Urban Area Criteria for the 2020 Census-Final Criteria, 16706-16715 [2022-06180]
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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 57 / Thursday, March 24, 2022 / Notices
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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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I. Welcome and Roll Call
II. Approval of Minutes
III. Discussion: Civil Rights Topics
IV. Public Comment
V. Next Steps
VI. Adjournment
Dated: March 21, 2022.
David Mussatt,
Supervisory Chief, Regional Programs Unit.
[FR Doc. 2022–06259 Filed 3–23–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
[Docket Number 220228–0062]
Urban Area Criteria for the 2020
Census—Final Criteria
Census Bureau, Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of final program criteria.
AGENCY:
This notice provides the
Census Bureau’s final criteria for
defining urban areas based on the
results of the 2020 Decennial Census.
This notice also provides a summary of
comments received in response to the
proposed criteria published in the
Federal Register on February 19, 2021,
as well as the Census Bureau’s
responses to those comments. The
Census Bureau delineates urban areas
after each decennial census by applying
specified criteria to decennial census
and other data. Since the 1950 Census,
the Census Bureau has reviewed and
revised these criteria, as necessary, for
each decennial census in order to
improve the classification of urban areas
by taking advantage of newly available
data and advancements in geographic
information processing technology.
DATES: The Census Bureau will begin
implementing the criteria as of March
24, 2022.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information
should be directed to Vincent Osier,
Geography Division, U.S. Census
Bureau, via email at geo.urban@
census.gov. Phone: 301–763–1128.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
Census Bureau’s urban-rural
classification is fundamentally a
delineation of geographical areas,
identifying individual urban areas as
well as the rural portion of the nation.
SUMMARY:
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The Census Bureau’s urban areas
represent densely developed territory,
and encompass residential, commercial,
and other non-residential urban land
uses. The boundaries of this urban
footprint have been defined using
measures based primarily on population
counts and residential population
density, and also on criteria that
account for non-residential urban land
uses, such as commercial, industrial,
transportation, and open space that are
part of the urban landscape. Since the
1950 Census, when the Census Bureau
first defined densely settled urbanized
areas of 50,000 or more people, the
urban area delineation process has
addressed non-residential urban land
uses through criteria designed to
account for commercial enclaves,
special land uses such as airports, and
densely developed noncontiguous
territory.
In developing criteria for delineating
urban areas, the Census Bureau uses an
objective approach that is designed to
meet the needs of a broad range of
analysts and users interested in the
definition of and data for urban and
rural communities for statistical
purposes. The Census Bureau
recognizes that some federal and state
agencies use the Census Bureau’s urbanrural classification for allocating
program funds, setting program
standards, and implementing aspects of
their programs. The agencies that use
the classification and data for such
nonstatistical uses should be aware that
the changes to the urban area criteria
also might affect the implementation of
their programs.
While the Census Bureau is not
responsible for the use of its urban-rural
classification in nonstatistical programs,
we will work with tribal, federal, state,
or local agencies as well as stakeholders,
as appropriate, to ensure understanding
of our classification. Agencies using the
classification for their programs must
ensure that the classification is
appropriate for their use.
I. Summary of Changes Made to the
2020 Census Urban Area Criteria
The following table compares the
final 2020 Census urban area criteria
with those that were proposed in the
Federal Register on February 19, 2021
(86 FR 10237).
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Criteria
Proposed 2020 criteria
Final 2020 criteria
Identification of Initial Urban Area Cores ...........
Census block housing unit density of 385.
Use of land cover data to identify territory
with a high degree of imperviousness.
Minimum Qualifying Threshold ...........................
An area will qualify as urban if it contains at
least 4,000 housing units or has a population of at least 10,000.
Urban areas will no longer be distinguished
as either an ‘‘urbanized area’’ or an ‘‘urban
cluster.’’ All qualifying areas will be designated ‘‘urban areas.’’.
Census blocks containing group quarters adjacent to already qualified blocks will be included.
Aggregation of census blocks with a housing
unit density of 425. Use of land cover data
to identify territory with a high degree of imperviousness.
An area will qualify as urban if it contains at
least 2,000 housing units or has a population of at least 5,000.
Urban areas will no longer be distinguished
as either an ‘‘urbanized area’’ or an ‘‘urban
cluster.’’ All qualifying areas will be designated ‘‘urban areas.’’
Census blocks containing group quarters and
a population density of at least 500 adjacent to already qualified blocks will be included.
Maximum hop distance 0.5 miles, maximum
jump distance 1.5 miles, and no hops after
jumps. Intervening, low density blocks are
not included in the urban area.
Bodies of water and wetlands as identified in
the land cover data. The intervening, low
density blocks of water or wetlands are not
included in the urban area.
Contiguous census blocks added to already
qualifying territory with a housing unit density of 200.
Currently functioning airport within a distance
of 0.5 miles to the urban area that is a
qualified cargo airport or has an annual
enplanement of at least 2,500 passengers.
Inclusion of groups of census blocks with a
high degree of imperviousness and that are
within 0.5 miles of an urban area, and have
a total area of at least 0.15 square miles.
Inclusion of groups of census blocks with at
least 1,000 jobs (per Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES) data)
and that are within 0.5 miles of an urban
area.
Additional census blocks added when surrounded solely by qualifying land territory or
by both land that qualified for inclusion in
the urban area and water.
3.5 square mile maximum area of the territory
within the indentation to be added to the
urban area.
Merge qualifying territory from separately defined 2020 Census urban areas that do not
contain a high-density nucleus and are
within 0.25 miles of a qualifying urban area.
Identify qualifying areas that contain a highdensity nucleus with a housing unit density
of 1,275 and at least 2,000 housing units or
5,000 persons.
Potential splits and merges are identified
using Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics worker flow data between 2010
Census urban area pairs. If necessary, split
location is guided by commuter-based communities.
Clear, unambiguous title based on commonly
recognized names of places within the highdensity nuclei, derived from incorporated
places, census designated places, minor
civil divisions, and the Geographic Names
Information System.
Types of Urban Areas ........................................
Inclusion of Group Quarters ...............................
Inclusion of Noncontiguous Territory via Hops
and Jumps.
Inclusion of Noncontiguous Territory Separated
by Exempted Territory.
Low-Density Fill ..................................................
Inclusion of Airports ............................................
Additional Nonresidential Urban Territory ..........
Inclusion of Enclaves .........................................
Maximum hop distance 0.5 miles, maximum
jump distance 1.5 miles, and no hops after
jumps. Intervening, low density blocks are
not included in the urban area.
Bodies of water and wetlands as identified in
land cover data. The intervening, low density blocks of water or wetlands are not included in the urban area.
N/A ...................................................................
Currently functioning airport within a distance
of 0.5 miles to the urban area that is a
qualified cargo airport or has an annual
enplanement of at least 2,500 passengers.
Inclusion of groups of census blocks with a
high degree of imperviousness and that are
within 0.25 miles of an urban area.
Inclusion of Indentations ....................................
Additional census blocks added when surrounded solely by qualifying land territory or
by both land that qualified for inclusion in
the urban area and water.
N/A ...................................................................
Merging Block Aggregations ..............................
N/A ...................................................................
Identification of Agglomerations .........................
N/A ...................................................................
Splitting Large Agglomerations ..........................
Potential splits and merges are identified
using Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics worker flow data between 2010
Census urban area pairs. If necessary, split
location is guided by commuter-based communities.
Clear, unambiguous title based on commonly
recognized place names derived from incorporated places, census designated places,
minor civil divisions, and the Geographic
Names Information System.
Assigning Urban Area Titles ...............................
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II. History
Over the course of a century defining
urban areas, the Census Bureau has
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introduced conceptual and
methodological changes to ensure that
the urban-rural classification keeps pace
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with changes in settlement patterns and
with changes in theoretical and
practical approaches to interpreting and
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understanding the definition of urban
areas. Prior to the 1950 Census, the
Census Bureau primarily defined
‘‘urban’’ as any population, housing,
and territory located within
incorporated places with a population
of 2,500 or more. That definition was
easy and straightforward to implement,
requiring no need to calculate
population density; to understand and
account for actual settlement patterns
on the ground in relation to boundaries
of legal/administrative units; or to
consider densely settled populations
existing outside incorporated
municipalities. For much of the first
half of the twentieth century, that
definition was adequate for defining
‘‘urban’’ and ‘‘rural’’ in the United
States, but by 1950 it became clear that
it was incomplete.
Increasing suburbanization,
particularly outside the boundaries of
large incorporated places led the Census
Bureau to adopt the urbanized area
concept for the 1950 Census. At that
time, the Census Bureau formally
recognized that densely settled
communities outside the boundaries of
incorporated municipalities were just as
‘‘urban’’ as the densely settled
population inside those boundaries.
Outside urbanized areas of 50,000 or
more people, the Census Bureau
continued to recognize urban places
with at least 2,500 and less than 50,000
persons. This basic conceptual approach
to identifying urban areas remained in
effect through the 1990 Census,
although with some changes to criteria
and delineation methods.
The Census Bureau adopted six
substantial changes to its urban area
criteria for the 2000 Census:
• Defining urban clusters using the
same criteria as urbanized areas.
• Disregarding incorporated place
and census designated place (CDP)
boundaries when defining urbanized
areas and urban clusters.
• Adopting 500 persons per square
mile (PPSM) as the minimum density
criterion for recognizing some types of
urban territory.
• Increasing the maximum jump
distance for linking densely developed
territory separated from the main body
of the urban area by intervening low
density territory from 1.5 to 2.5 miles.
This recognized the prospect that larger
clusters of non-residential urban uses
might offset contiguity of densely
settled territory.
• Introducing the hop concept to
provide an objective basis for
recognizing that nonresidential urban
uses, such as small commercial areas or
parks, create small gaps between
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densely settled residential territory, but
are part of the pattern of urbanization.
• Adopting a zero-based approach to
defining urban areas.
For the 2010 Census, the Census
Bureau adopted moderate changes and
enhancements to the criteria to improve
upon the classification of urban and
rural areas while continuing to meet the
objective of a uniform application of
criteria nationwide. These changes
were:
• Use of census tracts as analysis
units in the initial phase of delineation.
• Use of land use/land cover data
from the National Land Cover Database
(NLCD) to identify qualifying areas of
non-residential urban land uses.
• Qualification of airports for
inclusion in urban areas.
• Elimination of the designation of
central places within urban areas.1
• Requirement for minimum
population residing outside institutional
group quarters.
• Splitting large urban
agglomerations.
The conceptual and criteria changes
adopted for both the 2000 and 2010
Censuses, as well as the history of the
Census Bureau’s urban and rural
classification, are discussed in more
detail in the document ‘‘A Century of
Delineating a Changing Landscape: The
Census Bureau’s Urban and Rural
Classification, 1910 to 2010,’’ available
at https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/
reference/ua/Century_of_Defining_
Urban.pdf.
III. Summary of Comments Received in
Response to Proposed Criteria
The notice published in the Federal
Register on February 19, 2021 (86 FR
10237) requested comments on
proposed criteria for delineating the
2020 Census urban areas. The Census
Bureau received 106 responses directly
related to the proposed Urban Area
Criteria. Responses were received from
regional planning and nongovernmental
organizations, municipal and county
officials, Members of Congress, state
governments, federal agencies, and
individuals. The criteria in Section V of
this document reflect changes made in
response to the comments and
suggestions received on the proposed
criteria for delineating the 2020 Census
urban areas.
1 The central place concept was not necessary for
urban area delineation and the resulting list of
qualified central places largely duplicated the list
of principal cities identified by the Metropolitan
and Micropolitan Statistical Area standards. There
was no conceptual reason to continue identifying
two slightly different lists of cities and other places
that were central to their respective regions.
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Comments Expressing General Support
or Opposition
The Census Bureau received ten
comments that expressed general
support or general opposition to the
proposed criteria without specifying any
particular aspect of the criteria. Five
commenters expressed general
opposition; five commenters offered
general support.
Comments Pertaining To Increasing the
Minimum Threshold To Qualify
The Census Bureau received twentynine comments regarding the proposal
to increase the minimum threshold to
qualify as urban to 10,000 persons or
4,000 housing units. Twenty-seven
commenters expressed concern about
the increase, citing loss of statistical
continuity for small communities. Two
commenters supported increasing the
minimum threshold.
Comments Pertaining to Proposed
Exclusion of Hop/Jump Corridors From
Urban Areas
The Census Bureau received nineteen
comments regarding the proposal to
exclude hop/jump corridors from an
urban area. Seventeen commenters
expressed concern, citing issues related
to the complex, multipiece urban areas
that would result. Two commenters
supported excluding the hop/jump
corridors.
Comments Pertaining to Proposed
Criteria To Cease Distinguishing Types
of Urban Areas
The Census Bureau received sixteen
comments regarding the proposal to
cease distinguishing types of urban
areas. Thirteen commenters expressed
concern about the loss of distinction
between Urban Clusters and Urbanized
Areas (though this is only a change in
terminology—it still will be possible to
distinguish between different sizes of
urban areas based on population). Three
commenters supported the proposal to
cease distinguishing types of urban
areas.
Comments Pertaining to Housing Unit
Density
The Census Bureau received fifty-five
comments regarding the proposed
criteria to utilize housing unit density.
Twenty-six commenters expressed
concern about using housing unit
density instead of population density.
Eight commenters supported using
housing unit density.
Twenty commenters expressed
concern that the minimum housing unit
density threshold of 385 housing units
per square mile (HPSM) was too high.
One commenter supported the
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the National Land Cover Database
(NLCD) to assist in identifying and
qualifying as urban, sparsely populated
urban-related territory associated with a
high degree of impervious surface.
These commenters expressed concern
about the vintage of the data.
minimum housing unit density of 385
HPSM.
Comments Pertaining to Proposed
Criteria for Splitting Large Urban
Agglomerations
The Census Bureau received five
comments regarding the proposed
criteria for splitting large urban area
agglomerations or the use of the
Longitudinal Employer-Household
Dynamics (LEHD) data. Three
commenters supported the proposed
criteria; two commenters expressed
concern.
Comments Pertaining to Nonstatistical
Uses of Urban Areas
Comments Pertaining to Proposed Jump
Criteria
The Census Bureau received fortyseven comments regarding the proposed
jump criteria designed to include
noncontiguous, but qualifying territory
within an urban area. Of these, six
commenters supported lowering the
maximum jump distance threshold from
2.5 to 1.5 miles. Forty-one commenters
favored no change to the 2.5-mile
maximum jump distance threshold.
Reasons for retention of the 2.5-mile
maximum jump distance provided by
these commenters included retaining
consistency with the 2010 Census urban
area delineation, the ability to account
for future urbanization and extended
suburbanization, and mitigation of the
presence of undevelopable land not
identified by the Census Bureau.
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Comments Pertaining to Proposed Use
of Census Blocks as Building Blocks
The Census Bureau received seven
comments regarding the proposed use of
the census block as the analysis unit (or
geographic building block) during the
delineation of the initial urban area
core. These commenters expressed
concern that the use of census blocks
instead of census tracts would lead to
the shrinking of the population and
geographic area of urban areas.
Comments Pertaining to Proposed
Criteria for Indentations
The Census Bureau received ten
comments regarding proposed criteria to
no longer include low-density territory
located within indentations formed
during the Urban Area Delineation
Process. These commenters opposed the
proposed criteria, citing the jagged
nature of the urban area boundaries
without the smoothing that occurs by
including indentations.
Comments Pertaining to Proposed
Criteria To Qualify Territory Containing
a High Degree of Impervious Surface
The Census Bureau received nine
comments regarding the proposed use of
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Additional comments expressed
concern that the Census Bureau does
not acknowledge or consider any
nonstatistical uses of urban areas when
developing delineation criteria. These
commenters also suggested delaying the
delineation of urban areas until
provisions are adopted that would
prevent adverse impacts on programs
and funding formulas relating to urban
areas as currently defined.
In response to the comments received
regarding the nonstatistical uses of
Census urban areas, the Census Bureau
recognizes that some federal and state
agencies use the Census Bureau’s urbanrural classification for allocating
program funds, setting program
standards, and implementing aspects of
their programs. The Census Bureau
remains committed to an objective,
equitable, and consistent nationwide
urban area delineation, and thus
identifies these areas for the purpose of
tabulating and presenting statistical
data. This provides data users, analysts,
and agencies with a baseline set of areas
from which to work, as appropriate.
Given the many programmatic and often
conflicting or competing uses for Census
Bureau-defined urban areas, the Census
Bureau cannot attempt to take each such
use into account or assess the relative
value of any particular use. The Census
Bureau is committed to working with
stakeholders, as appropriate, to promote
understanding of our classification.
Comments Pertaining to Retention of the
2010 Urban Area Criteria
Three commenters specifically
requested that territory defined as urban
in the 2010 Census continue to be
defined as urban for the 2020 Census.
Six commenters requested that the 2010
criteria be used to define urban areas for
the 2020 Census.
Comments Pertaining to Local Input of
Urban Area Boundaries
Eight commenters expressed concern
that there are no provisions in the
delineation criteria for local input and
requested the opportunity to review and
comment on the definition of individual
urban areas before boundaries become
final.
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Comments Pertaining to Census Block
Boundaries
The Census Bureau received ten
comments regarding the block
boundaries on the edges of urban
development. Commenters expressed
concern that these blocks are often a
mix of urban and rural characteristics
and are often large in scale, potentially
leading to their exclusion from an urban
area.
Comments Pertaining to the Delineation
Process
Commenters also expressed concern
about the automated and inflexible
nature of the delineation process and
suggested that the extent of each urban
area should be evaluated individually.
The Census Bureau also received
comments expressing concern that the
proposed delineation criteria do not
consider local zoning laws, topography,
and municipal boundaries.
The Census Bureau’s urban area
criteria for the 2020 Census consists of
a single set of rules that allow for
application of automated processes
based on the input of standardized
nationwide datasets that yield
consistent results. Rather than defining
areas through a process of accretion over
time, the criteria also provide a better
reflection of the distribution of
population, housing, and other uses and
how they reflect the current state of
urbanization.
Comments Pertaining to the Urban Area
Program Timeline
The Census Bureau received twentysix requests for the extension of the
public comment period on the proposed
urban area delineation criteria to further
assess its potential impacts. Additional
comments expressed difficulty in
predicting results of changes to criteria
as published in the Federal Register on
February 19, 2021 (86 FR 10237) and
requested clarification of the proposed
urban area delineation criteria.
The delineation and production of
urban areas and their associated data are
scheduled to begin after the release of
the Decennial Census block-level
population and housing counts to
ensure sufficient time to delineate and
review the urban area definitions and
prepare geographic information files in
time for tabulation and inclusion in
statistical data products from both the
2020 Census and the American
Community Survey (ACS). Adherence to
this schedule prevented any attempts
toward a test delineation using all the
proposed 2020 urban area criteria for
the entire United States, Puerto Rico,
and the Island Areas, thus prohibiting
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the availability of nation-wide, realworld examples without showing
preference to any particular location.
Further, this schedule also dictated that
the development of the delineation
software coincided with the
development of the proposed and the
final criteria.
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IV. Changes to the Proposed Urban
Area Criteria for the 2020 Census
This section of the notice provides
information about the Census Bureau’s
decisions on changes that were
incorporated into the Urban Area
Criteria for the 2020 Census in response
to the many comments received. These
decisions benefited greatly from public
participation as the Census Bureau took
into account the comments received in
response to the proposed criteria
published in the Federal Register on
February 19, 2021 (86 FR 10237), as
well as comments received during
webinars, conference presentations,
consultations with professional
geographers and other social scientists
who work with and define urban and
rural concepts and classifications,
meetings with federal, state, and local
officials and other users of data for
urban areas, and additional research and
investigation conducted by Census
Bureau staff.
The changes made to the proposed
criteria in Section III of the published in
the Federal Register on February 19,
2021, ‘‘Urban Areas for the 2020
Census-Proposed Criteria’’ (86 FR
10237), are as follows:
1. In Section III, subsection A, the
Census Bureau modifies the minimum
criteria for an area to qualify as an urban
area. The territory must encompass at
least 2,000 housing units or at least
5,000 persons, decreased from 4,000
housing units or 10,000 persons as
proposed.
2. In Section III, subsection B, the
Census Bureau modifies the criteria to
utilize multiple housing unit densities:
1,275 housing units per square mile
(HPSM), 425 HPSM, and 200 HPSM. In
response to comments stating that 385
HPSM was too high for a minimum
threshold, and further testing of the
impacts of complex multipiece urban
areas, the Census Bureau adjusts the
delineation criteria to include multiple
housing unit density thresholds at
different stages of the process. The
addition of a high-density threshold of
1,275 HPSM ensures each urban area
contains a core. Including a low density
fill of 200 HPSM will reduce the
number of individual pieces of an urban
area while accommodating for the
irregular nature of census block size that
affects the density calculations.
3. In Section III, subsection B.1, the
Census Bureau modifies the criteria to
utilize a housing unit density of 425
instead of 385 HPSM.
4. In Section III, subsection B.1, the
Census Bureau clarifies the criteria
regarding which areas are considered
‘‘Initial Urban Core.’’ An Initial Urban
Core must contain at least 500 housing
units.
5. In Section III, subsection B.2, the
Census Bureau removes the section
related to the ‘‘Inclusion of Group
Quarters.’’ Blocks containing group
quarters can qualify in multiple steps of
the criteria.
6. In Section III, subsection B.3, the
Census Bureau removes all references to
‘‘385 housing units or more.’’
7. In Section III, subsection B.3, the
Census Bureau removes the reference to
‘‘all urban area cores that have a
housing unit count of 577 or more.’’
8. In Section III, subsection B.4, the
Census Bureau clarifies references to the
land cover data used in determining
exempted territory. The Census Bureau
will use the most current land cover
data from the National Land Cover
Database (NLCD) or Coastal Change
Analysis Program (C–CAP) High
Resolution Land Cover for any given
area to better represent land use/land
cover conditions at the time of the
delineation.
9. In Section III, subsection B.5, the
Census Bureau clarifies when the
enclave criteria are applied. Enclaves
will be added after development of the
Initial Urban Cores and again after the
addition of nonresidential territory. This
process recognizes that some census
blocks that are internal and integral to
an urban area may have few or no
housing units and little impervious
surface, such as census blocks
containing urban parkland.
10. In Section III, subsection B.6, the
Census Bureau removes the criteria for
the ‘‘Inclusion of Airports’’ and includes
it within subsection B.7, ‘‘Additional
Nonresidential Urban Territory.’’
11. In Section III, subsection B.7, the
Census Bureau adds criteria to include
additional nonresidential census blocks
that contain at least 1,000 commuter
destinations (in a three-year average)
and are within 0.5 miles of already
qualifying territory.
12. In Section III, subsection B.8, the
Census Bureau clarifies and simplified
the criteria for splitting large
agglomerations.
13. In Section III, subsection B.9, the
Census Bureau modifies the criteria to
include the most populous place name
of the high-density nucleus.
14. In Section III, subsection B.9, the
Census Bureau modifies the criteria for
secondary names to utilize housing unit
counts rather than population counts.
The sections of the proposed criteria
referenced above do not appear in the
same order in Section V of this final
notice due to the reorganization of
existing criteria sections and the
addition of new criteria sections. The
following table provides a crosswalk of
the criteria sections that were proposed
in the Federal Register on February 19,
2021 (86 FR 10237) to the criteria
sections of the final criteria in this
notice.
Section name
Proposed 2020
criteria
Identification of Initial Urban Area Cores ..........................................................................................................
Inclusion of Group Quarters ..............................................................................................................................
Inclusion of Noncontiguous Territory via Hops and Jumps ..............................................................................
Inclusion of Noncontiguous Territory Separated by Exempted Territory ..........................................................
Low-Density Fill .................................................................................................................................................
Inclusion of Airports ...........................................................................................................................................
Additional Nonresidential Urban Territory .........................................................................................................
Inclusion of Enclaves .........................................................................................................................................
Inclusion of Indentations ....................................................................................................................................
Merging of Eligible Block Aggregations .............................................................................................................
Identification of Urban Area Agglomerations .....................................................................................................
Splitting Large Agglomerations ..........................................................................................................................
Assigning Urban Area Titles ..............................................................................................................................
Section III, B.1 ..
Section III, B.2 ..
Section III, B.3 ..
Section III, B.4 ..
N/A ...................
Section III, B.6 ..
Section III, B.7 ..
Section III, B.5 ..
N/A ...................
N/A ...................
N/A ...................
Section III, B.8 ..
Section III, B.9 ..
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Final 2020
criteria
Section
Section
Section
Section
Section
Section
Section
Section
Section
Section
Section
Section
Section
V,
V,
V,
V,
V,
V,
V,
V,
V,
V,
V,
V,
V,
B.1
B.1
B.2
B.3
B.4
B.5
B.5
B.6
B.7
B.8
B.9
B.10
B.11
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 57 / Thursday, March 24, 2022 / Notices
V. Urban Area Criteria for the 2020
Census
The criteria outlined herein apply to
the United States,2 Puerto Rico, and the
Island Areas of American Samoa, the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin
Islands. The Census Bureau will utilize
the following criteria and characteristics
to identify the areas that will qualify for
designation as urban areas for use in
tabulating data from the 2020 Census,
the American Community Survey
(ACS), the Puerto Rico Community
Survey, and potentially other Census
Bureau censuses and surveys.
