Rural-Urban Continuum Codes (RUCC)

The Rural-Urban Continuum Codes (RUCC), created by the USDA’s Economic Research Service, classifies U.S. counties by urbanization and proximity to metropolitan areas. It supports policy analysis and research on rural-urban disparities in fields like public health and regional planning. Key features include integration with Census data and updates aligned with OMB delineations. Its adjacency criteria and population-based stratification make it unique for studying social determinants across urban and rural regions.