of Medicaid and CHIP benefits, race and ethnicity, disability-related eligibility category, and managed care participation. These results were generated using Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) Analytic Files (TAF) Release 1 data and the Race/Ethnicity Imputation Companion File. This data set includes Medicaid and CHIP enrollees in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands who were enrolled for at least one day in the calendar year, except where otherwise noted. Enrollees in Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands are not included. Results shown overall (where subpopulation topic is "Total enrollees") and for the race and ethnicity subpopulation topic exclude enrollees in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Results shown for the race and ethnicity, disability category, and managed care participation subpopulation topics only include Medicaid and CHIP enrollees with comprehensive benefits. Results shown for the disability category subpopulation topic only include working-age adults (ages 19 to 64). Results for states with TAF data quality issues in the year have a value of "Unusable data." Some rows in the data set have a value of "DS," which indicates that data were suppressed according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Cell Suppression Policy for values between 1 and 10. This data set is based on the brief: "Rural Medicaid and CHIP enrollees in 2020." Enrollees are assigned to an urban or rural category based on the 2010 Rural-Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) code associated with their home or mailing address ZIP code in TAF. Enrollees are assigned to the comprehensive benefits or limited benefits subpopulation according to the criteria in the "Identifying Beneficiaries with Full-Scope, Comprehensive, and Limited Benefits in the TAF" DQ Atlas brief. Enrollees are assigned to a race and ethnicity subpopulation using the state-reported race and ethnicity information in TAF when it is available and of good quality; if it is missing or unreliable, race and ethnicity is indirectly estimated using an enhanced version of Bayesian Improved Surname Geocoding (BISG) (Race and ethnicity of the national Medicaid and CHIP population in 2020). Enrollees are assigned to a disability category subpopulation using their latest reported eligibility group code and age in the year (Medicaid enrollees who qualify for benefits based on disability in 2020). Enrollees are assigned to a managed care participation subpopulation based on the managed care plan type code that applies to the majority of their enrolled-months during the year (Enrollment in CMC Plans). Please refer to the full brief for additional context about the methodology and detailed findings. Future updates to this data set will include more recent data years as the TAF data become available.

The US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment (CPHEA) Public Health & Environmental Systems Division (PHESD) is currently engaged in research aimed at developing a measure that estimates overall environmental quality at the census tract level for the United States. This work is being conducted as an effort to learn more about how various environmental factors simultaneously contribute to health disparities in low-income and minority populations, and to better estimate the total environmental and social context to which humans are exposed. This work contains the finalized Environmental Quality Index (EQI), as a single index combining variables from each of the associated domains for the 2006-2010 census tract level EQI: air, water, land, built environment, and sociodemographic environment as well as EQI for census tract stratified by Rural Urban Continuum Code (RUCA) as determined by a reclassification based off urbancity and commuting flow initially proposed in Urban-Rural Residence and the Occurrence of Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate in Texas, 1999-2003 published in Annals of Epidemiology (Messer, et al, 2010, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20006274/); RUCA initially was 10 classifications made by USDA Economic Research Service composed of: RUCA 1 Metropolitan Core Area, RUCA 2 Metropolitan High Commuting Area, RUCA 3 Metropolitan Low Commuting Area, RUCA 4 Micropolitan Area Core, RUCA 5, Micropolitan High Commuting, RUCA 6 Micropolitan Low Commuting Area, RUCA 7 Small Town Core, RUCA 8 Small Town High Commuting Area, RUCA 9 Small Town Low Commuting, RUCA 10 Rural Areas (https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural-urban-commuting-area-codes/). RUCA 1 remained it's own class, RUCA 2 remained it's own class, RUCA 3, 4, 5, 6 were combined and conveyed as RUCA 3, RUCA 7, 8, 9 were combined and now conveyed as RUCA 4 and RUCA 10 became RUCA 5 in the new classification. Within the new classification RUCA 1 is Urban Core, RUCA 2 is Suburban Area, RUCA 3 is Micropolitan Area, RUCA 4 is Small Town Area and RUCA 5 is Rural Area (Messer, et al, 2010). This dataset contains the finalized variables chosen to represent the overall environment within in a single Principal Component Analysis (PCA); data sources are: EPA's CMAQ: The Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System (http://www.https://www.epa.gov/cmaq/), the National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (http://www.epa.gov/nata/), the U.S. Geological Survey Estimates of Water Use in the U.S. for 2010 (https://water.usgs.gov/watuse/data/2010/), the U.S. Drought Monitor Data (http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/), “Estimated Annual Agricultural Pesticide Use for Counties of the Conterminous United States” data for pesticide use (https://www.usgs.gov/data/estimated-annual-agricultural-pesticide-use-counties-conterminous-united-states-2013-17-ver-20), CropScape (https://nassgeodata.gmu.edu/CropScape), EPA Facility Registry Service (https://www.epa.gov/frs/geospatial-data-download-service), Dun and Bradstreet North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes(http://www.dnb.com); National Land Cover Database (NCDL) (https://www.mrlc.gov/), United States Census (http://www2.census.gov) and ESRI Crime Report (https://doc.arcgis.com/en/esri-demographics/data/crime-indexes.htm).