A. 2020 Census Urban Area Definitions
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For the 2020 Census, an urban area
will comprise a densely developed core
of census blocks 3 that meet minimum
housing unit density requirements,
along with adjacent territory containing
non-residential urban land uses as well
as other lower density territory included
to link outlying densely settled territory
with the densely settled core. To qualify
as an urban area, the territory identified
according to the criteria must
encompass at least 2,000 housing units
or at least 5,000 persons. The term
‘‘rural’’ encompasses all population,
housing, and territory not included
within an urban area.
1. As a result of the urban area
delineation process, an incorporated
place or census designated place (CDP)
may be partly inside and partly outside
an urban area. Further, any census
geographic areas, with the exception of
census blocks, may be partly within and
partly outside an urban area.
2. All criteria based on land area,
housing unit density, and population,
reflect the information contained in the
Census Bureau’s Master Address File/
Topologically Integrated Geographic
Encoding and Referencing (MAF/
TIGER) Database (MTDB) at the time of
the delineation. All density calculations
include only land; the areas of water
contained within census blocks are not
used in density calculations. Housing
unit, population, and worker flow data
used in the urban area delineation
process will be those published by the
Census Bureau for all public and official
uses.
2 For Census Bureau purposes, the United States
includes the 50 States and the District of Columbia.
3 A census block is the smallest geographic area
for which the Census Bureau tabulates data and is
an area normally bounded by visible features, such
as streets, rivers or streams, shorelines, and
railroads, and by nonvisible features, such as the
boundary of an incorporated place, minor civil
division, county, or other 2020 Census tabulation
entity.
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3. The Census Bureau will utilize
multiple data sources in the 2020 Urban
Area delineation. Worker-flows are
calculated from the Longitudinal
Employer-Household Dynamics OriginDestination Employment Statistics
(LODES) data. Level of imperviousness
is calculated from either the National
Land Cover Database (NLCD) or Coastal
Change Analysis Program (C–CAP) High
Resolution Land Cover. The Census
Bureau will utilize the most recent data
available from either data source for any
given area.
B. Urban Area Delineation Criteria
The Census Bureau defines urban
areas primarily based on housing unit
density measured at the census blocklevel of geography. Three housing unit
densities are used in the delineation—
425 housing units per square mile
(HPSM) to identify the initial core of
urban block agglomerations and the
cores of noncontiguous peripheral urban
territory; 200 HPSM to expand the
urban block agglomerations into less
dense, but structurally connected
portions of urban areas; and 1,275
HPSM to identify the presence of
higher-density territory representing the
urban nucleus.
1. Identification of Initial Urban Core
The Census Bureau will begin the
delineation process by identifying and
aggregating contiguous census blocks to
form Eligible Block Aggregations (EBAs)
based on the following criteria:
(a) The census block has a density of
at least 425 HPSM; or
(b) At least one-third of the census
block consists of territory with an
impervious level of at least 20 percent,4
and the census block is compact in
nature as defined by a shape index. A
census block is considered compact
when the shape index is at least 0.185
using the following formula: I = 4pA/P2
where I is the shape index, A is the area
of the entity, and P is the perimeter of
the entity; or
(c) At least one-third of the census
block consists of territory with an
impervious level of at least 20 percent
and at least 40 percent of its boundary
is contiguous with qualifying territory;
or
(d) The census block contains a group
quarter and has a block-level density of
at least 500 persons per square mile
(PPSM).
The Census Bureau will apply criteria
Steps B.1.a, B.1.b, B.1.c, and B.1.d above
4 The Census Bureau has found in testing that
territory with an impervious surface level less than
20 percent results in the inclusion of road and
structure edges, and not the actual roads or
buildings themselves.
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until there are no additional blocks to
add to the EBA. If an EBA contains at
least 500 housing units, it will be
considered an Initial Urban Core, to
which other qualifying areas may be
added in subsequent steps of the
criteria. Any ‘‘holes’’ (remaining
nonqualifying territory surrounded by
an Initial Urban Core) that are less than
five square miles in area will qualify as
urban via the criteria for inclusion of
enclaves, as set forth below in Step
B.6.a.
2. Inclusion of Noncontiguous Territory
via Hops and Jumps
Any EBA created in Step B.1 that
contains at least ten housing units or a
group quarter in a block with at least
500 PPSM may be added to an Initial
Urban Core via a hop or a jump.
Hops connect EBAs separated by no
more than 0.5 miles of road
connections. Multiple hops can occur
along road connections between EBAs
leading to an Initial Urban Core. After
all hop connections are made, EBAs that
contain one or more Initial Cores will be
considered Core EBAs.
The Census Bureau will then add
additional EBAs via jump connections.
Jumps are used to connect densely
settled noncontiguous territory
separated from the Core EBA by
territory with low housing unit density.
A jump can occur along a road
connection that is greater than 0.5 miles
but no more than 1.5 miles. Because it
is possible that any given densely
developed area could qualify for
inclusion in multiple Core EBAs via a
jump connection, the identification of
jumps in an automated process starts
with the Core EBA that has the highest
number of housing units and continues
in descending order based on the total
housing units of each Core EBA. Once
a Core EBA is added to another Core
EBA via a jump, it becomes ineligible
for any other jumps.
The non-qualifying blocks along the
road connection are not included in the
delineation; therefore, Core EBAs that
contain hop or jump connections will be
noncontiguous aggregations.
Those remaining EBAs that did not
have an Initial Urban Core but contain
the following will remain as candidates
for inclusion in subsequent steps:
• At least ten housing units, or
• A group quarter and a block-level
density of at least 500 PPSM.
3. Inclusion of Noncontiguous Territory
Separated by Exempted Territory
The Census Bureau will identify and
exempt territory in which residential
development is substantially
constrained or not possible due to either
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topographical or land use conditions.
Such exempted territory offsets urban
development due to particular land use,
land cover, or topographic conditions.
For the 2020 Census, the Census Bureau
considers the following to be exempted
territory:
(a) Bodies of water (as defined by the
Census Bureau, or classified as water in
the land cover data); and
(b) Wetlands (belonging to any
wetlands classifications in the land
cover data).
When the hop and jump criteria in
Step B.2 are applied, the qualifying hop
or jump connections may be extended
when the intervening non-qualifying
blocks contain exempted territory,
provided that:
(c) The road connection across the
exempted territory (located on both
sides of the road) is no greater than five
miles in length; and
(d) The total length of the road
connection between the Core EBA and
the noncontiguous territory, including
the exempt distance and non-exempt
hop or jump distances, is also no greater
than five miles.
The intervening low housing unit
density block or blocks and the block or
blocks of water or wetlands are not
included in the Core EBA.
4. Low-Density Fill
The Census Bureau will add
contiguous territory to the Core EBAs
where blocks have a density of at least
200 HPSM. After the low-density fill is
added, any EBA with fewer than 50 total
housing units will be removed from the
Core EBA with which it is associated.
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5. Additional Nonresidential Urban
Territory (Including Airports)
The Census Bureau will identify
additional nonresidential urban territory
that is noncontiguous, yet near the Core
EBA. The Census Bureau will consider
for inclusion all census blocks that:
(a) Qualify as urban via the
impervious surface criteria set forth in
Steps B.1.b or B.1.c; and
(b) Have a total area of at least 0.15
square miles; 5 and
(c) Are within 0.5 miles of a Core
EBA.
The Census Bureau will also include
all census blocks that:
(d) Contain a three-year average of at
least 1,000 commuter destinations; 6 and
5 The Census Bureau found in testing that
individual (or groups of) census blocks with a high
degree of imperviousness with an area less than
0.15 square miles tend to be more associated with
road infrastructure features such as cloverleaf
overpasses and multilane highways.
6 The three most recent years of available LODES
data for each state are averaged for each census
block.
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(e) Are within 0.5 miles of a Core
EBA.
A final review of these census blocks
and surrounding territory 7 will
determine whether to include them in
an EBA.
The Census Bureau will then add
census blocks that approximate the
territory of airports, provided at least
one of the blocks that represent the
airport is within 0.5 miles of the edge
of a Core EBA. An airport qualifies for
inclusion if it is currently functional
and one of the following (per the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
Air Carrier Activity Information
System.8):
(a) Is a qualified cargo airport; or
(b) Has an annual passenger
enplanement of at least 2,500 in any
year between 2011 and 2019.
6. Inclusion of Enclaves
The Census Bureau will add enclaves
(nonqualifying area completely
surrounded by area already qualified for
inclusion) within an EBA or Core EBA,
provided:
(a) The area of the enclave is less than
five square miles, or
(b) All area of the enclave is more
than a straight-line distance of 1.5 miles
from a land block that is not part of the
already qualified area.
Additional enclaves will be identified
and included within the EBA or Core
EBA if:
(c) The area of the enclave is less than
5 square miles; and
(d) The enclave is surrounded by both
water and land that qualified for
inclusion in the EBA or Core EBA; and
(e) The length of the line of adjacency
with the water is less than the length of
the line of adjacency with the land.
7. Inclusion of Indentations
The Census Bureau will evaluate and
include territory that forms an
indentation within an urban area.
To determine whether an indentation
should be included in the urban area,
the Census Bureau will identify a
closure line, defined as a straight line no
more than one mile in length, that
extends from one point along the edge
of the urban area across the mouth of
the indentation to another point along
the edge of the urban area.
A census block located wholly or
partially within an indentation will be
7 Additional census blocks within eighty feet of
the initial groups also qualifying as impervious, but
failing the shape index, are also identified for
review.
8 The annual passenger boarding data only
includes primary, non-primary commercial service,
and general aviation enplanements as defined and
reported by the FAA Air Carrier Activity
Information System.
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considered for inclusion in the urban
area, if the Census Bureau-defined
internal point of the block is inside the
closure line. The total aggregated area of
these qualifying indentation blocks is
compared to the area of a circle, the
diameter of which is the length of the
closure qualification line. The
qualifying indentation block will be
included in the urban area if it is at least
four times the area of the circle and less
than 3.5 square miles.
If the aggregated area of the qualifying
indentation blocks does not meet the
criteria listed above, the Census Bureau
will define successive closure lines
within the indentation, starting at its
mouth and working inward toward the
base of the indentation, until the criteria
for inclusion are met or it is determined
that no portion of the indentation will
qualify for inclusion.
8. Merging of Eligible Block
Aggregations
After all criteria have been exhausted
and the Core EBAs have been extended
to their maximum size, Core EBAs will
be merged where the following criteria
are met:
(a) The boundaries of two Core EBAs
are within 0.25 miles of each other; and
(b) Both Core EBAs have at least 1,000
housing units or 2,500 persons; and
(c) The three-year mean worker-flow 9
between the two Core EBAs is at least
50 percent in at least one direction.
9. Identification of Urban Area
Agglomerations (UAA)
After all qualifying EBA merges are
completed, Core EBAs will be evaluated
for high-density nuclei. A high-density
nucleus is defined as a collection of
blocks, with at least 500 housing units,
where each census block has:
(a) A density of at least 1,275 HPSM;
or
(b) At least one-third of the census
block consists of territory with an
impervious level of at least 20 percent,4
and the census block is compact in
nature as defined by a shape index. A
census block is considered compact
when the shape index is at least 0.185
using the following formula: I = 4pA/P2
where I is the shape index, A is the area
of the entity, and P is the perimeter of
the entity; or
(c) At least one-third of the census
block consists of territory an impervious
level of at least 20 percent and at least
40 percent of its boundary is contiguous
with qualifying territory.
9 Using the three most recent years of LODES
data, mean worker-flow is the percent of all flows
in an area of analysis that have their origin or
destination in a different area of analysis.
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Core EBAs will be considered Urban
Area Agglomerations if they contain:
(a) At least one high-density nucleus
with at least 500 housing units in blocks
with a density of at least 1,275 HPSM;
and
(b) At least 2,000 housing units or
5,000 persons.
All other remaining EBAs are
removed from qualification.
10. Splitting Large Agglomerations
Population growth and development,
coupled with the automated urban area
delineation methodology used for the
2020 Census, results in large Urban Area
Agglomerations (UAAs) that encompass
territory defined as separate urban areas
for the 2010 Census. If such results
occur, or if multiple Core EBAs were
connected in Step B.6 (Low-Density
Fill), the Census Bureau will apply split
criteria. Due to differences in the
availability of data, Steps B.10.a and
B.10.b will apply only to the United
States. Step B.10.c will apply to Puerto
Rico and the Island Areas (American
Samoa, the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and
the U.S. Virgin Islands).
(a) Eligible UAAs.
UAAs will be evaluated for splitting
where the UAA:
1. Encompasses territory defined as
separate urban areas for the 2010 Census
and those intersecting areas contain:
a. At least 50 percent of the
population of each of two or more urban
areas for the 2010 Census.
2. Encompasses territory where two or
more Core EBAs were connected in Step
B.6 (Low-Density Fill):
a. Each of the Core EBAs, prior to Step
B.6, meets the high-density nucleus
qualification criteria outlined in Step 9;
and
b. Each of the Core EBAs, prior to
Step B.6, has a mean internal workerflow of at least 25 percent.
