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.This record was taken from the USDA Enterprise Data Inventory that feeds into the https://data.gov catalog. Data for this record includes the following resources: Webpage with links to Excel files For complete information, please visit https://data.gov.

农村-城市通勤区域代码（RUCA）根据城市化程度、人口密度和每日通勤数据，对美国人口普查区进行分类。最新的RUCA代码基于2000年的人口普查数据。该分类包含两个级别：整数（1-10）代表大都市、小都市、小镇和农村通勤区域，依据主要（最大）通勤流量的规模和方向划分。这10个代码进一步细分为更严格的或更宽松的通勤区域界定，基于次要（第二大）通勤流量。该方法的倾向是采用更多代码，提供灵活的组合级别以满足不同的定义需求和偏好。

1990年的代码定义类似。然而，在两次普查之间，人口普查局定义城市核心和集群的方法发生了变化。此外，人口普查区的数量和形状也发生了变化。由于这些差异，2000年的农村-城市通勤代码与1990年的代码不可直接比较。

计划于2013年末更新RUCA代码。此记录来源于为https://data.gov目录提供数据的美国农业部企业数据清单。此记录的数据包括以下资源：包含指向Excel文件链接的网页。如需完整信息，请访问https://data.gov。