Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes

The rural-urban commuting area codes (RUCA) classify U.S. census tracts using measures of urbanization, population density, and daily commuting from the decennial census.

The most recent RUCA codes are based on data from the 2000 decennial census. The classification contains two levels. Whole numbers (1-10) delineate metropolitan, micropolitan, small town, and rural commuting areas based on the size and direction of the primary (largest) commuting flows. These 10 codes are further subdivided to permit stricter or looser delimitation of commuting areas, based on secondary (second largest) commuting flows. The approach errs in the direction of more codes, providing flexibility in combining levels to meet varying definitional needs and preferences.

The 1990 codes are similarly defined. However, the Census Bureau's methods of defining urban cores and clusters changed between the two censuses. And, census tracts changed in number and shapes. The 2000 rural-urban commuting codes are not directly comparable with the 1990 codes because of these differences.

An update of the Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes is planned for late 2013.

Data and Resources

Field Value
accessLevel public
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catalog_describedBy https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
describedBy http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural-urban-commuting-area-codes/documentation.aspx
identifier USDA-ERS-00086
issued 2019-10-24
landingPage http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural-urban-commuting-area-codes.aspx
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2019-10-24
programCode {005:041}
publisher Economic Research Service, Department of Agriculture
resource-type Dataset
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Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • amerigeo
  • amerigeoss
  • ckan
  • geo
  • geoss
  • metro
  • national
  • nonmetro
  • north-america
  • rural
  • rural-sociology
  • united-states
  • urban
isopen True
license_id cc-zero
license_title Creative Commons CCZero
license_url http://www.opendefinition.org/licenses/cc-zero
maintainer John Cromartie
maintainer_email john.cromartie@usda.gov
metadata_created 2025-11-21T00:11:24.324088
metadata_modified 2025-11-21T00:11:24.324092
notes The rural-urban commuting area codes (RUCA) classify U.S. census tracts using measures of urbanization, population density, and daily commuting from the decennial census. The most recent RUCA codes are based on data from the 2000 decennial census. The classification contains two levels. Whole numbers (1-10) delineate metropolitan, micropolitan, small town, and rural commuting areas based on the size and direction of the primary (largest) commuting flows. These 10 codes are further subdivided to permit stricter or looser delimitation of commuting areas, based on secondary (second largest) commuting flows. The approach errs in the direction of more codes, providing flexibility in combining levels to meet varying definitional needs and preferences. The 1990 codes are similarly defined. However, the Census Bureau's methods of defining urban cores and clusters changed between the two censuses. And, census tracts changed in number and shapes. The 2000 rural-urban commuting codes are not directly comparable with the 1990 codes because of these differences. An update of the Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes is planned for late 2013.
num_resources 1
num_tags 13
title Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes