In 2013, OMB defined metropolitan (metro) areas as broad labor-market areas that include: For a detailed comparison of economic, land-use, and administrative concepts underlying different rural definitions, see Defining the 'Rural' in Rural America, Amber Waves, June 2008. They also are frequently used as basic building blocks for areas of economic and social integration, such as labor-market areas.Ī regional-economic concept underlies the formation of the metropolitan-nonmetropolitan classification. Estimates of population, employment, and income are available for them annually. Counties are the standard building block for publishing economic data and for conducting research to track and explain regional population and economic trends. Nonmetro Counties are Commonly Used to Depict Rural and Small-Town TrendsĮRS researchers and others who analyze conditions in 'rural' America most often use data on nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) areas, defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on the basis of counties or county-equivalent units (e.g., parishes, boroughs). Researchers and policymakers share the task of choosing appropriately from among alternate rural definitions currently available or creating their own unique definitions. is a nation in which so many people live in areas that are not clearly rural or urban, seemingly small changes in the way rural areas are defined can have large impacts on who and what are considered rural. Small population size typically characterizes a rural place, but how small is rural? Population thresholds used to differentiate rural and urban communities range from 2,500 up to 50,000, depending on the definition.īecause the U.S.

Sometimes population density is the defining concern, in other cases it is geographic isolation. However, the existence of multiple rural definitions reflects the reality that rural and urban are multidimensional concepts. Researchers and policy officials employ many definitions to distinguish rural from urban areas, which often leads to unnecessary confusion and unwanted mismatches in program eligibility.

County definition township definition