Commuting counties have a substantial share of their workforce commuting to jobs outside the county, are small, and are apt to be near a metro area.
The commuting counties represent counties whose economies are shaped, in part, by major outflows of workers commuting to jobs in other counties. These 381 counties had 40 percent to 84 percent of their workforce commuting to jobs outside the county. Over 6 million people, 12 percent of the nonmetro population, lived in the commuting counties in 1990.
Nearly two-thirds of these counties are in the South, and more than a fourth are in the Midwest (fig. 17). Georgia has 51 commuting counties, the largest number of any State. Other States having at least 20 commuting counties are Kentucky (33), Mississippi (20), Texas (25), and Virginia (27).
Associated with their location in States where counties tend to be small, commuting counties' average land area was 530 square miles in 1990 compared with an all-nonmetro county average of 1,256 square mile--the smallest of the 11 county types. Over two-thirds of the commuting counties adjoined a metro area to which their economies were likely linked (table 9). Nearly all of these either had no substantial urban population (under 20,000 persons living in cities and towns over 2,500 population) or were totally rural (no persons living in cities and towns over 2,500 population). An additional 25 percent of counties were nonadjacent and totally rural. Commuting counties gained population during the 1980's at a rate higher than the all-nonmetro rate; the fastest growth was in the 35 to 64 age group.
The dominant characteristics of the commuting counties indicate somewhat higher shares of disadvantaged populations. Relative to all-nonmetro counties, commuting counties had higher percentages of Blacks, disabled, unemployed, persons lacking a high school education, and high school dropouts, characteristics consistent with disproportionately southern location. The average per capita income in the commuting counties was $12,579, about $1,000 less than the all-nonmetro average, but median family income, which averaged $26,117 and per capita earnings, which averaged $8,236, were similar to the all-nonmetro values. Thus, income may be unevenly distributed between the working and poor populations. Activity within the local economies of commuting counties was considerably less than that in all-nonmetro counties. Reflecting the high reliance on external sources of work for many residents, the counties averaged only 35 jobs per 100 population, the lowest ratio of any of the types. The economic picture changes when the jobs and earnings for commuting workers are taken into account. For example, the worker/population ratio (all workers) for commuting counties was 66 workers per 100 population, about the same as the all- nonmetro average of 68 workers per 100 in 1990.
Industrial activity was slightly more oriented towards goods-producing jobs than other types except for manufacturing. Compared with all-nonmetro counties, overall earnings grew faster and overall jobs grew at a comparable rate (fig. 18). Over 70 percent of commuting counties saw some job growth during the decade.
The commuting counties' overlap with other types helps shed light on their economic status. A sizable number of counties are farming and/or former farming (140 in all), over 80 are also manufacturing, and 119 are in the nonspecialized category. Considering their small population size and proximity to metro areas, the commuting group, like the nonspecialized counties, seems to be made up of different county subgroups. One subgroup of counties are within commuting proximity of metro centers that are growing primarily from metro spillover and may function primarily as residential communities for commuting workers. A second subgroup includes current or former farming or manufacturing counties with low and/or declining economic bases that have forced workers to leave the county for jobs. A third subgroup includes very small counties that function as part of a larger labor market area.
Table 9--Commuting counties: Selected characteristics
All-
Commuting nonmetro
Item Unit counties counties
--------------------------- ------- ------- -------
Counties Number 381 2,276
Population, 1990 Thousands 6,048 50,898
Black population, 1990 Percent 13.0 8.0
Adjacent to metro area,
1993(1) do. 68.7 43.5
Population density, 1990(2,3) Number 35.0 36.3
Population change, 1980-90(3) Percent 4.7 .6
Per capita income, 1989(3) Dollars 12,579 13,580
Commuting workers, 1990(3) Percent 50.9 25.2
Earrnings change, 1979-89(4) do. 6.1 3.4
(1) Percentage of counties in group.
(2) Persons per square mile.
(3) Unweighted county averages.
(4) Calculated from aggregated data.
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