I need a trust worthy, academic site that gives a detailed
explaination on how AMERICAN cities are classified, mostly by size,
metropolitan versus non metropolitan. What I need to know is how a
city like Lincoln Nebraska would get officially defined versus a city
like Seattle or New Orleans hypothetically or what metropolitan would
mean beyond the dictionary definition.

---

Request for Question Clarification by mwalcoff-ga on 20 Jul 2004 11:55 PDT

Are you referring to the definition of metropolitan statistical areas
by the Office of Management and Budget?

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 22 Jul 2004 16:00 PDT

The major official classification that I know of is the Census
Bureau's categorization of the nation into Urban Clusters, Urban
Areas, and everything else, which they refer to as Rural.

Beyond that, there are also the Metropolitan Statistical Areas, as
alluded to in the earlier note by mwalcoff-ga.

Would information on these governmental categories provide the answer
you're looking for?  If not, perhaps you can let as know a bit more
precisely what you're after.

Thanks.

pafalafa-ga

---

Clarification of Question by tenebrousb-ga on 22 Jul 2004 19:03 PDT

I'm guessing that politically what you've all given me is the extent 
that cities are ranked and that has been helpful. What I probably need
is something sociology oriented, because what I need is something that
puts some sort of ranking. The census puts pretty much every city in
the same category regardless of size and I was looking for something
that maybe asy split it uip by "cities with this much population are
categorized below cities with this much" or probably some combination
of economy, population, density, etc that might have existed as an
index but apparently doesn't. I'll have to come up with my own. But it
DOES help so thanks!

Hello tenebroush-ga,

It looks to me as if the US Department of Education employs just the
type of classification/definition you are looking for, dividing
populated areas up into eight neat categorizations:

==========

Locale Code (School): The Locale Code defines how the school is
situated in a particular location relative to 1990 Census populous
areas, based on the school's location address. No Locale Codes have
been assigned to the outlying areas. The Code translations are as
follows:

Locale Code Locale Type Definition 

1 Large Central City -- Central city of a Metropolitan Statistical
Area (MSA) with a population greater than or equal to 250,000.

2 Mid-size Central City -- Central City of an MSA with a population
less than 250,000.

3 Urban Fringe of Large City -- Place within an MSA of a Large Central
City and defined as urban by the Census Bureau.

4 Urban Fringe of Mid-Size City -- Place within an MSA of a Mid-size
Central City and defined as urban by the Census Bureau.

5 Large Town -- Town not within an MSA, with a population greater than
or equal to 25,000.

6 Small Town -- Town not within an MSA and with a population less than
25,000 and greater than or equal to 2,500 people.

7 Rural, outside MSA -- A place with less than 2,500 people and coded
rural and outside an MSA by the Census Bureau.

8 Rural, inside MSA -- A place with less than 2,500 people and coded
rural and inside an MSA by the Census Bureau.

==========


You can find this list by heading to the "Public School Districts"
search page at the Department of Education website:


http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch/


and near the top of the page, clicking on the link that says:  "About
the Data", and then clicking within the text that opens up on the link
that says:  "Glossary".

Scrolling down the Glossary list to the "Locale Code" will take you
the text I excerpted above.


You can see formal reference to this same list at a recent Federal Register notice:


http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/proprule/2004-1/031804e.html

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

RIN 1865-ZA02

 
Safe Schools/Healthy Students

AGENCY: Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of proposed priority, selection criteria, requirements,
and definitions.


Beginning on page 12845 of this notice, they provide definitions for
the various levels of urbanization.



I hope this meets your needs.

Before rating this answer, please let me know if you need any
additional information, and I'll be happy to assist you further.


pafalafa-ga



search strategy:  To tell the truth, I was searching on an entirely
different topic, stumbled across a reference to "Urban Fringe"
categories, and remembered your question.  A happy confluence of
events!

Your question is sort of like try to define the differense between
creek, brook, ditch, river and stream. ie I live in one of the ten
world's largest cities (Jacksonville, Florida) in area more than a
thousand square miles, and that does not include sizable areas of
moerately dence population just beyond the the county line

Rules and practices not only vary by State, but by county ie The
county just Southwest of Jacksonville, Florda has several large areas
of comparitively dense population that are unicorporated. That means
there is no city town or village government. This appears to be a rare
practice elsewhere in the USA or even in Florida. In New York State,
my home county had perhaps 20 townships. I think new Jersy does
likewise, but not Western Pennsylvania nor Florida, nor New Mexico.  
Neil