Census Bureau Changes Definition of Urban Area

What defines a “urban area”? Believe it or not, that definition is changing, which could have an effect on grant programs designed for either urban areas or rural areas.

The U.S. Census Bureau late last month announced that the nation’s urban population increased by 6.4 percent between 2010 and 2020 based on 2020 Census data under a change in the way urban areas are defined.

After the 2020 Census, the Census Bureau made three key changes to its urban area concept and criteria:

• it increased the minimum population threshold to qualify as urban from 2,500 to 5,000, and added an alternative: instead of qualifying based on population size, areas can now qualify based on a minimum housing unit threshold.
• it now uses housing unit density instead of population density.
• it no longer distinguishes between different types of urban areas.

The first two changes reflect a general shift by the Census Bureau toward using housing units to measure urbanization and identify qualifying urban areas. “Housing density provides a more direct measure of the densely developed landscape,” according to the Census Bureau. “The number of individuals in housing units can change over time, but the presence of housing on the landscape remains more stable."

In addition, the jump distance was reduced from 2.5 miles to 1.5 miles for 2020. The jump distance is the distance along roads used to connect high-density urban territories surrounded by rural territory.

As a result of these changes, 1,140 areas containing 4.2 million people, classified as urban in 2010, are now rural. Based on 2020 Census data, 36 new urban areas were identified that were classified as rural in 2010. A list of 2020 Census urban areas can be found here.

Areas formerly classified as rural that are now urban should be aware of the new classification to avoid seeking federal funding under programs designed to assist rural communities.

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