UAAs that meet the criteria above
(Steps B.10.a.1 or B.10.a.2) will progress
to the Split Boundary Assignment (Step
B.10.b). The remaining UAAs will
continue as a single urban area.
(b) Split Boundary Assignment.
Community detection is performed on
the three most-recently available years
of Longitudinal Employer-Household
Dynamics Origin-Destination
Employment Statistics (LODES) workerflow data, using unsupervised
clustering, specifically the Leiden
Algorithm,10 to identify commuter10 Thomas,
I., A. Adam, and A. Verhetsel.
Migration and commuting interactions fields: A
new geography with community detection
algorithm? 2017. Belgeo. [Online], 4. https://
journals.openedition.org/belgeo/20507. Traag V.A.
L. Waltman and N.J. van Eck. From Louvain to
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based partitions. The Leiden Algorithm
is first applied separately on each
eligible UAA, then subsequent iterations
are run on the resulting partitions to
provide greater levels of spatial
resolution to allow for relatively smaller
areas to be added during UAA split
boundary assignment. The resulting
partitions of the third iteration are used
to carry out the following steps, unless
the Census Bureau determines doing so
would not provide the best split
boundary.
Commuter-based partitions associated
with only one intersecting area or one
Core EBA meeting the criteria in Step
B.10.a.1 or Step B.10.a.2, are grouped
together to form component UAAs.
Additionally, partitions are grouped or
assigned to existing component UAAs
if:
1. The partition comprises at least 90
percent of the population of an
intersecting area or Core EBA; or
2. At least 90 percent of the
population of a partition is located
within an intersecting area or Core EBA.
The remaining partitions are:
• Completely outside of 2010 urban
territory; or
• Completely within 2020 lowdensity fill; or
• Within multiple intersecting areas
or Core EBAs.
These partitions will be assigned to
the component UAA with which they
have the greatest worker-flow
relationship.
Component UAAs are evaluated to
ensure they have at least 25 percent
mean internal worker-flow. Those that
do not meet this threshold will merge
with the component UAA with which
they have the greatest worker-flow
relationship. This process continues
until all component UAAs have at least
25 percent mean internal worker-flow
and at least 5,000 persons.
The boundary between two urban
areas may be modified to avoid splitting
an incorporated place, CDP, or minor
civil division (MCD) between two urban
areas at the time of delineation or to
follow a legal geographic boundary near
the commuter-based partition boundary
used to split the two urban areas.
(c) Splitting Criteria for Puerto Rico
and the Island Areas.
As the LODES data are not available
for Puerto Rico and the Island Areas, the
Census Bureau will maintain the 2010
split boundaries between qualified
urban areas. These boundaries will be
adjusted to the appropriate 2020 block
boundaries.
Leiden: Guaranteeing well-connected communities.
2019. Scientific Reports. 9:5233.
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11. Assigning Urban Area Titles
A clear, unambiguous title based on
commonly recognized place names
helps provide context for data users and
ensures that the general location and
setting of the urban area can be clearly
identified and understood. The title of
an urban area identifies the place that is
the most populated within the highdensity nucleus of the urban area. All
population and housing unit
requirements for places (incorporated
places or CDPs) and MCDs apply to the
portion of the entity’s population that is
within the specific urban area being
named.
The Census Bureau will use the
following criteria to determine the title
of an urban area:
Primary Name:
1. The most populous place within
the high-density nuclei of an urban area
that has a population of 2,500 or more
will be listed first in the urban area title.
Secondary Names:
Up to two additional places, in
descending order of housing unit count,
may be included in the title of an urban
area provided that:
2. The place has 90,000 or more
housing units; or
3. The place has at least 1,000 housing
units and that housing unit count is at
least two-thirds of that of the urban
portion of the place providing the
primary name.
If the high-density nuclei of an urban
area do not contain a place of at least
2,500 people, the Census Bureau will
consider the name of the incorporated
place, CDP, or MCD with the largest
total population in the urban area, or a
local name recognized for the area by
the United States Geological Survey’s
(USGS) Geographic Names Information
System (GNIS), with preference given to
names also recognized by the United
States Postal Service (USPS). The urban
area title will include the USPS
abbreviation of the name of each state or
statistically equivalent entity in which
the urban area is located or extends. The
order of the state abbreviations is the
same as the order of the related place
names in the urban area title.11
If a single place or MCD qualifies as
the title of more than one urban area,
the urban area with the largest
population will use the name of the
place or MCD. The smaller urban area
will have a title consisting of the place
or MCD name and the direction (such as
11 In situations where an urban area is only
associated with one place name but is located in
more than one state, the order of the state
abbreviations will begin with the state within
which the place is located and continue in
descending order of population of each state’s share
of the population of the urban area.
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‘‘North’’ or ‘‘Southeast’’) of the smaller
urban area as it relates geographically to
the larger urban area with the same
place or MCD name.
If any title of an urban area duplicates
the title of another urban area within the
same state, or uses the name of an
incorporated place, CDP, or MCD that is
duplicated within a state, the name of
the county that has most of the
population of the largest place or MCD
is appended, in parentheses, after the
duplicate place or MCD name for each
urban area. If there is no incorporated
place, CDP, or MCD name in the urban
area title, the name of the county having
the largest total population residing in
the urban area will be appended to the
title.
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C. Definitions of Key Terms
Census Block: A geographic area
bounded by visible and/or invisible
features shown on a map prepared by
the Census Bureau. A census block is
the smallest geographic entity for which
the Census Bureau tabulates decennial
census data.
Census Designated Place (CDP): A
statistical geographic entity
encompassing a concentration of
population, housing, and commercial
structures that is clearly identifiable by
a single name but is not within an
incorporated place. CDPs are the
statistical counterparts of incorporated
places for distinct unincorporated
communities.
Census Tract: A small, relatively
permanent statistical geographic
subdivision of a county or county
equivalent defined for the tabulation
and publication of Census Bureau data.
The primary goal of the census tract
program is to provide a set of nationally
consistent small, statistical geographic
units, with stable boundaries that
facilitate analysis of data across time.
Contiguous: A geographic term
referring to two or more areas that share
either a common boundary or at least
one common point.
Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA): A
statistical geographic entity defined by
the U.S. Office of Management and
Budget, consisting of the county or
counties or equivalent entities
associated with at least one core of at
least 10,000 population, plus adjacent
counties having a high degree of social
and economic integration with the core
as measured through commuting ties
with the counties containing the core.
Metropolitan and micropolitan
statistical areas are the two types of core
based statistical areas.
Core Eligible Block Aggregation (Core
EBA): A type of Eligible Block
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Aggregation that contains one or more
Initial Urban Cores.
Eligible Block Aggregation (EBA):
Aggregations of census blocks that are
eligible to qualify as urban according to
housing unit count, density, group
quarters, or degree of impervious
surface.
Enclave: A territory not qualifying as
urban that is either completely
surrounded by qualifying urban territory
or surrounded by qualifying urban
territory and water.
Exempted Territory: A territory that is
exempt from the urban area criteria
because its extent is entirely of water or
wetlands or an unpopulated road
corridor that crosses water or wetlands.
Group Quarters (GQs): A place where
people live or stay, in a group living
arrangement that is owned or managed
by an entity or organization providing
housing and/or services for the
residents. These services may include
custodial or medical care, as well as
other types of assistance, and residency
is commonly restricted to those
receiving these services. This is not a
typical household-type living
arrangement. People living in GQs are
usually not related to each other. GQs
include such facilities as college
residence halls, residential treatment
centers, skilled nursing facilities, group
homes, military barracks, correctional
facilities, and workers’ dormitories.
High-Density Nucleus: An aggregation
of blocks with a high housing unit
density or impervious level.
Hop: A connection between Eligible
Block Aggregations along a road
connection of 0.5 miles or less in length.
Impervious Surface: Man-made
surfaces, such as rooftops, roads, and
parking lots.
Incorporated Place: A type of
governmental unit, incorporated under
state law as a city, town (except in New
England, New York, and Wisconsin),
borough (except in Alaska and New
York), or village, generally to provide
specific governmental services for a
concentration of people within legally
prescribed boundaries.
Indentation: A recess in the boundary
of an urban area produced by settlement
patterns and/or water features resulting
in a highly irregular urban area shape.
The territory is likely to be affected by
and integrated with qualifying urban
territory.
Initial Urban Core: An Eligible Block
Aggregation that contains at least 500
housing units defined at the first stage
of delineation.
Jump: A connection from one Core
Eligible Block Aggregation to other
Eligible Block Aggregations along a road
connection that is greater than 0.5 miles,
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but less than or equal to 1.5 miles in
length.
Low-Density Fill: Territory with low
housing unit density added to already
qualifying area near the end of the
delineation process to smooth out the
resulting urban areas and mitigate the
effects of increased block size in the
peripheries of the urban landscape.
MAF/TIGER (MTDB): Database
developed by the Census Bureau to
support its geocoding, mapping, and
other product needs for the decennial
census and other Census Bureau
programs. The Master Address File
(MAF) is an accurate and current
inventory of all known living quarters
including address and geographic
location information. The Topologically
Integrated Geographic Encoding and
Referencing (TIGER) database defines
the location and relationship of
boundaries, streets, rivers, railroads, and
other features to each other and to the
numerous geographic areas for which
the Census Bureau tabulates data from
its censuses and surveys.
Metropolitan Statistical Area: A core
based statistical area associated with at
least one urban area that has a
population of at least 50,000. The
metropolitan statistical area comprises
the central county or counties or
equivalent entities containing the core,
plus adjacent outlying counties having a
high degree of social and economic
integration with the central county or
counties as measured through
commuting.
Micropolitan Statistical Area: A core
based statistical area associated with at
least one urban area that has a
population of at least 10,000, but less
than 50,000. The micropolitan statistical
area comprises the central county or
counties or equivalent entities
containing the core, plus adjacent
outlying counties having a high degree
of social and economic integration with
the central county or counties as
measured through commuting.
Minor Civil Division (MCD): The
primary governmental or administrative
division of a county or equivalent entity
in 29 states and the Island Areas having
legal boundaries, names, and
descriptions. MCDs represent many
different types of legal entities with a
wide variety of characteristics, powers,
and functions depending on the state
and type of MCD. In some states, some
or all of the incorporated places also
constitute MCDs.
Noncontiguous: A geographic term
referring to two or more areas that do
not share a common boundary or a
common point along their boundaries,
such that the areas are separated by
intervening territory.
E:\FR\FM\24MRN1.SGM
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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 57 / Thursday, March 24, 2022 / Notices
Nonresidential Urban Territory:
Census blocks added to Eligible Block
Aggregations where the levels of
imperviousness, number of jobs, or the
presence of an airport indicate they are
urban in nature.
Rural: Territory not defined as urban.
Urban: Generally, densely developed
territory, encompassing residential,
commercial, and other non-residential
urban land uses within which social
and economic interactions occur.
Urban Area: A statistical geographic
entity consisting of a densely settled
core created from census blocks and
contiguous qualifying territory that
together have at least 2,000 housing
units or 5,000 persons.
Urban Area Agglomeration (UAA):
The resulting urban territory at the
completion of the delineation process
but prior to the application of split/
merge criteria. UAAs may be split or
merged if they contain multiple 2010
Urban Areas or multiple EBAs that
connected in the process.
Urban Cluster (UC): A retired
statistical geographic entity type
consisting of a densely settled core
created from census tracts or blocks and
contiguous qualifying territory that
together have at least 2,500 persons but
fewer than 50,000 persons. Urban
clusters were not identified for the 2020
census.
Urbanized Area (UA): A retired
statistical geographic entity type
consisting of a densely settled core
created from census tracts or blocks and
adjacent densely settled territory that
together have a minimum population of
50,000 people. Urbanized areas were not
identified for the 2020 census.
Robert L. Santos, Director, Census
Bureau, approved the publication of this
Notice in the Federal Register.
Dated: March 18, 2022.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of
the Chief Information Officer, Commerce
Department.
[FR Doc. 2022–06180 Filed 3–23–22; 8:45 am]
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
International Trade Administration
North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), Article 1904; Binational Panel
Review: Notice of Completion of Panel
Review
United States Section, NAFTA
Secretariat, International Trade
Administration, Department of
Commerce.
AGENCY:
17:39 Mar 23, 2022
Notice of completion of panel
review.
