What is Rural? – News

HRSA: Inclusion of Terrain Factors in the Definition of Rural Area for Federal Office of Rural Health Policy Grants Federal Register

Nov 21, 2024 - Notice of final rule from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) adopting proposed modifications to the definition of rural areas to integrate the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS) 2023 Road Ruggedness Scale (RRS). The updated definition of rural will include geographic areas that are either nonmetropolitan counties, outlying metropolitan counties with no population from an urban area of 50,000 or more people, census tracts with rural-urban commuting area (RUCA) codes 4-10 in metropolitan counties, census tracts of at least 400 square miles in an area with a population density of 35 or less per square mile with RUCA codes 2-3 in metropolitan counties, or census tracts with RRS 5 and RUCA codes 2-3 that are at least 20 square miles in metropolitan counties. Lists the number of tracts newly defined as rural in 10 states. Changes go into effect November 21, 2024 and apply to FORHP's Notice of Funding Opportunity for fiscal year 2025 and future years.

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