The Postal Code Conversion File (PCCF) is a digital file which provides a correspondence between the Canada Post Corporation (CPC) six-character postal code and Statistics Canada's standard geographic areas for which census data and other statistics are produced. Through the link between postal codes and standard geographic areas, the PCCF permits the integration of data from various sources. The Single Link Indicator provides one best link for every postal code, as there are multiple records for many postal codes. Getting started guide To obtain the postal code conversion file or for questions, consult the DLI contact at your educational institution. The geographic coordinates attached to each postal code on the PCCF are commonly used to map the distribution of data for spatial analysis (e.g., clients, activities). The location information is a powerful tool for planning, or research purposes. In April 1983, the Geography Division released the first version of the PCCF, which linked postal codes to 1981 Census geographic areas and included geographic coordinates. Since then, the file has been updated on a regular basis to reflect changes. For this release of the PCCF, the vast majority of the postal codes are directly geocoded to 2006 Census geography. This improves precision of the file over the previous conversion process used to align postal code linkages to new geographic areas after each census. About 94% of the postal codes were linked to geographic areas using the new automated process. A quality indicator for the confidence of this linkage is available in the PCCF.

This data set includes annual counts and percentages of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollees by primary language spoken (English, Spanish, and all other languages). Results are shown overall; by state; and by five subpopulation topics: race and ethnicity, age group, scope of Medicaid and CHIP benefits, urban or rural residence, and eligibility category. These results were generated using Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) Analytic Files (TAF) Release 1 data and the Race/Ethnicity Imputation Companion File. This data set includes Medicaid and CHIP enrollees in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands who were enrolled for at least one day in the calendar year, except where otherwise noted. Enrollees in Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and select states with data quality issues with the primary language variable in TAF are not included. Results shown for the race and ethnicity subpopulation topic exclude enrollees in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Results shown overall (where subpopulation topic is "Total enrollees") exclude enrollees younger than age 5 and enrollees in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Results for states with TAF data quality issues in the year have a value of "Unusable data." Some rows in the data set have a value of "DS," which indicates that data were suppressed according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Cell Suppression Policy for values between 1 and 10. This data set is based on the brief: "Primary language spoken by the Medicaid and CHIP population in 2020." Enrollees are assigned to a primary language category based on their reported ISO language code in TAF (English/missing, Spanish, and all other language codes) (Primary Language). Enrollees are assigned to a race and ethnicity subpopulation using the state-reported race and ethnicity information in TAF when it is available and of good quality; if it is missing or unreliable, race and ethnicity is indirectly estimated using an enhanced version of Bayesian Improved Surname Geocoding (BISG) (Race and ethnicity of the national Medicaid and CHIP population in 2020). Enrollees are assigned to an age group subpopulation using age as of December 31st of the calendar year. Enrollees are assigned to the comprehensive benefits or limited benefits subpopulation according to the criteria in the "Identifying Beneficiaries with Full-Scope, Comprehensive, and Limited Benefits in the TAF" DQ Atlas brief. Enrollees are assigned to an urban or rural subpopulation based on the 2010 Rural-Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) code associated with their home or mailing address ZIP code in TAF (Rural Medicaid and CHIP enrollees in 2020). Enrollees are assigned to an eligibility category subpopulation using their latest reported eligibility group code, CHIP code, and age in the calendar year. Please refer to the full brief for additional context about the methodology and detailed findings. Future updates to this data set will include more recent data years as the TAF data become available.

This data set includes annual counts and percentages of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollees who received a well-child visit paid for by Medicaid or CHIP, overall and by five subpopulation topics: age group, race and ethnicity, urban or rural residence, program type, and primary language. These results were generated using Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) Analytic Files (TAF) Release 1 data and the Race/Ethnicity Imputation Companion File. This data set includes Medicaid and CHIP enrollees in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, except where otherwise noted. Enrollees in Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands are not included. Results include enrollees with comprehensive Medicaid or CHIP benefits for all 12 months of the year and who were younger than age 19 at the end of the calendar year. Results shown for the race and ethnicity subpopulation topic exclude enrollees in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Results shown for the primary language subpopulation topic exclude select states with data quality issues with the primary language variable in TAF. Some rows in the data set have a value of "DS," which indicates that data were suppressed according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Cell Suppression Policy for values between 1 and 10. This data set is based on the brief: "Medicaid and CHIP enrollees who received a well-child visit in 2020." Enrollees are identified as receiving a well-child visit in the year according to the Line 6 criteria in the Form CMS-416 reporting instructions. Enrollees are assigned to an age group subpopulation using age as of December 31st of the calendar year. Enrollees are assigned to a race and ethnicity subpopulation using the state-reported race and ethnicity information in TAF when it is available and of good quality; if it is missing or unreliable, race and ethnicity is indirectly estimated using an enhanced version of Bayesian Improved Surname Geocoding (BISG) (Race and ethnicity of the national Medicaid and CHIP population in 2020). Enrollees are assigned to an urban or rural subpopulation based on the 2010 Rural-Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) code associated with their home or mailing address ZIP code in TAF (Rural Medicaid and CHIP enrollees in 2020). Enrollees are assigned to a program type subpopulation based on the CHIP code and eligibility group code that applies to the majority of their enrolled-months during the year (Medicaid-Only Enrollment; M-CHIP and S-CHIP Enrollment). Enrollees are assigned to a primary language subpopulation based on their reported ISO language code in TAF (English/missing, Spanish, and all other language codes) (Primary Language). Please refer to the full brief for additional context about the methodology and detailed findings. Future updates to this data set will include more recent data years as the TAF data become available.