Rural-Urban Commuting Areas, or RUCAs, are a Census tract-based classification scheme that utilizes the Census Bureau's urban area definition in combination with commuting information to characterize all of the nation's census tracts regarding their rural and urban status and relationships. The Health Resources and Service Administration's Office of Rural Health Policy, the WWAMI Rural Research Center at the University of Washington and the USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) collaborated to create the RUCA system that classifies sub-county areas on a scale representing urbanization, population density, and daily commuting.
More information about RUCAs is available from the WWAMI Rural Health Research Center and the USDA's Economic Research Service. The Office of Rural Health Policy accepts the RUCA methodology in determining rural eligibility for their programs.