Jkt 256001
DATES:
Applicable March 24, 2022.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
In accordance with Rules 78
and 80 of the NAFTA Rules of
Procedure for Article 1904 Binational
Panel Reviews, the Large Residential
Washers from Mexico (Secretariat File
Number: USA–MEX–2019–1904–04)
Panel Review was completed and the
panelists were discharged from their
duties effective March 21, 2022.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Vidya Desai, Acting United States
Secretary, NAFTA Secretariat, Room
2061, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20230, 202–482–5438.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Chapter
19 of Article 1904 of NAFTA provides
a dispute settlement mechanism
involving trade remedy determinations
issued by the Government of the United
States, the Government of Canada, and
the Government of Mexico. Following a
Request for Panel Review, a Binational
Panel is composed to review the trade
remedy determination being challenged
and issue a binding Panel Decision. For
the complete NAFTA Rules of
Procedure for Article 1904 Binational
Panel Reviews, please see https://canmex-usa-sec.org/secretariat/agreementaccord-acuerdo/nafta-alena-tlcan/rulesregles-reglas/index.aspx?lang=eng.
SUMMARY:
Daniel Alexander, AD/CVD Operations,
Office VII, Enforcement and
Compliance, International Trade
Administration, U.S. Department of
Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone:
(202) 482–4313.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Certain Coated Paper Suitable for
High-Quality Print Graphics Using
Sheet-Fed Presses From Indonesia:
Final Results of Expedited Second
Sunset Review of the Countervailing
Duty Order
On November 17, 2010, Commerce
published its CVD order on certain
coated paper from Indonesia in the
Federal Register.1 On December 1,
2021, Commerce published the notice of
initiation of the second sunset review of
the Order, pursuant to section 751(c) of
the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the
Act).2 Commerce received a notice of
intent to participate from the domestic
interested parties within the deadline
specified in 19 CFR 351.218(d)(1)(i).3
Verso Corporation and Sappi North
America, Inc. claimed interested party
status under section 771(9)(C) of the
Act, as manufacturers of the domestic
like product in the United States. The
United Steel, Paper and Forestry,
Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied
Industrial and Service Workers
International Union, AFL–CIO, CLC
(USW) claimed interested party status
under section 771(9)(D) of the Act, as a
certified or recognized union that
represents workers engaged in
manufacturing the domestic like
product and thus is a domestic
interested party.
Commerce received a substantive
response from the domestic interested
parties 4 within the 30-day deadline
specified in 19 CFR 351.218(d)(3)(i). We
received no substantive response from
any other domestic or interested parties
in this proceeding, nor was a hearing
requested.
On January 20, 2021, Commerce
notified the U.S. International Trade
Commission (ITC) that it did not receive
an adequate substantive response from
Enforcement and Compliance,
International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: As a result of this sunset
review, the Department of Commerce
(Commerce) finds that revocation of the
countervailing duty (CVD) order on
certain coated paper suitable for highquality print graphics using sheet-fed
presses (certain coated paper) from
Indonesia would be likely to lead to
continuation or recurrence of
countervailable subsidies at the levels
indicated in the ‘‘Final Results of
Review’’ section of this notice.
1 See Certain Coated Paper Suitable for HighQuality Print Graphics Using Sheet-Fed Presses
from Indonesia: Countervailing Duty Order, 75 FR
70206 (November 17, 2010) (Order).
2 See Initiation of Five-Year (Sunset) Reviews, 86
FR 68220 (December 1, 2021).
3 See Domestic Interested Parties’ Letter, ‘‘FiveYear (‘Sunset’) Review Of Countervailing Duty
Order On Coated Paper Suitable for High-Quality
Print Graphics Using Sheet-Fed Presses from
Indonesia: Notice of Intent to Participate in Sunset
Review,’’ dated December 15, 2021.
4 See Domestic Interested Parties’ Letter, ‘‘Second
Five-Year (Sunset) Review of Countervailing Duty
Order on Certain Coated Paper Suitable for HighQuality Print Graphics Using Sheet-Fed Presses
from Indonesia: Substantive Response to Notice of
Initiation,’’ dated January 3, 2022.
Dated: March 21, 2022.
Vidya Desai,
Acting U.S. Secretary, NAFTA Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2022–06283 Filed 3–23–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–GT–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[C–560–824]
AGENCY:
BILLING CODE 3510–07–P
VerDate Sep<11>2014
ACTION:
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 57 (Thursday, March 24, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16706-16715]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-06180]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
[Docket Number 220228-0062]
Urban Area Criteria for the 2020 Census--Final Criteria
AGENCY: Census Bureau, Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of final program criteria.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This notice provides the Census Bureau's final criteria for
defining urban areas based on the results of the 2020 Decennial Census.
This notice also provides a summary of comments received in response to
the proposed criteria published in the Federal Register on February 19,
2021, as well as the Census Bureau's responses to those comments. The
Census Bureau delineates urban areas after each decennial census by
applying specified criteria to decennial census and other data. Since
the 1950 Census, the Census Bureau has reviewed and revised these
criteria, as necessary, for each decennial census in order to improve
the classification of urban areas by taking advantage of newly
available data and advancements in geographic information processing
technology.
DATES: The Census Bureau will begin implementing the criteria as of
March 24, 2022.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information
should be directed to Vincent Osier, Geography Division, U.S. Census
Bureau, via email at [email protected]. Phone: 301-763-1128.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Census Bureau's urban-rural
classification is fundamentally a delineation of geographical areas,
identifying individual urban areas as well as the rural portion of the
nation. The Census Bureau's urban areas represent densely developed
territory, and encompass residential, commercial, and other non-
residential urban land uses. The boundaries of this urban footprint
have been defined using measures based primarily on population counts
and residential population density, and also on criteria that account
for non-residential urban land uses, such as commercial, industrial,
transportation, and open space that are part of the urban landscape.
Since the 1950 Census, when the Census Bureau first defined densely
settled urbanized areas of 50,000 or more people, the urban area
delineation process has addressed non-residential urban land uses
through criteria designed to account for commercial enclaves, special
land uses such as airports, and densely developed noncontiguous
territory.
In developing criteria for delineating urban areas, the Census
Bureau uses an objective approach that is designed to meet the needs of
a broad range of analysts and users interested in the definition of and
data for urban and rural communities for statistical purposes. The
Census Bureau recognizes that some federal and state agencies use the
Census Bureau's urban-rural classification for allocating program
funds, setting program standards, and implementing aspects of their
programs. The agencies that use the classification and data for such
nonstatistical uses should be aware that the changes to the urban area
criteria also might affect the implementation of their programs.
While the Census Bureau is not responsible for the use of its
urban-rural classification in nonstatistical programs, we will work
with tribal, federal, state, or local agencies as well as stakeholders,
as appropriate, to ensure understanding of our classification. Agencies
using the classification for their programs must ensure that the
classification is appropriate for their use.
I. Summary of Changes Made to the 2020 Census Urban Area Criteria
The following table compares the final 2020 Census urban area
criteria with those that were proposed in the Federal Register on
February 19, 2021 (86 FR 10237).
[[Page 16707]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proposed 2020
Criteria criteria Final 2020 criteria
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Identification of Initial Census block housing Aggregation of
Urban Area Cores. unit density of census blocks with
385. Use of land a housing unit
cover data to density of 425. Use
identify territory of land cover data
with a high degree to identify
of imperviousness. territory with a
high degree of
imperviousness.
Minimum Qualifying Threshold An area will qualify An area will qualify
as urban if it as urban if it
contains at least contains at least
4,000 housing units 2,000 housing units
or has a population or has a population
of at least 10,000. of at least 5,000.
Types of Urban Areas........ Urban areas will no Urban areas will no
longer be longer be
distinguished as distinguished as
either an either an
``urbanized area'' ``urbanized area''
or an ``urban or an ``urban
cluster.'' All cluster.'' All
qualifying areas qualifying areas
will be designated will be designated
``urban areas.''. ``urban areas.''
Inclusion of Group Quarters. Census blocks Census blocks
containing group containing group
quarters adjacent quarters and a
to already population density
qualified blocks of at least 500
will be included. adjacent to already
qualified blocks
will be included.
Inclusion of Noncontiguous Maximum hop distance Maximum hop distance
Territory via Hops and 0.5 miles, maximum 0.5 miles, maximum
Jumps. jump distance 1.5 jump distance 1.5
miles, and no hops miles, and no hops
after jumps. after jumps.
Intervening, low Intervening, low
density blocks are density blocks are
not included in the not included in the
urban area. urban area.
Inclusion of Noncontiguous Bodies of water and Bodies of water and
Territory Separated by wetlands as wetlands as
Exempted Territory. identified in land identified in the
cover data. The land cover data.
intervening, low The intervening,
density blocks of low density blocks
water or wetlands of water or
are not included in wetlands are not
the urban area. included in the
urban area.
Low-Density Fill............ N/A................. Contiguous census
blocks added to
already qualifying
territory with a
housing unit
density of 200.
Inclusion of Airports....... Currently Currently
functioning airport functioning airport
within a distance within a distance
of 0.5 miles to the of 0.5 miles to the
urban area that is urban area that is
a qualified cargo a qualified cargo
airport or has an airport or has an
annual enplanement annual enplanement
of at least 2,500 of at least 2,500
passengers. passengers.
Additional Nonresidential Inclusion of groups Inclusion of groups
Urban Territory. of census blocks of census blocks
with a high degree with a high degree
of imperviousness of imperviousness
and that are within and that are within
0.25 miles of an 0.5 miles of an
urban area. urban area, and
have a total area
of at least 0.15
square miles.
Inclusion of groups
of census blocks
with at least 1,000
jobs (per
Longitudinal
Employer-Household
Dynamics Origin-
Destination
Employment
Statistics (LODES)
data) and that are
within 0.5 miles of
an urban area.
Inclusion of Enclaves....... Additional census Additional census
blocks added when blocks added when
surrounded solely surrounded solely
by qualifying land by qualifying land
territory or by territory or by
both land that both land that
qualified for qualified for
inclusion in the inclusion in the
urban area and urban area and
water. water.
Inclusion of Indentations... N/A................. 3.5 square mile
maximum area of the
territory within
the indentation to
be added to the
urban area.
Merging Block Aggregations.. N/A................. Merge qualifying
territory from
separately defined
2020 Census urban
areas that do not
contain a high-
density nucleus and
are within 0.25
miles of a
qualifying urban
area.
Identification of N/A................. Identify qualifying
Agglomerations. areas that contain
a high-density
nucleus with a
housing unit
density of 1,275
and at least 2,000
housing units or
5,000 persons.
Splitting Large Potential splits and Potential splits and
Agglomerations. merges are merges are
identified using identified using
Longitudinal Longitudinal
Employer-Household Employer-Household
Dynamics worker Dynamics worker
flow data between flow data between
2010 Census urban 2010 Census urban
area pairs. If area pairs. If
necessary, split necessary, split
location is guided location is guided
by commuter-based by commuter-based
communities. communities.
Assigning Urban Area Titles. Clear, unambiguous Clear, unambiguous
title based on title based on
commonly recognized commonly recognized
place names derived names of places
from incorporated within the high-
places, census density nuclei,
designated places, derived from
minor civil incorporated
divisions, and the places, census
Geographic Names designated places,
Information System. minor civil
divisions, and the
Geographic Names
Information System.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
II. History
Over the course of a century defining urban areas, the Census
Bureau has introduced conceptual and methodological changes to ensure
that the urban-rural classification keeps pace with changes in
settlement patterns and with changes in theoretical and practical
approaches to interpreting and
[[Page 16708]]
understanding the definition of urban areas. Prior to the 1950 Census,
the Census Bureau primarily defined ``urban'' as any population,
housing, and territory located within incorporated places with a
population of 2,500 or more. That definition was easy and
straightforward to implement, requiring no need to calculate population
density; to understand and account for actual settlement patterns on
the ground in relation to boundaries of legal/administrative units; or
to consider densely settled populations existing outside incorporated
municipalities. For much of the first half of the twentieth century,
that definition was adequate for defining ``urban'' and ``rural'' in
the United States, but by 1950 it became clear that it was incomplete.
Increasing suburbanization, particularly outside the boundaries of
large incorporated places led the Census Bureau to adopt the urbanized
area concept for the 1950 Census. At that time, the Census Bureau
formally recognized that densely settled communities outside the
boundaries of incorporated municipalities were just as ``urban'' as the
densely settled population inside those boundaries. Outside urbanized
areas of 50,000 or more people, the Census Bureau continued to
recognize urban places with at least 2,500 and less than 50,000
persons. This basic conceptual approach to identifying urban areas
remained in effect through the 1990 Census, although with some changes
to criteria and delineation methods.
The Census Bureau adopted six substantial changes to its urban area
criteria for the 2000 Census:
Defining urban clusters using the same criteria as
urbanized areas.
Disregarding incorporated place and census designated
place (CDP) boundaries when defining urbanized areas and urban
clusters.
Adopting 500 persons per square mile (PPSM) as the minimum
density criterion for recognizing some types of urban territory.
Increasing the maximum jump distance for linking densely
developed territory separated from the main body of the urban area by
intervening low density territory from 1.5 to 2.5 miles. This
recognized the prospect that larger clusters of non-residential urban
uses might offset contiguity of densely settled territory.
