The Economic Research Service (ERS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture has developed two different classification systems for determining whether a county is more rural or urban. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has a third system. The three systems differ somewhat, but each can be used to understand how rural or urban various counties are.
Please click “Download data” to retrieve codes for counties in your state, or view a map to see how the codes differ across your state. Explanations of the three coding systems are as follows:
2020 Metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area code
(OMB/Census)
1-Metropolitan statistical area - has at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties
2-Micropolitan statistical area - has at least one urbanized cluster of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000 population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties
3-Outside core-based statistical areas (a.k.a. noncore) - has no urbanized cluster of at least 10,000, and no social and economic integration with any core area
2013 Rural-urban continuum code (Also known as the "Beale code")
(ERS)
Metro counties:
1-County in metro area with 1 million population or more
2-County in metro area of 250,000 to 1 million population
3-County in metro area of fewer than 250,000 population
Nonmetro counties:
4-Nonmetro county with urban population of 20,000 or more, adjacent to a metro area
5-Nonmetro county with urban population of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to a metro area
6-Nonmetro county with urban population of 2,500 to 19,999, adjacent to a metro area
7-Nonmetro county with urban population of 2,500 to 19,999, not adjacent to a metro area
8-Nonmetro county completely rural or less than 2,500 urban population, adjacent to a metro area
9-Nonmetro county completely rural or less than 2,500 urban population, not adjacent to a metro area
2013 Urban influence code
(ERS)
Counties are grouped by the size of their largest town and their proximity to metropolitan and micropolitan areas.
Metro counties:
1-Large - Counties in a metro area with at least 1 million residents or more
2-Small - Counties in a metro area with fewer than 1 million residents
Nonmetro counties:
3-Micropolitan county adjacent to a large metro area
4-Noncore county adjacent to a large metro area
5-Micropolitan county adjacent to a small metro area
6-Noncore county adjacent to a small metro with town of at least 2,500 residents
7-Noncore county adjacent to a small metro and does not contain a town of at least 2,500 residents
8-Micropolitan county not adjacent to a metro area
9-Noncore county adjacent to micro area and contains a town of 2,500-9,999 residents
10-Noncore county adjacent to micro area and does not contain a town of at least 2,500 residents
11-Noncore county not adjacent to a metro/micro area and contains a town of 2,500 or more residents
12-Noncore county not adjacent to a metro/micro area and does not contain a town of at least 2,500 residents