Whats perceived as being a rural or remote community can differ greatly by region.
So what qualifies a community as rural?
Department of Agricultureattempts to answer in an article titled What is Rural?
The existence of multiple rural definitions reflects the reality that rural and urban are multidimensional concepts.
Sometimes population density is the defining concern, in other cases, it is geographic isolation.
Small population size typically characterizes a rural place, but how small is rural?
Located in the Florida Everglades, the nations smallest post office(Ochopee 34141)serves about 300 residents.
The definition used by theU.S.
Office of Management and Budgetis based on counties.
All other areas are classified as noncore.
(Some but not all noncore areas are rural.)
One way to achieve some location specific clarity is to use theRural Health Information Hub’sAm I Rural?tool.
Article adapted from theAARP Rural Livability Workshop Report.
| Page published February 2020