Introducing the hop concept to provide an objective basis
for recognizing that nonresidential urban uses, such as small
commercial areas or parks, create small gaps between densely settled
residential territory, but are part of the pattern of urbanization.
Adopting a zero-based approach to defining urban areas.
For the 2010 Census, the Census Bureau adopted moderate changes and
enhancements to the criteria to improve upon the classification of
urban and rural areas while continuing to meet the objective of a
uniform application of criteria nationwide. These changes were:
Use of census tracts as analysis units in the initial
phase of delineation.
Use of land use/land cover data from the National Land
Cover Database (NLCD) to identify qualifying areas of non-residential
urban land uses.
Qualification of airports for inclusion in urban areas.
Elimination of the designation of central places within
urban areas.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The central place concept was not necessary for urban area
delineation and the resulting list of qualified central places
largely duplicated the list of principal cities identified by the
Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Area standards. There was
no conceptual reason to continue identifying two slightly different
lists of cities and other places that were central to their
respective regions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Requirement for minimum population residing outside
institutional group quarters.
Splitting large urban agglomerations.
The conceptual and criteria changes adopted for both the 2000 and
2010 Censuses, as well as the history of the Census Bureau's urban and
rural classification, are discussed in more detail in the document ``A
Century of Delineating a Changing Landscape: The Census Bureau's Urban
and Rural Classification, 1910 to 2010,'' available at https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/reference/ua/Century_of_Defining_Urban.pdf.
III. Summary of Comments Received in Response to Proposed Criteria
The notice published in the Federal Register on February 19, 2021
(86 FR 10237) requested comments on proposed criteria for delineating
the 2020 Census urban areas. The Census Bureau received 106 responses
directly related to the proposed Urban Area Criteria. Responses were
received from regional planning and nongovernmental organizations,
municipal and county officials, Members of Congress, state governments,
federal agencies, and individuals. The criteria in Section V of this
document reflect changes made in response to the comments and
suggestions received on the proposed criteria for delineating the 2020
Census urban areas.
Comments Expressing General Support or Opposition
The Census Bureau received ten comments that expressed general
support or general opposition to the proposed criteria without
specifying any particular aspect of the criteria. Five commenters
expressed general opposition; five commenters offered general support.
Comments Pertaining To Increasing the Minimum Threshold To Qualify
The Census Bureau received twenty-nine comments regarding the
proposal to increase the minimum threshold to qualify as urban to
10,000 persons or 4,000 housing units. Twenty-seven commenters
expressed concern about the increase, citing loss of statistical
continuity for small communities. Two commenters supported increasing
the minimum threshold.
Comments Pertaining to Proposed Exclusion of Hop/Jump Corridors From
Urban Areas
The Census Bureau received nineteen comments regarding the proposal
to exclude hop/jump corridors from an urban area. Seventeen commenters
expressed concern, citing issues related to the complex, multipiece
urban areas that would result. Two commenters supported excluding the
hop/jump corridors.
Comments Pertaining to Proposed Criteria To Cease Distinguishing Types
of Urban Areas
The Census Bureau received sixteen comments regarding the proposal
to cease distinguishing types of urban areas. Thirteen commenters
expressed concern about the loss of distinction between Urban Clusters
and Urbanized Areas (though this is only a change in terminology--it
still will be possible to distinguish between different sizes of urban
areas based on population). Three commenters supported the proposal to
cease distinguishing types of urban areas.
Comments Pertaining to Housing Unit Density
The Census Bureau received fifty-five comments regarding the
proposed criteria to utilize housing unit density.
Twenty-six commenters expressed concern about using housing unit
density instead of population density. Eight commenters supported using
housing unit density.
Twenty commenters expressed concern that the minimum housing unit
density threshold of 385 housing units per square mile (HPSM) was too
high. One commenter supported the
[[Page 16709]]
minimum housing unit density of 385 HPSM.
Comments Pertaining to Proposed Criteria for Splitting Large Urban
Agglomerations
The Census Bureau received five comments regarding the proposed
criteria for splitting large urban area agglomerations or the use of
the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) data. Three
commenters supported the proposed criteria; two commenters expressed
concern.
Comments Pertaining to Proposed Jump Criteria
The Census Bureau received forty-seven comments regarding the
proposed jump criteria designed to include noncontiguous, but
qualifying territory within an urban area. Of these, six commenters
supported lowering the maximum jump distance threshold from 2.5 to 1.5
miles. Forty-one commenters favored no change to the 2.5-mile maximum
jump distance threshold. Reasons for retention of the 2.5-mile maximum
jump distance provided by these commenters included retaining
consistency with the 2010 Census urban area delineation, the ability to
account for future urbanization and extended suburbanization, and
mitigation of the presence of undevelopable land not identified by the
Census Bureau.
Comments Pertaining to Proposed Use of Census Blocks as Building Blocks
The Census Bureau received seven comments regarding the proposed
use of the census block as the analysis unit (or geographic building
block) during the delineation of the initial urban area core. These
commenters expressed concern that the use of census blocks instead of
census tracts would lead to the shrinking of the population and
geographic area of urban areas.
Comments Pertaining to Proposed Criteria for Indentations
The Census Bureau received ten comments regarding proposed criteria
to no longer include low-density territory located within indentations
formed during the Urban Area Delineation Process. These commenters
opposed the proposed criteria, citing the jagged nature of the urban
area boundaries without the smoothing that occurs by including
indentations.
Comments Pertaining to Proposed Criteria To Qualify Territory
Containing a High Degree of Impervious Surface
The Census Bureau received nine comments regarding the proposed use
of the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) to assist in identifying and
qualifying as urban, sparsely populated urban-related territory
associated with a high degree of impervious surface. These commenters
expressed concern about the vintage of the data.
Comments Pertaining to Nonstatistical Uses of Urban Areas
Additional comments expressed concern that the Census Bureau does
not acknowledge or consider any nonstatistical uses of urban areas when
developing delineation criteria. These commenters also suggested
delaying the delineation of urban areas until provisions are adopted
that would prevent adverse impacts on programs and funding formulas
relating to urban areas as currently defined.
In response to the comments received regarding the nonstatistical
uses of Census urban areas, the Census Bureau recognizes that some
federal and state agencies use the Census Bureau's urban-rural
classification for allocating program funds, setting program standards,
and implementing aspects of their programs. The Census Bureau remains
committed to an objective, equitable, and consistent nationwide urban
area delineation, and thus identifies these areas for the purpose of
tabulating and presenting statistical data. This provides data users,
analysts, and agencies with a baseline set of areas from which to work,
as appropriate. Given the many programmatic and often conflicting or
competing uses for Census Bureau-defined urban areas, the Census Bureau
cannot attempt to take each such use into account or assess the
relative value of any particular use. The Census Bureau is committed to
working with stakeholders, as appropriate, to promote understanding of
our classification.
Comments Pertaining to Retention of the 2010 Urban Area Criteria
Three commenters specifically requested that territory defined as
urban in the 2010 Census continue to be defined as urban for the 2020
Census. Six commenters requested that the 2010 criteria be used to
define urban areas for the 2020 Census.
Comments Pertaining to Local Input of Urban Area Boundaries
Eight commenters expressed concern that there are no provisions in
the delineation criteria for local input and requested the opportunity
to review and comment on the definition of individual urban areas
before boundaries become final.
Comments Pertaining to Census Block Boundaries
The Census Bureau received ten comments regarding the block
boundaries on the edges of urban development. Commenters expressed
concern that these blocks are often a mix of urban and rural
characteristics and are often large in scale, potentially leading to
their exclusion from an urban area.
Comments Pertaining to the Delineation Process
Commenters also expressed concern about the automated and
inflexible nature of the delineation process and suggested that the
extent of each urban area should be evaluated individually. The Census
Bureau also received comments expressing concern that the proposed
delineation criteria do not consider local zoning laws, topography, and
municipal boundaries.
The Census Bureau's urban area criteria for the 2020 Census
consists of a single set of rules that allow for application of
automated processes based on the input of standardized nationwide
datasets that yield consistent results. Rather than defining areas
through a process of accretion over time, the criteria also provide a
better reflection of the distribution of population, housing, and other
uses and how they reflect the current state of urbanization.
Comments Pertaining to the Urban Area Program Timeline
The Census Bureau received twenty-six requests for the extension of
the public comment period on the proposed urban area delineation
criteria to further assess its potential impacts. Additional comments
expressed difficulty in predicting results of changes to criteria as
published in the Federal Register on February 19, 2021 (86 FR 10237)
and requested clarification of the proposed urban area delineation
criteria.
The delineation and production of urban areas and their associated
data are scheduled to begin after the release of the Decennial Census
block-level population and housing counts to ensure sufficient time to
delineate and review the urban area definitions and prepare geographic
information files in time for tabulation and inclusion in statistical
data products from both the 2020 Census and the American Community
Survey (ACS). Adherence to this schedule prevented any attempts toward
a test delineation using all the proposed 2020 urban area criteria for
the entire United States, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas, thus
prohibiting
[[Page 16710]]
the availability of nation-wide, real-world examples without showing
preference to any particular location. Further, this schedule also
dictated that the development of the delineation software coincided
with the development of the proposed and the final criteria.
IV. Changes to the Proposed Urban Area Criteria for the 2020 Census
This section of the notice provides information about the Census
Bureau's decisions on changes that were incorporated into the Urban
Area Criteria for the 2020 Census in response to the many comments
received. These decisions benefited greatly from public participation
as the Census Bureau took into account the comments received in
response to the proposed criteria published in the Federal Register on
February 19, 2021 (86 FR 10237), as well as comments received during
webinars, conference presentations, consultations with professional
geographers and other social scientists who work with and define urban
and rural concepts and classifications, meetings with federal, state,
and local officials and other users of data for urban areas, and
additional research and investigation conducted by Census Bureau staff.
The changes made to the proposed criteria in Section III of the
published in the Federal Register on February 19, 2021, ``Urban Areas
for the 2020 Census-Proposed Criteria'' (86 FR 10237), are as follows:
1. In Section III, subsection A, the Census Bureau modifies the
minimum criteria for an area to qualify as an urban area. The territory
must encompass at least 2,000 housing units or at least 5,000 persons,
decreased from 4,000 housing units or 10,000 persons as proposed.
2. In Section III, subsection B, the Census Bureau modifies the
criteria to utilize multiple housing unit densities: 1,275 housing
units per square mile (HPSM), 425 HPSM, and 200 HPSM. In response to
comments stating that 385 HPSM was too high for a minimum threshold,
and further testing of the impacts of complex multipiece urban areas,
the Census Bureau adjusts the delineation criteria to include multiple
housing unit density thresholds at different stages of the process. The
addition of a high-density threshold of 1,275 HPSM ensures each urban
area contains a core. Including a low density fill of 200 HPSM will
reduce the number of individual pieces of an urban area while
accommodating for the irregular nature of census block size that
affects the density calculations.
3. In Section III, subsection B.1, the Census Bureau modifies the
criteria to utilize a housing unit density of 425 instead of 385 HPSM.
4. In Section III, subsection B.1, the Census Bureau clarifies the
criteria regarding which areas are considered ``Initial Urban Core.''
An Initial Urban Core must contain at least 500 housing units.
5. In Section III, subsection B.2, the Census Bureau removes the
section related to the ``Inclusion of Group Quarters.'' Blocks
containing group quarters can qualify in multiple steps of the
criteria.
6. In Section III, subsection B.3, the Census Bureau removes all
references to ``385 housing units or more.''
7. In Section III, subsection B.3, the Census Bureau removes the
reference to ``all urban area cores that have a housing unit count of
577 or more.''
8. In Section III, subsection B.4, the Census Bureau clarifies
references to the land cover data used in determining exempted
territory. The Census Bureau will use the most current land cover data
from the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) or Coastal Change Analysis
Program (C-CAP) High Resolution Land Cover for any given area to better
represent land use/land cover conditions at the time of the
delineation.
9. In Section III, subsection B.5, the Census Bureau clarifies when
the enclave criteria are applied. Enclaves will be added after
development of the Initial Urban Cores and again after the addition of
nonresidential territory. This process recognizes that some census
blocks that are internal and integral to an urban area may have few or
no housing units and little impervious surface, such as census blocks
containing urban parkland.
10. In Section III, subsection B.6, the Census Bureau removes the
criteria for the ``Inclusion of Airports'' and includes it within
subsection B.7, ``Additional Nonresidential Urban Territory.''
11. In Section III, subsection B.7, the Census Bureau adds criteria
to include additional nonresidential census blocks that contain at
least 1,000 commuter destinations (in a three-year average) and are
within 0.5 miles of already qualifying territory.
12. In Section III, subsection B.8, the Census Bureau clarifies and
simplified the criteria for splitting large agglomerations.
13. In Section III, subsection B.9, the Census Bureau modifies the
criteria to include the most populous place name of the high-density
nucleus.
14. In Section III, subsection B.9, the Census Bureau modifies the
criteria for secondary names to utilize housing unit counts rather than
population counts.
