The U.S. Census Bureau has designed a multimedia application experience, a story map, called
"Rural America: How Does the U.S. Census Bureau Define 'Rural'?"
Many rural communities rely on American Community Survey, or ACS, 5-year estimates, rather than
ACS 1-year estimates, because of population thresholds, and this story map helps data
users understand the history and definition of "rural."
Horizontal tabs at the top of the page give access to 3 main sections.
Within each section, different topics are accessed via navigational buttons on the left,
vertical bar.
Icons with a barn and silo in a green circle indicate helpful hints or contextual information
regarding features in the presentation space to the right.
Additional tools in the presentation space include:
Map buttons, which zoom in and out and return to the default view.
Clickable information tables, which enlarge for better viewing.
And other buttons related to specific tasks: such as illustrating different characteristics
of a map by turning data layers on and off,
or nested internet Census Bureau tools and resources.
The U.S. Census Bureau defines "rural" as any population, housing, or territory not
in an urban area.
The green area on the map represents all the area in the United States defined as "rural."
A very small percentage is "urban."
Today's "Urbanized Areas" have populations of 50,000 or more.
"Urban Clusters" have populations of less than 50,000, but at least 2,500.
This time chart illustrates how the definition of "urban" has changed since 1880.
According to the 2011-2015 ACS, 54.4% of people living in rural areas are within a metro area.
How can this be?
Well, for starters, the term "nonmetro" is not synonymous with "rural."
Unlike urban areas, "metropolitan statistical areas," or "metro" areas, are defined at the
county level, and most counties have a mix of urban and rural areas.
On the map, the "Urbanized Areas" represented in orange and the "Urban Clusters" in brown,
combine to make up the Census Bureau's definition of "Urban Areas."
Remember, rural is defined as any population, housing, or territory not included in an Urban Area.
If you select the "Back" button to turn the Metro Areas back on, we see that there are
lots of rural areas within metro areas.
Most of the rural population is clustered in the vicinity of urban areas.
The population density map in the presentation space helps illustrate this clustering effect.
The "Rural population density" table breaks down the concentrations.
The U.S. Census Bureau collects and tabulates data for all geographic areas every 10 years
through the Decennial Census.
In addition, the American Community Survey releases 1-year and 5-year estimates annually.
Geographic areas that do not meet a certain population threshold are only included in
the ACS 5-year estimates.
The ACS releases 1-year estimates for geographic areas with populations of 65,000 or more annually.
ACS releases 5-year estimates for all geographic areas.
Communities with fewer people, which are often rural, rely on ACS 5-year estimates for understanding
the demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics of their populations.
The dark orange counties only receive ACS 5-year estimates.
As of the 2010 Census, 704 counties had 100% of their populations living in rural areas.
By contrast, 29 counties had zero % of their populations living in rural areas.
The U.S. Census Bureau multimedia application experience, "Rural America: How Does the U.S.
Census Bureau Define 'Rural'?" provides additional information and data to help explain how the
Census Bureau defines rural.