What is Rural? The Impact of Definitions

On November 2, 2005, Wisconsin Rural Partners, Inc. presented a Town Hall Forum at the Lussier Family Heritage Center, 3101 Lake Farm Road, Madison, Wisconsin. More than a dozen definitions of "rural" currently in use by agencies and organizations were posted around the room.

The forum opened with chief state economist Terry Ludeman (shown at left) providing an overview of the demographics of Wisconsin, along with changes that have been observed over the past few decades. Population-wise, Ludeman said, Wisconsin is a very average state. Our total population of 5.5 million is just under the average for all U.S. states. Our non-metro population is about 28% of that total, or 1.5+ million. But several characteristics of Wisconsin, Ludeman pointed out, are very different from other states. That is where the definition of "rural" used by agencies and organizations to determine program eligibility may be causing confusion.

The change in classification announced in 2003 by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was intended to provide more distinct definition to U.S. counties by classifying them on a continuum scale of 1 to 9, with 1 being the largest of metro areas, and 9 being the most remote of rural areas. Counties were coded based on their containment or proximity to urbanized areas, and by the percentage of their population who commuted to adjacent urbanized areas for employment. The announcement of this classification by OMB also contained a warning to federal agencies NOT to use this system as a determiner for funds distribution, yet two years later that is what many agencies have done. Even private foundations have used this classification system for determining program eligibility.

Wisconsin, Ludeman pointed out, has thirteen Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) that are spread throughout the state. Only six other states in the U.S. have more MSAs - all large states with double or more the population of Wisconsin. Although Milwaukee is the only large MSA (more than 1 million residents) contained in Wisconsin, recent changes in the classification of Wisconsin counties have shifted a few counties (St. Croix and Pierce) into the St. Paul/Minneapolis MSA, and the Chicago MSA is creeping toward Kenosha, Racine and Walworth counties. Although Wisconsin has six counties that are ranked 9 on the continuum (e.g., the most rural) Ludeman pointed out that no area of Wisconsin is far from access to necessary goods and services - almost anyone living in Wisconsin is within a two-hour drive of an urbanized area. Geography and topographical features are also not impediments to traveling our state as they are in many others, Ludeman said, which makes Wisconsinites very mobile.

What this might mean, Ludeman posed, is that "rural" is more a perception by people than an advantage or disadvantage when it comes to distribution of resources. For instance, Wisconsin is a heavily agricultural state in terms of economic output, yet less than 12% of the rural population lives on farms. So how are the other 88% of rural residents perceived? There is much more economic diversity in rural Wisconsin than many realize - not to mention that agriculture is not solely in the rural domain: the top two agriculture-producing counties in the state are Dane and Marathon - both urban counties. Although "rural" does not equal "agriculture," those perceptions still exist, as exhibited in The Capital Times article covering this forum (see link above right), WRP was referred to as "Wisconsin Rural Farm Partners." We have a long way to go toward understanding "rural."

Ludeman's presentation was followed by a panel of presenters who each highlighted a perspective on the confusion resulting from definitions. WRP President Ricky Rolfsmeyer, who lives in the Town of Waldwick in Iowa County (pop. 500), told the story of going to sleep one night as a "rural guy" but waking up the next morning as an urbanite. Iowa County was one of four counties in Wisconsin that was reclassified from a rural 6 to an urban 2 due to commuting patterns. The other 3 counties are Columbia, Kewaunee and Oconto. The criterion of commuting to an adjacent metro area, Rolfsmeyer said, was a misnomer and did not tell the whole story. Although 25% of the Iowa County population commutes to Dane County for employment, there is almost an equal amount of population from neighboring counties commuting into Iowa County for employment, many of whom work at the county's largest employer, Lands' End in Dodgeville. And most would agree that the landscape throughout Iowa County is "rural." Rolfsmeyer shared the story of one Iowa County farmer who, upon hearing the news of reclassification, erected an epitaph to mark the county's rural passing. (see photo)

Kathy Schmitt of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection's (DATCP) Farm Center, described the difficulty she and colleagues from seven Midwestern states encountered when designing a mental health program for farm families. Sowing the Seeds of Hope is a collaborative effort to provide mental health counseling services to farm families and is funded in part through a U.S. Department of Health & Human Services grant, but administered locally by a variety of health agencies. Although all of them serve rural constituencies, Schmitt said, none of the agencies across the seven states was considered "rural" so were not eligible to receive the funds, forcing the consortium to create a new entity and locate it in a rural census tract. This caused a good portion of the resources to go into developing the new entity's infrastructure rather than to providing direct services, Schmitt said, a situation that could have been avoided if the definitions were not so exclusive.

Panelist Sue Grady of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) described the difficulty DPI encountered in defining "rural" when creating the Superintendent's 2004 Rural Education Policy Initiative and a rural advisoy council. Many of the state's rural school districts, Grady said, have urban characteristics, and many on the outskirts of urbanized counties deal with rural issues such as low enrollments and long distances for busing.

Andy Lewis, University of Wisconsin - Cooperative Extension specialist at the Center for Community Economic Development, concluded the panel with his analysis of the challenges that varying definitions of "rural" present for community leaders. "Rural," he said, has different implications if you are a researcher, a policy maker, or a community leader. And defining very small places one way or the other ignores the larger economic issues that drive development. Instead of focusing on definitions that exclude, he said, the time is now to start looking at regions and economies, not political jurisdictions and boundaries. View Andy's PowerPoint presentation by clicking here.

The afternoon was rounded out with an "open mike" session facilitated by Greg Wise of the University of Wisconsin - Cooperative Extension Center for Community Economic Development. Attendees participated in a lively and provocative discussion about how the definitions impact their work and their lives on a daily basis. It was evident that there are far-reaching implications of the myriad definitions of rural, and that this is just the beginning of a more-informed public discussion.

Media Coverage:

The Country Today (Eau Claire) forum announcement with map, October 26, 2005 [PDF]

The Country Today editorial by Scott Schultz, October 26, 2005 [PDF]

The Capital Times (Madison) newspaper article, November 1, 2005 [off-site link]

USDA's briefing on the new definitions, 2003. In June 2003, the OMB released the Census 2000 version of metropolitan (metro) and nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) areas, a classification system often used to define urban and rural America. In this most recent update, nonmetro America comprises 2,052 counties, contains 75 percent of the Nation's land, and is home to 17 percent (49 million) of the U.S. population. The new version classifies 298 formerly nonmetro counties (10.3 million residents) as metro; 45 metro counties (3 million people) were reclassified as nonmetro. Thus, the new set of nonmetro counties contains a net of 7.3 million fewer residents than the former (1993) set based on the 1990 census.

Article about the concept of rural by the Rural Nurse Organization. Why do we define rural by what it's not? It's not urban, it's not suburban...

Spreadsheet of Wisconsin county classifications, 2003 [.xls]
Map of Wisconsin County classifications, 2003 [PDF]
Map of Wisconsin County classifications, 1999 [PDF]
Spreadsheet of Wisconsin county commuting patterns, 2003 [.xls]