The sections of the proposed criteria referenced above do not
appear in the same order in Section V of this final notice due to the
reorganization of existing criteria sections and the addition of new
criteria sections. The following table provides a crosswalk of the
criteria sections that were proposed in the Federal Register on
February 19, 2021 (86 FR 10237) to the criteria sections of the final
criteria in this notice.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proposed 2020
Section name criteria Final 2020 criteria
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Identification of Initial Section III, B.1.... Section V, B.1
Urban Area Cores.
Inclusion of Group Quarters. Section III, B.2.... Section V, B.1
Inclusion of Noncontiguous Section III, B.3.... Section V, B.2
Territory via Hops and
Jumps.
Inclusion of Noncontiguous Section III, B.4.... Section V, B.3
Territory Separated by
Exempted Territory.
Low-Density Fill............ N/A................. Section V, B.4
Inclusion of Airports....... Section III, B.6.... Section V, B.5
Additional Nonresidential Section III, B.7.... Section V, B.5
Urban Territory.
Inclusion of Enclaves....... Section III, B.5.... Section V, B.6
Inclusion of Indentations... N/A................. Section V, B.7
Merging of Eligible Block N/A................. Section V, B.8
Aggregations.
Identification of Urban Area N/A................. Section V, B.9
Agglomerations.
Splitting Large Section III, B.8.... Section V, B.10
Agglomerations.
Assigning Urban Area Titles. Section III, B.9.... Section V, B.11
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 16711]]
V. Urban Area Criteria for the 2020 Census
The criteria outlined herein apply to the United States,\2\ Puerto
Rico, and the Island Areas of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Census
Bureau will utilize the following criteria and characteristics to
identify the areas that will qualify for designation as urban areas for
use in tabulating data from the 2020 Census, the American Community
Survey (ACS), the Puerto Rico Community Survey, and potentially other
Census Bureau censuses and surveys.
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\2\ For Census Bureau purposes, the United States includes the
50 States and the District of Columbia.
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A. 2020 Census Urban Area Definitions
For the 2020 Census, an urban area will comprise a densely
developed core of census blocks \3\ that meet minimum housing unit
density requirements, along with adjacent territory containing non-
residential urban land uses as well as other lower density territory
included to link outlying densely settled territory with the densely
settled core. To qualify as an urban area, the territory identified
according to the criteria must encompass at least 2,000 housing units
or at least 5,000 persons. The term ``rural'' encompasses all
population, housing, and territory not included within an urban area.
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\3\ A census block is the smallest geographic area for which the
Census Bureau tabulates data and is an area normally bounded by
visible features, such as streets, rivers or streams, shorelines,
and railroads, and by nonvisible features, such as the boundary of
an incorporated place, minor civil division, county, or other 2020
Census tabulation entity.
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1. As a result of the urban area delineation process, an
incorporated place or census designated place (CDP) may be partly
inside and partly outside an urban area. Further, any census geographic
areas, with the exception of census blocks, may be partly within and
partly outside an urban area.
2. All criteria based on land area, housing unit density, and
population, reflect the information contained in the Census Bureau's
Master Address File/Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and
Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database (MTDB) at the time of the delineation.
All density calculations include only land; the areas of water
contained within census blocks are not used in density calculations.
Housing unit, population, and worker flow data used in the urban area
delineation process will be those published by the Census Bureau for
all public and official uses.
3. The Census Bureau will utilize multiple data sources in the 2020
Urban Area delineation. Worker-flows are calculated from the
Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Origin-Destination Employment
Statistics (LODES) data. Level of imperviousness is calculated from
either the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) or Coastal Change
Analysis Program (C-CAP) High Resolution Land Cover. The Census Bureau
will utilize the most recent data available from either data source for
any given area.
B. Urban Area Delineation Criteria
The Census Bureau defines urban areas primarily based on housing
unit density measured at the census block-level of geography. Three
housing unit densities are used in the delineation--425 housing units
per square mile (HPSM) to identify the initial core of urban block
agglomerations and the cores of noncontiguous peripheral urban
territory; 200 HPSM to expand the urban block agglomerations into less
dense, but structurally connected portions of urban areas; and 1,275
HPSM to identify the presence of higher-density territory representing
the urban nucleus.
1. Identification of Initial Urban Core
The Census Bureau will begin the delineation process by identifying
and aggregating contiguous census blocks to form Eligible Block
Aggregations (EBAs) based on the following criteria:
(a) The census block has a density of at least 425 HPSM; or
(b) At least one-third of the census block consists of territory
with an impervious level of at least 20 percent,\4\ and the census
block is compact in nature as defined by a shape index. A census block
is considered compact when the shape index is at least 0.185 using the
following formula: I = 4[pi]A/P\2\ where I is the shape index, A is the
area of the entity, and P is the perimeter of the entity; or
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ The Census Bureau has found in testing that territory with
an impervious surface level less than 20 percent results in the
inclusion of road and structure edges, and not the actual roads or
buildings themselves.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(c) At least one-third of the census block consists of territory
with an impervious level of at least 20 percent and at least 40 percent
of its boundary is contiguous with qualifying territory; or
(d) The census block contains a group quarter and has a block-level
density of at least 500 persons per square mile (PPSM).
The Census Bureau will apply criteria Steps B.1.a, B.1.b, B.1.c,
and B.1.d above until there are no additional blocks to add to the EBA.
If an EBA contains at least 500 housing units, it will be considered an
Initial Urban Core, to which other qualifying areas may be added in
subsequent steps of the criteria. Any ``holes'' (remaining
nonqualifying territory surrounded by an Initial Urban Core) that are
less than five square miles in area will qualify as urban via the
criteria for inclusion of enclaves, as set forth below in Step B.6.a.
2. Inclusion of Noncontiguous Territory via Hops and Jumps
Any EBA created in Step B.1 that contains at least ten housing
units or a group quarter in a block with at least 500 PPSM may be added
to an Initial Urban Core via a hop or a jump.
Hops connect EBAs separated by no more than 0.5 miles of road
connections. Multiple hops can occur along road connections between
EBAs leading to an Initial Urban Core. After all hop connections are
made, EBAs that contain one or more Initial Cores will be considered
Core EBAs.
The Census Bureau will then add additional EBAs via jump
connections. Jumps are used to connect densely settled noncontiguous
territory separated from the Core EBA by territory with low housing
unit density. A jump can occur along a road connection that is greater
than 0.5 miles but no more than 1.5 miles. Because it is possible that
any given densely developed area could qualify for inclusion in
multiple Core EBAs via a jump connection, the identification of jumps
in an automated process starts with the Core EBA that has the highest
number of housing units and continues in descending order based on the
total housing units of each Core EBA. Once a Core EBA is added to
another Core EBA via a jump, it becomes ineligible for any other jumps.
The non-qualifying blocks along the road connection are not
included in the delineation; therefore, Core EBAs that contain hop or
jump connections will be noncontiguous aggregations.
Those remaining EBAs that did not have an Initial Urban Core but
contain the following will remain as candidates for inclusion in
subsequent steps:
At least ten housing units, or
A group quarter and a block-level density of at least 500
PPSM.
3. Inclusion of Noncontiguous Territory Separated by Exempted Territory
The Census Bureau will identify and exempt territory in which
residential development is substantially constrained or not possible
due to either
[[Page 16712]]
topographical or land use conditions. Such exempted territory offsets
urban development due to particular land use, land cover, or
topographic conditions. For the 2020 Census, the Census Bureau
considers the following to be exempted territory:
(a) Bodies of water (as defined by the Census Bureau, or classified
as water in the land cover data); and
(b) Wetlands (belonging to any wetlands classifications in the land
cover data).
When the hop and jump criteria in Step B.2 are applied, the
qualifying hop or jump connections may be extended when the intervening
non-qualifying blocks contain exempted territory, provided that:
(c) The road connection across the exempted territory (located on
both sides of the road) is no greater than five miles in length; and
(d) The total length of the road connection between the Core EBA
and the noncontiguous territory, including the exempt distance and non-
exempt hop or jump distances, is also no greater than five miles.
The intervening low housing unit density block or blocks and the
block or blocks of water or wetlands are not included in the Core EBA.
4. Low-Density Fill
The Census Bureau will add contiguous territory to the Core EBAs
where blocks have a density of at least 200 HPSM. After the low-density
fill is added, any EBA with fewer than 50 total housing units will be
removed from the Core EBA with which it is associated.
5. Additional Nonresidential Urban Territory (Including Airports)
The Census Bureau will identify additional nonresidential urban
territory that is noncontiguous, yet near the Core EBA. The Census
Bureau will consider for inclusion all census blocks that:
(a) Qualify as urban via the impervious surface criteria set forth
in Steps B.1.b or B.1.c; and
(b) Have a total area of at least 0.15 square miles; \5\ and
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ The Census Bureau found in testing that individual (or
groups of) census blocks with a high degree of imperviousness with
an area less than 0.15 square miles tend to be more associated with
road infrastructure features such as cloverleaf overpasses and
multilane highways.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(c) Are within 0.5 miles of a Core EBA.
The Census Bureau will also include all census blocks that:
(d) Contain a three-year average of at least 1,000 commuter
destinations; \6\ and
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ The three most recent years of available LODES data for each
state are averaged for each census block.
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(e) Are within 0.5 miles of a Core EBA.
A final review of these census blocks and surrounding territory \7\
will determine whether to include them in an EBA.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ Additional census blocks within eighty feet of the initial
groups also qualifying as impervious, but failing the shape index,
are also identified for review.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Census Bureau will then add census blocks that approximate the
territory of airports, provided at least one of the blocks that
represent the airport is within 0.5 miles of the edge of a Core EBA. An
airport qualifies for inclusion if it is currently functional and one
of the following (per the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air
Carrier Activity Information System.\8\):
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ The annual passenger boarding data only includes primary,
non-primary commercial service, and general aviation enplanements as
defined and reported by the FAA Air Carrier Activity Information
System.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) Is a qualified cargo airport; or
(b) Has an annual passenger enplanement of at least 2,500 in any
year between 2011 and 2019.
6. Inclusion of Enclaves
The Census Bureau will add enclaves (nonqualifying area completely
surrounded by area already qualified for inclusion) within an EBA or
Core EBA, provided:
(a) The area of the enclave is less than five square miles, or
(b) All area of the enclave is more than a straight-line distance
of 1.5 miles from a land block that is not part of the already
qualified area.
Additional enclaves will be identified and included within the EBA
or Core EBA if:
(c) The area of the enclave is less than 5 square miles; and
(d) The enclave is surrounded by both water and land that qualified
for inclusion in the EBA or Core EBA; and
(e) The length of the line of adjacency with the water is less than
the length of the line of adjacency with the land.
7. Inclusion of Indentations
The Census Bureau will evaluate and include territory that forms an
indentation within an urban area.
To determine whether an indentation should be included in the urban
area, the Census Bureau will identify a closure line, defined as a
straight line no more than one mile in length, that extends from one
point along the edge of the urban area across the mouth of the
indentation to another point along the edge of the urban area.
A census block located wholly or partially within an indentation
will be considered for inclusion in the urban area, if the Census
Bureau-defined internal point of the block is inside the closure line.
The total aggregated area of these qualifying indentation blocks is
compared to the area of a circle, the diameter of which is the length
of the closure qualification line. The qualifying indentation block
will be included in the urban area if it is at least four times the
area of the circle and less than 3.5 square miles.
If the aggregated area of the qualifying indentation blocks does
not meet the criteria listed above, the Census Bureau will define
successive closure lines within the indentation, starting at its mouth
and working inward toward the base of the indentation, until the
criteria for inclusion are met or it is determined that no portion of
the indentation will qualify for inclusion.
8. Merging of Eligible Block Aggregations
After all criteria have been exhausted and the Core EBAs have been
extended to their maximum size, Core EBAs will be merged where the
following criteria are met:
(a) The boundaries of two Core EBAs are within 0.25 miles of each
other; and
(b) Both Core EBAs have at least 1,000 housing units or 2,500
persons; and
(c) The three-year mean worker-flow \9\ between the two Core EBAs
is at least 50 percent in at least one direction.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ Using the three most recent years of LODES data, mean
worker-flow is the percent of all flows in an area of analysis that
have their origin or destination in a different area of analysis.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. Identification of Urban Area Agglomerations (UAA)
After all qualifying EBA merges are completed, Core EBAs will be
evaluated for high-density nuclei. A high-density nucleus is defined as
a collection of blocks, with at least 500 housing units, where each
census block has:
(a) A density of at least 1,275 HPSM; or
(b) At least one-third of the census block consists of territory
with an impervious level of at least 20 percent,\4\ and the census
block is compact in nature as defined by a shape index. A census block
is considered compact when the shape index is at least 0.185 using the
following formula: I = 4[pi]A/P\2\ where I is the shape index, A is the
area of the entity, and P is the perimeter of the entity; or
(c) At least one-third of the census block consists of territory an
impervious level of at least 20 percent and at least 40 percent of its
boundary is contiguous with qualifying territory.
