USDA Economic Research Service is soliciting feedback on proposed definitions of “frontier and remote areas” (FAR), which would replace the previous definition used for frontier counties. The idea is to develop a measure which can be used for policy, and the proposed definitions use travel time to urban areas of various sizes. Four zones have been proposed, and how Oklahoma would be classified:
% of Land Area in this Classification | % of 2000 Population in this Classification | |||
Zone 1 | ZIP Code areas with majority populations living 60 minutes or more from urban areas of 50,000 or more people. | Least remote | 56.2 | 17 |
Zone 2 | ZIP Code areas with majority populations living 60 minutes or more from urban areas of 50,000 or more people; and 45 minutes or more from urban areas of 25,000-49,999 people. | 47.1 | 12.2 | |
Zone 3 | ZIP Code areas with majority populations living 60 minutes or more from urban areas of 50,000 or more people; and 45 minutes or more from urban areas of 25,000-49,999 people; and 30 minutes from urban areas of 10,000-24,999 people. | 35.7 | 7 | |
Zone 4 | ZIP Code areas with majority populations living 60 minutes or more from urban areas of 50,000 or more people; and 45 minutes or more from urban areas of 25,000-49,999 people; and 30 minutes from urban areas of 10,000-24,999 people; and 15 minutes or more from urban areas of 2,500-9,999 people. | Most remote | 30.1 | 4.1 |
More information is available, including county maps identifying which counties fall into each zone, is available at: http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/frontier-and-remote-area-codes.aspx; you can also check out an article about these zones from the Daily Yonder at http://www.dailyyonder.com/comment-now-far-definition/2012/12/27/5561
Comments on this classification system will be accepted until the end of business on January 4, 2013; comments may be submitted via email to shirch@hrsa.gov, or via mail to Office of Rural Health Policy, Health Resources and Services Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, Parklawn Building, 5A-05, Rockville, MD 20857, or by fax to 301-443-2803.
Assistant Professor and Community Development Specialist
Department of Agricultural Economics
Oklahoma State University
323 Ag Hall
Stillwater, OK 74078
405-744-6170
http://rd.okstate.edu
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