Rural Areas

Classification of Rural Areas

There remains limited consensus on the specific classification of what defines a rural area, although such a term often conjures up images of small towns, farms, and open spaces. Defining rural parameters can have major implications on provision of healthcare services and development of national policies, laws, and research. Researchers and government agencies use such definitions for statistical consistency and accuracy when conducting their studies. To date, a number of definitions have been identified that emphasize different variables, such as population density, geographic isolation, and/or economic output. When defining a rural area, four salient considerations include its administrative boundaries, land-use patterns, population density, and overall economic influence.

When defining a rural area, the key is to identify a rural-urban definition that best fits the needs of a specific activity. For instance, an administrative definition of rural emphasizes defining urban along municipal and other jurisdictional boundaries for determining program eligibility. On the other hand, land-use and population density data are more ideal when developing infrastructure and water and sewer services. For programs requiring the coordination of efforts within broader market areas, such as area-wide transportation planning assistance, a definition based on economic concepts may be more appropriate.

In the United States, there are three government agencies whose rural definitions and classifications are in wide use—the U.S. Census Bureau, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Of the three, the Census Bureau has taken the lead in developing a working definition of rural by defining what is urban, and then defining rural by exclusion. Based on this rationale, the Census Bureau defines an urbanized area as consisting of adjacent, densely settled census block groups that meet a minimum population density of at least 50,000 people. Subsequently, the Census Bureau defines all other areas as rural. Similar to this, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines a rural area based merely on the population density. However, a wide variety of literature has alluded to the inadequacy of such classification, suggesting that other variables, such as rural-urban commuting area (RUCA) codes, be considered for the urban-rural typology rather than a focus on population density calculations.

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