Throughout our research we present information using 4 county groups derived from the rural-urban commuting area codes that was first used by Minnesota’s Demographic Center. The map below shows how each county is categorized.
Figure 1: The map provides the rural-urban commuting area designation for each county in Minnesota. Data: MN Demographic Center
These county groups are derived from the rural-urban commuting area codes developed by the United State Department of Agriculture – Economic Research Service in an attempt to define geographic areas not entirely reliant on population alone. These codes incorporate population density, urbanization, and daily commuting to define a geographic area. Below is the 10 primary RUCA codes, which are also grouped into the 4 geography types.
Urban Definition
| 1 | Census tract is situated at the metropolitan area’s core and the primary commuting flow is within an urbanized area of 50,000 residents or more |
| 2 | Census tract is within a metropolitan area and has higher primary commuting (30% or more) to an urbanized area of 50,000 residents or more |
| 3 | Census tract is within a metropolitan area and has lower primary commuting (10-30%) to an urbanized area of 50,000 residents or more |
Large Town Definition
| 4 | Census tract is situated at a micropolitan area’s core and the primary commuting flow is within a larger urban cluster of 10,000 to 49,999 residents |
| 5 | Census tract is within a micropolitan area and has higher primary commuting (30% or more) to a larger urban cluster of 10,000 to 49,999 residents |
| 6 | Census tract is within a micropolitan area and has lower primary commuting (10-30%) to a larger urban cluster of 10,000 to 49,999 residents |
Small Town Definition
| 7 | Census tract has a primary commuting flow within a small urban cluster of 2,500 to 9,999 residents |
| 8 | Census tract has higher primary commuting (30% or more) to a small urban cluster of 2,500 to 9,999 residents |
| 9 | Census tract has lower primary commuting (10-30%) to a small urban cluster of 2,500 to 9,999 residents |
Rural Definition
| 10 | Census tract has a primary commuting flow outside of urban areas and urban clusters. |
Below is a map that presents each census tract throughout Minnesota and their corresponding RUCA definition.
Figure 2: The map provides the rural-urban commuting area codes for each census tract in Minnesota. Data: MN Demographic Center
The Minnesota State Demographer’s office analyzed each county to determine the combinations of census tract types in each one. The counties were then categorized into 4 groups:
- Entirely rural: every census tract was rural;
- Town/rural mix: the county had at least one census tract that was rural, and small or large town census tracts;
- Urban/town/rural mix: the county had at least one census tract that was rural, small or large town, and urban;
- Entirely urban: every census tract was urban.
For more information about these definitions check out their report – Greater Minnesota: Refined & Revisited