Defining Urban and Rural Areas in U.S. Epidemiologic Studies

Steve Simon

2016-12-02

Figure 1. Excerpt from article

I’m somewhat new to geocoding. One of the first things you might be interested in, if you have geographic data, is an indicator as to whether a certain address, zip code, or county is urban or rural. This is actually quite a complex topic. This paper outlines some of the basic systems to classifying a location as urban, rural, or something in between (e.g., suburban).

Susan A. Hall, Jay S. Kaufman, and Thomas C. Ricketts. Defining Urban and Rural Areas in U.S. Epidemiologic Studies. J Urban Health. 2006 Mar; 83(2): 162–175. doi: 10.1007/s11524-005-9016-3. Available in html format.

You can find an earlier version of this page on my blog.