February 2019

By Kelly Asche, Research Associate

We frequently use county categories to help determine the “rural-ness” and “urban-ness” of counties across Minnesota. The 4 county categories are derived from the Rural-urban commuting area codes that were first used by Minnesota’s Demographic Center. The map below shows how each county is categorized. 

 

 

Figure 1: The categories for each county in Minnesota are based on rural-urban commuting area codes. Data: MN State 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 MN State Demographic Center analyzed census tracts in each county to determine their category. Data: MN State 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

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