The Revised ERS County Typology:
An Overview.

By Peggy J. Cook and Karen L. Mizer.
Rural Economy Division,
Economic Research Service,
U. S. Department of Agriculture.
Rural Development Research Report 89.

Abstract

This report describes an expanded and revised version of the Economic Research Service's 1979 classification of nonmetro counties, commonly called the ERS typology. The classification has been widely used by researchers, policy analysts, and public officials as a source of information about the economic and social diversity characterizing rural America. The revised typology classifies counties designated as nonmetro in 1993 into one of six nonoverlapping types that indicate the county's primary economic activity: farming-dependent, mining-dependent, manufacturing-dependent, government-dependent, services-dependent, and nonspecialized. The revised typology also classifies counties according to five other overlapping types with special relevancy for rural policy: retirement-destination, Federal lands, commuting, persistent poverty, and tranfers-dependent. This analysis focuses on the distributions of nonmetro counties across the types and provides brief economic and sociodemographic profiles for each type. Particular attention is given to population and economic changes during the 1980's.

Keywords: economic base, typology, county types, rural, farming, mining, manufacturing, government, services, nonspecialized, retirement-destination, Federal lands, commuting, persistent poverty, transfer payments, rural development.

Table of Contents

• Preface
• Highlights: ERS Typology Depicts Rural Diversity
• Introduction: Revising the ERS Typology
• Economic Type
  • Farming-Dependent Counties
  • Mining-Dependent Counties
  • Manufacturing-Dependent Counties
  • Government-Dependent Counties
  • Services-Dependent Counties
  • Nonspecialized Counties
• Policy Type
  • Retirement-Destination Counties
  • Federal Lands Counties
  • Commuting Counties
  • Persistent Poverty Counties
  • Transfers-Dependent Counties
• References
• Appendix: Data, Definitions, and Procedures

Acknowledgments

This report reflects the efforts of the Economic Research Service's typology research team who collectively developed a rationale and design for revising the ERS county typology. Members of the working group were G. Andrew Bernat, Calvin L. Beale, Peggy J. Cook, Thomas F. Hady, Alex Majchrowicz, Karen L. Mizer, and Peter Stenberg. Other team members providing input and general oversight of the work were Thomas A. Carlin, Kenneth L. Deavers, Linda M. Ghelfi, and Sara M. Mazie. The authors, who are respectively a senior sociologist with the Rural Economy Division and a computer programmer/analyst, Information Services Division, gratefully acknowledge the contributions of all their colleagues. Special thanks go to Calvin Beale, Richard Long, Linda Ghelfi, and Sara Mazie who provided insightful and helpful reviewers' comments and to Lindsay Mann who served as technical editor for the manuscript.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Economic Research Service, Rm 324
1301 New York Ave., NW.
Washington, DC 20005-4788
November 1994

Notes

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• The parent section ... Understanding Rural America