The revised typology reflects both conceptual and definitional changes to the earlier typologies.
This report describes an expanded and revised version of the Economic Research Service's (ERS) classification of nonmetro counties, commonly called the ERS county typology. The 1990 revised typology builds on the basic conceptual scheme of the original typology but incorporates both conceptual and definitional changes. The typology's design includes categories that represent the primary economic activity of county economies and categories that reflect other themes with special policy significance.
The revised typology classifies counties designated as nonmetro in 1993 (based on population and commuting data from the 1990 Census) into one of six mutually exclusive economic types. Four types were retained from the original typology: farming-dependent, manufacturing-dependent, mining-dependent, and government-dependent. A fifth type, services-dependent counties, was added in response to the growing proliferation of services jobs in the national economy. The sixth type, nonspecialized counties, includes those counties whose economies did not meet the criteria for any of the major economic specializations.
The revised typology also classifies nonmetro counties by each of five policy criteria. Three of the policy types--retirement-destination, Federal lands, and persistent poverty--were revised from the original typology. A commuting type was added to reflect county economies influenced by workers commuting to jobs in other counties, and a transfers-dependent type was added to identify county economies heavily reliant on income from government transfer payments.
In delineating the typology, the research team used essentially the same conceptual approach and data sources as in the earlier typologies. However, definitional and procedural changes were made to improve the clarity and usefulness of the typology. For the first time, the typology classifies nonmetro areas in Alaska and Hawaii. A major change was the establishment of mutually exclusive economic types, making the typology more useful for statistical analyses. Another change was the use of a poverty-based rather than a low per capita income-based definition of the persistent poverty category.
Using the definitions shown on the facing page, 2,259 of the 2,276 nonmetro counties were classified into one of the six economic types, and, as applicable, 1,197 counties were classified into one or more of the five policy types. Definitions for the economic types are based on 3-year measures. The results of the classification appear in the box below. Modified definitions were employed to classify 17 counties omitted from the economic types because of data suppression. Classifications for these 17 counties along with more detailed information about data sources and procedures used to operationalize the new typology are described in the appendix. Appendix tables report more detailed economic and sociodemographic information about the types. This information forms the basis for the separate descriptive profiles of each county type that follow.
Number of Counties in 1989 Typology 55 farming-dependent 190 retirement-destination 146 mining-dependent 270 Federal lands 506 manufacturing-dependent 381 commuting 244 government-dependent 535 persistent poverty 323 services-dependent 381 transfers-dependent 484 nonspecialized
Farming-dependent--Farming contributed a weighted annual average of 20 percent or more of total labor and proprietor income over the 3 years from 1987 to 1989.
Mining-dependent--Mining contributed a weighted annual average of 15 percent or more of total labor and proprietor income over the 3 years from 1987 to 1989.
Manufacturing-dependent--Manufacturing contributed a weighted annual average of 30 percent or more of total labor and proprietor income over the 3 years from 1987 to 1989.
Government-dependent--Government activities contributed a weighted annual average of 25 percent or more of total labor and proprietor income over the 3 years from 1987 to 1989.
Services-dependent--Service activities (private and personal services, agricultural services, wholesale and retail trade, finance and insurance, transportation and public utilities) contributed a weighted annual average of 50 percent or more of total labor and proprietor income over the 3 years from 1987 to 1989.
Nonspecialized--Counties not classified as a specialized economic type over the 3 years from 1987 to 1989.
Retirement-destination--The population aged 60 years and over in 1990 increased by 15 percent or more during 1980-90 through inmovement of people.
Federal lands--Federally owned lands made up 30 percent or more of a county's land area in the year 1987.
Commuting--Workers aged 16 years and over commuting to jobs outside their county of residence were 40 percent or more of all the county's workers in 1990.
Persistent poverty--Persons with poverty-level income in the preceding year were 20 percent or more of total population in each of 4 years: 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990.
Transfers-dependent--Income from transfer payments (Federal, State, and local) contributed a weighted annual average of 25 percent or more of total personal income over the 3 years from 1987 to 1989.
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