The question “What is rural?” seems to be the subject to a never-ending debate. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS) provides some guidance. The ERS has identified nine different categories for classifying counties by their degree of urbanization. These nine Rural-Urban Continuum Codes are below:
The ERS also has more information on Rural Classifications and the Rural Economy and Population.
Metropolitan Counties*
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Counties in
Detailed county-level data on the number and of religious congregations and the number of members by church type is available free online. The data includes twelve major religions (i.e. Roman Catholic, Hindu, Islamic, Pentecostal) and 233 specific religious groups (i.e. Evangelical Methodist Church, Christian Science Churches, and Baha’i Faith). A new map-based exploration tool is also available.
The data is provided free by Social Explorer, an online data source developed to help users