Research Alert: April 9, 2015

A Rural Taxonomy of Population and Health-Resource Characteristics

This policy brief reports the newly developed taxonomy of rural places based on relevant population and health-resource characteristics; and discusses how this classification tool can be utilized by policy makers and rural communities. Using the most current data from multiple sources, we applied the cluster analysis to classify 10 distinct types of rural places based on characteristics related to both demand (population) and supply (health resources) sides of the health services market. In descending order, the most significant dimension in our classification was facility resources, followed by provider resources, economic resources, and age distribution. Each type of rural places was distinct from other types of places based on one or two defining dimensions.

Additional Resources of Interest:

• More information about the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
• More information from the Rural Health Information Hub's topic guides: Community Vitality and Rural Healthcare, Public Health Agencies, What is Rural?