[[Page 16713]]
Core EBAs will be considered Urban Area Agglomerations if they
contain:
(a) At least one high-density nucleus with at least 500 housing
units in blocks with a density of at least 1,275 HPSM; and
(b) At least 2,000 housing units or 5,000 persons.
All other remaining EBAs are removed from qualification.
10. Splitting Large Agglomerations
Population growth and development, coupled with the automated urban
area delineation methodology used for the 2020 Census, results in large
Urban Area Agglomerations (UAAs) that encompass territory defined as
separate urban areas for the 2010 Census. If such results occur, or if
multiple Core EBAs were connected in Step B.6 (Low-Density Fill), the
Census Bureau will apply split criteria. Due to differences in the
availability of data, Steps B.10.a and B.10.b will apply only to the
United States. Step B.10.c will apply to Puerto Rico and the Island
Areas (American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands).
(a) Eligible UAAs.
UAAs will be evaluated for splitting where the UAA:
1. Encompasses territory defined as separate urban areas for the
2010 Census and those intersecting areas contain:
a. At least 50 percent of the population of each of two or more
urban areas for the 2010 Census.
2. Encompasses territory where two or more Core EBAs were connected
in Step B.6 (Low-Density Fill):
a. Each of the Core EBAs, prior to Step B.6, meets the high-density
nucleus qualification criteria outlined in Step 9; and
b. Each of the Core EBAs, prior to Step B.6, has a mean internal
worker-flow of at least 25 percent.
UAAs that meet the criteria above (Steps B.10.a.1 or B.10.a.2) will
progress to the Split Boundary Assignment (Step B.10.b). The remaining
UAAs will continue as a single urban area.
(b) Split Boundary Assignment.
Community detection is performed on the three most-recently
available years of Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Origin-
Destination Employment Statistics (LODES) worker-flow data, using
unsupervised clustering, specifically the Leiden Algorithm,\10\ to
identify commuter-based partitions. The Leiden Algorithm is first
applied separately on each eligible UAA, then subsequent iterations are
run on the resulting partitions to provide greater levels of spatial
resolution to allow for relatively smaller areas to be added during UAA
split boundary assignment. The resulting partitions of the third
iteration are used to carry out the following steps, unless the Census
Bureau determines doing so would not provide the best split boundary.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ Thomas, I., A. Adam, and A. Verhetsel. Migration and
commuting interactions fields: A new geography with community
detection algorithm? 2017. Belgeo. [Online], 4. https://journals.openedition.org/belgeo/20507. Traag V.A. L. Waltman and
N.J. van Eck. From Louvain to Leiden: Guaranteeing well-connected
communities. 2019. Scientific Reports. 9:5233.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commuter-based partitions associated with only one intersecting
area or one Core EBA meeting the criteria in Step B.10.a.1 or Step
B.10.a.2, are grouped together to form component UAAs. Additionally,
partitions are grouped or assigned to existing component UAAs if:
1. The partition comprises at least 90 percent of the population of
an intersecting area or Core EBA; or
2. At least 90 percent of the population of a partition is located
within an intersecting area or Core EBA.
The remaining partitions are:
Completely outside of 2010 urban territory; or
Completely within 2020 low-density fill; or
Within multiple intersecting areas or Core EBAs.
These partitions will be assigned to the component UAA with which
they have the greatest worker-flow relationship.
Component UAAs are evaluated to ensure they have at least 25
percent mean internal worker-flow. Those that do not meet this
threshold will merge with the component UAA with which they have the
greatest worker-flow relationship. This process continues until all
component UAAs have at least 25 percent mean internal worker-flow and
at least 5,000 persons.
The boundary between two urban areas may be modified to avoid
splitting an incorporated place, CDP, or minor civil division (MCD)
between two urban areas at the time of delineation or to follow a legal
geographic boundary near the commuter-based partition boundary used to
split the two urban areas.
(c) Splitting Criteria for Puerto Rico and the Island Areas.
As the LODES data are not available for Puerto Rico and the Island
Areas, the Census Bureau will maintain the 2010 split boundaries
between qualified urban areas. These boundaries will be adjusted to the
appropriate 2020 block boundaries.
11. Assigning Urban Area Titles
A clear, unambiguous title based on commonly recognized place names
helps provide context for data users and ensures that the general
location and setting of the urban area can be clearly identified and
understood. The title of an urban area identifies the place that is the
most populated within the high-density nucleus of the urban area. All
population and housing unit requirements for places (incorporated
places or CDPs) and MCDs apply to the portion of the entity's
population that is within the specific urban area being named.
The Census Bureau will use the following criteria to determine the
title of an urban area:
Primary Name:
1. The most populous place within the high-density nuclei of an
urban area that has a population of 2,500 or more will be listed first
in the urban area title.
Secondary Names:
Up to two additional places, in descending order of housing unit
count, may be included in the title of an urban area provided that:
2. The place has 90,000 or more housing units; or
3. The place has at least 1,000 housing units and that housing unit
count is at least two-thirds of that of the urban portion of the place
providing the primary name.
If the high-density nuclei of an urban area do not contain a place
of at least 2,500 people, the Census Bureau will consider the name of
the incorporated place, CDP, or MCD with the largest total population
in the urban area, or a local name recognized for the area by the
United States Geological Survey's (USGS) Geographic Names Information
System (GNIS), with preference given to names also recognized by the
United States Postal Service (USPS). The urban area title will include
the USPS abbreviation of the name of each state or statistically
equivalent entity in which the urban area is located or extends. The
order of the state abbreviations is the same as the order of the
related place names in the urban area title.\11\
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\11\ In situations where an urban area is only associated with
one place name but is located in more than one state, the order of
the state abbreviations will begin with the state within which the
place is located and continue in descending order of population of
each state's share of the population of the urban area.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
If a single place or MCD qualifies as the title of more than one
urban area, the urban area with the largest population will use the
name of the place or MCD. The smaller urban area will have a title
consisting of the place or MCD name and the direction (such as
[[Page 16714]]
``North'' or ``Southeast'') of the smaller urban area as it relates
geographically to the larger urban area with the same place or MCD
name.
If any title of an urban area duplicates the title of another urban
area within the same state, or uses the name of an incorporated place,
CDP, or MCD that is duplicated within a state, the name of the county
that has most of the population of the largest place or MCD is
appended, in parentheses, after the duplicate place or MCD name for
each urban area. If there is no incorporated place, CDP, or MCD name in
the urban area title, the name of the county having the largest total
population residing in the urban area will be appended to the title.
C. Definitions of Key Terms
Census Block: A geographic area bounded by visible and/or invisible
features shown on a map prepared by the Census Bureau. A census block
is the smallest geographic entity for which the Census Bureau tabulates
decennial census data.
Census Designated Place (CDP): A statistical geographic entity
encompassing a concentration of population, housing, and commercial
structures that is clearly identifiable by a single name but is not
within an incorporated place. CDPs are the statistical counterparts of
incorporated places for distinct unincorporated communities.
Census Tract: A small, relatively permanent statistical geographic
subdivision of a county or county equivalent defined for the tabulation
and publication of Census Bureau data. The primary goal of the census
tract program is to provide a set of nationally consistent small,
statistical geographic units, with stable boundaries that facilitate
analysis of data across time.
Contiguous: A geographic term referring to two or more areas that
share either a common boundary or at least one common point.
Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA): A statistical geographic entity
defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, consisting of the
county or counties or equivalent entities associated with at least one
core of at least 10,000 population, plus adjacent counties having a
high degree of social and economic integration with the core as
measured through commuting ties with the counties containing the core.
Metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas are the two types of
core based statistical areas.
Core Eligible Block Aggregation (Core EBA): A type of Eligible
Block Aggregation that contains one or more Initial Urban Cores.
Eligible Block Aggregation (EBA): Aggregations of census blocks
that are eligible to qualify as urban according to housing unit count,
density, group quarters, or degree of impervious surface.
Enclave: A territory not qualifying as urban that is either
completely surrounded by qualifying urban territory or surrounded by
qualifying urban territory and water.
Exempted Territory: A territory that is exempt from the urban area
criteria because its extent is entirely of water or wetlands or an
unpopulated road corridor that crosses water or wetlands.
Group Quarters (GQs): A place where people live or stay, in a group
living arrangement that is owned or managed by an entity or
organization providing housing and/or services for the residents. These
services may include custodial or medical care, as well as other types
of assistance, and residency is commonly restricted to those receiving
these services. This is not a typical household-type living
arrangement. People living in GQs are usually not related to each
other. GQs include such facilities as college residence halls,
residential treatment centers, skilled nursing facilities, group homes,
military barracks, correctional facilities, and workers' dormitories.
High-Density Nucleus: An aggregation of blocks with a high housing
unit density or impervious level.
Hop: A connection between Eligible Block Aggregations along a road
connection of 0.5 miles or less in length.
Impervious Surface: Man-made surfaces, such as rooftops, roads, and
parking lots.
Incorporated Place: A type of governmental unit, incorporated under
state law as a city, town (except in New England, New York, and
Wisconsin), borough (except in Alaska and New York), or village,
generally to provide specific governmental services for a concentration
of people within legally prescribed boundaries.
Indentation: A recess in the boundary of an urban area produced by
settlement patterns and/or water features resulting in a highly
irregular urban area shape. The territory is likely to be affected by
and integrated with qualifying urban territory.
Initial Urban Core: An Eligible Block Aggregation that contains at
least 500 housing units defined at the first stage of delineation.
Jump: A connection from one Core Eligible Block Aggregation to
other Eligible Block Aggregations along a road connection that is
greater than 0.5 miles, but less than or equal to 1.5 miles in length.
Low-Density Fill: Territory with low housing unit density added to
already qualifying area near the end of the delineation process to
smooth out the resulting urban areas and mitigate the effects of
increased block size in the peripheries of the urban landscape.
MAF/TIGER (MTDB): Database developed by the Census Bureau to
support its geocoding, mapping, and other product needs for the
decennial census and other Census Bureau programs. The Master Address
File (MAF) is an accurate and current inventory of all known living
quarters including address and geographic location information. The
Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER)
database defines the location and relationship of boundaries, streets,
rivers, railroads, and other features to each other and to the numerous
geographic areas for which the Census Bureau tabulates data from its
censuses and surveys.
Metropolitan Statistical Area: A core based statistical area
associated with at least one urban area that has a population of at
least 50,000. The metropolitan statistical area comprises the central
county or counties or equivalent entities containing the core, plus
adjacent outlying counties having a high degree of social and economic
integration with the central county or counties as measured through
commuting.
Micropolitan Statistical Area: A core based statistical area
associated with at least one urban area that has a population of at
least 10,000, but less than 50,000. The micropolitan statistical area
comprises the central county or counties or equivalent entities
containing the core, plus adjacent outlying counties having a high
degree of social and economic integration with the central county or
counties as measured through commuting.
Minor Civil Division (MCD): The primary governmental or
administrative division of a county or equivalent entity in 29 states
and the Island Areas having legal boundaries, names, and descriptions.
MCDs represent many different types of legal entities with a wide
variety of characteristics, powers, and functions depending on the
state and type of MCD. In some states, some or all of the incorporated
places also constitute MCDs.
Noncontiguous: A geographic term referring to two or more areas
that do not share a common boundary or a common point along their
boundaries, such that the areas are separated by intervening territory.
[[Page 16715]]
Nonresidential Urban Territory: Census blocks added to Eligible
Block Aggregations where the levels of imperviousness, number of jobs,
or the presence of an airport indicate they are urban in nature.
Rural: Territory not defined as urban.
Urban: Generally, densely developed territory, encompassing
residential, commercial, and other non-residential urban land uses
within which social and economic interactions occur.
Urban Area: A statistical geographic entity consisting of a densely
settled core created from census blocks and contiguous qualifying
territory that together have at least 2,000 housing units or 5,000
persons.
Urban Area Agglomeration (UAA): The resulting urban territory at
the completion of the delineation process but prior to the application
of split/merge criteria. UAAs may be split or merged if they contain
multiple 2010 Urban Areas or multiple EBAs that connected in the
process.
Urban Cluster (UC): A retired statistical geographic entity type
consisting of a densely settled core created from census tracts or
blocks and contiguous qualifying territory that together have at least
2,500 persons but fewer than 50,000 persons. Urban clusters were not
identified for the 2020 census.
Urbanized Area (UA): A retired statistical geographic entity type
consisting of a densely settled core created from census tracts or
blocks and adjacent densely settled territory that together have a
minimum population of 50,000 people. Urbanized areas were not
identified for the 2020 census.
Robert L. Santos, Director, Census Bureau, approved the publication
of this Notice in the Federal Register.
Dated: March 18, 2022.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2022-06180 Filed 3-23-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P
