Use data files to identify rural areas
We created these data files to assist researchers, government agencies, and the public by providing different ways to identify and analyze rural areas.
Do these files replace the Eligibility Analyzer?
These files do not replace the use of the Rural Health Grants Eligibility Analyzer for determination of eligibility for Rural Health Grants.
What is in these data files?
The County and Census Tract Excel file (XLSX - 3 MB) contains the same data that are used for the Rural Health Grants Eligibility Analyzer. The file consists of three parts:
- A data dictionary that describes the contents of the file and the data sources
- A list of 2023 U.S. counties
- A list of 2010 U.S. census tracts
Information about the list of 2023 U.S. counties:
- We consider counties fully rural when they meet at least one of the following criteria:
- They are non-core counties (neither metro nor micro using the OMB delineation)
- They are micropolitan counties
- They are outlying metro counties with no population from an urban area of 50,000 or more people
- All census tracts in the county are FORHP rural
- The file identifies fully rural counties as ‘Fully FORHP Rural’ in the County_Eligibility variable. The file identifies all other counties as ‘Not fully FORHP rural’.
- Note:
- This file includes rural areas in Puerto Rico and the US territories. ‘NA’ is used when a territory does not have a county FIPS code.
- This file includes 2023 counties to use the most recent OMB update and to include new Connecticut Planning regions. We matched 2010 census tracts to 2023 counties in order to do this. This is our best estimate, but note that discrepancies are possible.
- See the census tract section to identify counties that are partially rural.
Information about the list of 2010 U.S. census tracts
- We consider census tracts to be rural when they meet at least one of the following criteria:
- Census tracts in fully rural counties (see county criteria in the previous section)
- Census tracts with Rural Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) codes 4-10 in metropolitan counties
- Census tracts of at least 400 square miles in area with population density of 35 or fewer people per square mile with RUCA codes 2-3 in metropolitan counties
- Census tracts with RRS 5 and RUCA codes 2-3 that are at least 20 square miles in area in metropolitan counties
- Using the FORHP_Rural variable the file identifies rural census tracts as ‘Yes’ and tracts that are not rural as ‘No’.
- Note:
- This file includes rural areas in Puerto Rico and the US territories. ‘NA’ is used when a territory does not have a county or tract FIPS code.
- This file includes 2023 counties to use the most recent OMB update and to include new Connecticut Planning regions. We matched 2010 census tracts to 2023 counties in order to do this. This is our best estimate, but note that discrepancies are possible.
- This file includes census tracts that are in fully rural counties. It includes all census tracts in the U.S., both tracts identified as rural and tracts that are not rural.
When did FORHP update these data files?
In November 2024, we updated the data files on this page. We made the following updates:
- We used the metropolitan (metro) and micropolitan (micro) county delineations in OMB Bulletin No. 23-01 (whitehouse.gov) (PDF - 1 MB).
- We used the 2020 Census Urban Areas (updated July 2023) to identify outlying metro counties with no population from an urban area of 50,000 or more people as described in the 2024 Federal Register Notice, Inclusion of Terrain Factors in the Definition of Rural Area for Federal Office of Rural Health Policy Grants.
- We used the Road Ruggedness Scale (updated August 2023) developed by the United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (ERS) to identify census tracts that are rural because their roads are highly rugged as described in the 2024 Federal Register Notice, Inclusion of Terrain Factors in the Definition of Rural Area for Federal Office of Rural Health Policy Grants.
We have not updated the data files based on the 2020 census tracts, though we are using 2023 counties. We will update the census tracts in our files after the 2020 RUCA and 2020 RRS data releases.
Please contact us at the following email address with questions about rural data files.
Contact us
Email: RuralPolicy@hrsa.gov
Call: 301-443-0835