The NCES Education Demographic and Geographic Estimates (EDGE) program designs and develops information resources to help understand the social and spatial context of education in the United States. It uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to create custom indicators of social, economic, and housing conditions for school-age children and their parents. It also uses spatial data collected by NCES and the Census Bureau to create geographic locale indicators, school point locations, school district boundaries, and other types of data to support spatial analysis.
Education Demographic and Geographic Estimates (EDGE) icon
Education Demographic and
Geographic Estimates
Visit mapED

Locale Classifications

A locale classification (139 KB) is a general geographic indicator that describes the type of area where a school is located. NCES classifies all territory in the U.S. into four types – City, Suburban, Town, and Rural – and each type is divided into three subtypes based on population size or proximity to populated areas. The classifications begin with standard urban and rural criteria defined by the Census Bureau, and NCES extends these designations to provide additional detail. The Locale Lookup map tool provides an easy way to see locales assigned to different locations.

School locale assignments are available for download in the School Locations and Geoassignments files. These data are also directly accessible as GIS web services.

Fringe (41)
Territory outside an urban area that is less than or equal to 5 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more, as well as territory outside an urban area that is less than or equal to 2.5 miles from an urban area with population less than 50,000.

Distant (42)
Territory outside an urban area that is more than 5 miles but less than or equal to 25 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more, as well as territory outside an urban area that is more than 2.5 miles but less than or equal to 10 miles from an urban area with population less than 50,000.

Remote (43)
Territory outside an urban area that is more than 25 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more and is also more than 10 miles from an urban area with population less than 50,000.

Fringe (31)
Territory inside an urban area with population less than 50,000 that is less than or equal to 10 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more.

Distant (32)
Territory inside an urban area with population less than 50,000 that is more than 10 miles and less than or equal to 35 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more.

Remote (33)
Territory inside an urban area with population less than 50,000 that is more than 35 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more.

Large (21)
Territory outside a principal city and inside an urban area with population of 250,000 or more.

Midsize (22)
Territory outside a principal city and inside an urban area with population less than 250,000 and greater than or equal to 100,000.

Small (23)
Territory outside a principal city and inside an urban area with population less than 100,000 and greater than or equal to 50,000.

Large (11)
Territory inside an urban area with population of 50,000 or more and inside a principal city with population of 250,000 or more.

Midsize (12)
Territory inside an urban area with population of 50,000 or more and inside a principal city with population less than 250,000 and greater than or equal to 100,000.

Small (13)
Territory inside an urban area with population of 50,000 or more and inside a principal city with population less than 100,000.

Locale Boundaries

Locale boundaries can be used with a geographic information system (GIS) to assign the NCES locale framework to other types of geographic data. They can also be used to identify places and conditions contained within or across different types of locales. For more information, see the Locale Boundaries Technical Documentation (566 KB).

less
more

Data

Entire US (242 MB)

User Notes

  1. Geographic inputs are sourced from TIGER 2023.
  2. Urban areas are based on the 2020 Census Urban Area Criteria.
  3. Principal city definitions rely on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) updates to metropolitan and micropolitan area components as of July 2023.
  4. City size classifications are based on 2022 Census Population Estimates.
  5. Suburban size and Town classifications are based on 2020 census counts.

User Notes

Locale boundaries for 2022 were not developed because necessary 2020 Census geographic data inputs were unavailable.

Data

Entire US (463 MB)

User Notes

  1. Geographic inputs are sourced from TIGER 2021.
  2. Suburban and Town areas are based on the 2010 Census Urban Area Criteria.
  3. Principal City definitions rely on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) updates to metropolitan and micropolitan area components as of March 2020.
  4. City size classifications are based on 2020 Census Population Estimates.
  5. Suburban size and Town classifications are based on 2010 census counts.

Data

Entire US (463 MB)

User Notes

  1. Geographic inputs are sourced from TIGER 2020.
  2. Suburban and Town areas are based on the 2010 Census Urban Area Criteria.
  3. Principal City definitions rely on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) updates to metropolitan and micropolitan area components as of March 2020.
  4. City size classifications are based on 2019 Census Population Estimates.
  5. Suburban size and Town classifications are based on 2010 census counts.
Locale Lookup Locale Lookup

Documentation

  1. Geverdt, D. (2015, December). Education Demographic and Geographic Estimates Program (EDGE): Locale Boundaries User’s Manual (NCES 2016-012). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics (1 MB)
  2. Geverdt, D. (2005). Review of NCES school locale tabulation and analysis. Technical Memorandum. Washington, DC. U.S. Census Bureau (814 KB)

Supplemental Indicators

E-Rate Locales

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) administers the E-Rate program to provide discounts to schools and libraries for purchases of telecommunications equipment and services. The program relies on school and district-level urban and rural assignments to determine the discount level. Urban assignments are based on territory that includes all Census-defined Urbanized Areas and all Urban Clusters with a population of 25,000 or more. Rural assignments are based on territory that includes all Census-defined rural territory, as well as Urban Clusters with a population less than 25,000. Although the U.S. Department of Education does not operate the E-Rate program, it serves many of the same schools and school districts that participate in E-Rate. Additional information about the E-Rate program is available at www.usac.org/sl.
E-Rate Locale Boundaries (55 MB)

Presentations

  1. Geverdt, D. (2015, July). Corn and Corndogs: New Developments in Rural Classifications and Locale Boundaries. Presentation at the annual NCES Summer Data Conference. Washington, DC (3.7 MB)
  2. Geverdt, D. & Snediker, D. (2015, April). Digital Divides and Funding Flexibility: Consequences of Rural Classifications Used for Federal Education Programs. Presentation at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers. Chicago, IL (2.5 MB)
  3. Snediker, D. & Geverdt, D. (2015, April) Redefining the Digital Divide: The Impact of Changes in Rural Definitions for E-Rate Discount Eligibility. Presentation at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers. Chicago, IL (1.7)
  4. Geverdt, D. (2014, April). Educational Geography: An Overview of Common Geographic Areas Used in Educational Research. Philadelphia, PA (10 MB)
  5. Geverdt, D. (2013, July). Using GIS to Update Federal Education Geographic Indicators: Integrating the 2010 Urban Delineation. Presentation at the annual ESRI Education User Conference. San Diego, CA (3.6)

Other NCES locale-related resources

  1. Rural education
  2. Urban education