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URBAN  (H 67) 
Urban/rural status 

For directions on reading the variable description see Data Dictionary Introduction.

Availability: 
 
1850
1860
1870
1880
1900
1910
1920
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
    
X
S
UR
X

Universe: 
1850 - 1920: All households and group quarters. 
1960:            All households and group quarters in states with both 250,000+ rural and 250,000+ urban residents. 
1970:            Same as 1960; only in State samples. 
1980:            All households and group quarters in the Urban/Rural sample. 
1990:            All households and group quarters. 

Codes and Frequencies:

Description: 
URBAN indicates whether the household's location was urban or rural. Definitions of "urban" vary from year to year - see the comparability section - but the term generally denotes places of 2,500+ people. (All areas not classified as urban are designated rural.) 

Comparability: 
Census definitions of urban and rural have changed slightly over the years, especially with regards to New England towns and large, unincorporated places. In addition to the discussion below, see our section on geographic concepts in Chapter 1, "Introduction."

  • 1850 - 1920: All households in all incorporated places with 2,500+ residents are classified as "urban." This includes some incorporated places that are excluded by the 1990 definition (Alaska and New York boroughs; New England, New York, and Wisconsin towns). It excludes all unincorporated places, even if their population exceeded 2,500.
  • 1960: The definition is the same as for later years (below), except that the 1960 census did not yet employ the "urbanized area" concept (rule 3, below). However, the 1960 census did classify some urban areas by "special rule." These included certain towns in New England and townships in New Jersey and Pennsylvania that contained no incorporated municipalities within their borders but had a population density of at least 1,500 people per square mile. Arlington County, VA, also fell into this category. In addition, any New England town or New Jersey or Pennsylvania township with 25,000+ residents was counted as urban. Most of these areas would have been included in urbanized areas or census-designated urban places from 1970 through 1990.
  • 1970, 1980, and 1990: three area types were considered urban:
    1. All incorporated cities and villages; boroughs (except in Alaska and New York); and towns (except in New England, New York, and Wisconsin) with 2,500+ residents, excluding rural portions of "extended cities;"
    2. Census-designated "places" (CDPs) with 2,500+ residents;
    3. Other territory (incorporated or not) included in "urbanized areas." The 1980 and 1990 "urbanized areas" include some territory around smaller urban centers that would not have been classified urban in 1970.
1960 and 1970 census confidentiality rules required that households in states with either rural or urban populations (or both) less than 250,000 be classified "N/A" for this variable. For 1960, these states were Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Nevada, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming. For 1970, these states were Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Nevada, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming. 

User Note: 
1990 Urban/rural status was not provided in the original samples for that year. The IPUMS derives URBAN from the universe for farm status, which was only applicable to rural households (i.e., any household out of the universe for FARM is by definition urban). 

Flags: QCITY 
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