A place can be considered urban if it has at least 2,000 housing units, based on the calculation that the average household has 2.5 people.Īmong the beneficiaries of using housing instead of people are resort towns in ski or beach destinations, or other places with lots of vacation homes, since they can qualify as urban based on the number of homes instead of full-time residents. With the new criteria, the distinction between an urbanized area and an urban cluster has been eliminated since the Census Bureau determined there was little difference in economic activities between communities larger and smaller than 50,000 residents.įor the first time, the Census Bureau is adding housing units to the definition of an urban area. The bureau says it is done for statistical purposes and it has no control over how government agencies use the definitions to distribute funding. The bureau adjusts the definition every decade after a census to address any changes or needs of policymakers and researchers. The Census Bureau this year made the biggest modification in decades to the definition of an urban area. “Places that qualify as urban are eligible for transportation dollars that rural areas aren’t, and then rural areas are eligible for dollars that urban areas are not.” “The whole thing about urban and rural is all about money,” said Mary Craigle, bureau chief for Montana’s Research and Information Services. The federal government doesn’t have a standard definition of urban or rural, but the Census Bureau’s definition often provides a baseline. The change matters because rural and urban areas often qualify for different types of federal funding for transportation, housing, health care, education and agriculture. The new criteria raised the population threshold from 2,500 to 5,000 people and housing units were added to the definition.
Around 3.5 million residents living in the small cities, hamlets, towns and villages that lost their urban designation were bumped into the rural category.
0 kommentar(er)
