1. 1 American Community Survey: Update On Rural Statistical Areas (RSA) Project October 8, 2008 Nancy Torrieri American Community Survey Office U.S. Census Bureau

2. 2 RSA Project Pilot project Provide special tabulations of data in exchange for research and feedback Successive iterations over 3 years Joint Project Agreement

3. 3 Participating States, Phase 1 Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas Colorado Kansas Maine Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Montana New Hampshire New York Oklahoma Oregon Texas Vermont Wisconsin Wyoming

4. 4 RSA Project RSA Configurations: – Developed by Geography Division – Aggregations of counties –USDA Urban Influence Codes (UICs) –Revisions possible Tabulations: – Based on single population threshold 65,000 or 100,000 (choice: 65,000) – Included variables in data profile – Information on Margins of Error included

5. 5 http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/UrbanInfluenceCodes/

6. 6 Urban Influence Codes (UICs) for Metropolitan Counties 1.Large-in metro area with at least 1 million residents or more. 2.Small-in metro area with fewer than 1 million residents.

7. 7 Urban Influence Codes for Nonmetropolitan Counties 3.Micro area adjacent to large metro area 4.Noncore adjacent to large metro area 5.Micropolitan area adjacent to small metro area 6.Noncore adjacent to small metro w/ town > 2500 7.Noncore adjacent to small metro w/no town > 2500 8.Micro area not adjacent to metro area 9.Noncore adjacent to micro area w/town > 2500 10.Noncore adjacent to micro area w/o town > 2500 11.Noncore not adjacent to metro/micro area w/town > 2500 12.Noncore not adjacent to metro/micro area w/o town > 2500

8. 8 Participating States, Phase 1 Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas Colorado Kansas Maine Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Montana New Hampshire New York Oklahoma Oregon Texas Vermont Wisconsin Wyoming

9. 9 Research Results State analyses provided different interpretations, level of detail in their analyses. Census Bureau prepared overview report comparing/contrasting analyses. Analyses were provided to SDCs

10. 10 Participating States, Phases 1 & 2 (n) Phase 1 States that Reconfigured their RSAs: * Requested Tract/County Subdivision/County Configurations: + AlabamaMassachusettsOklahoma * AlaskaMichigan * +Oregon * Arizona Arizona * +Minnesota * Pennsylvania ( n ) * Arkansas * Mississippi ( n ) * Texas * Colorado * MontanaVermont * Indiana ( n ) * New Hampshire * Wisconsin * Kansas * New York * +Wyoming * Maine * North Dakota ( n )

11. 11 Oct. 2008 - Feb. 2009 Sept. 30, 2008: revised RSAs recomendations due Nov. 1, 2008: revised RSAs provided for final comments Nov. 21, 2009: Final comments/specifications due Jan. 31, 2009: Delivery of 2007 RSA data profiles and new guidance to participating SDCs

12. 12 Final Year of Project Repeat process using 2008 ACS data Some states will have 3 years of RSA profiles to compare.

13. 13 Looking Ahead Results of analyses may form basis of request for new geographic area, the RSA, or changes to criteria for PUMA –Census Bureau will accept requests via letter to Director. – Census Bureau will consider requests in context of its schedule and resources.