Overview
An area's economic and social characteristics have significant effects on its development and need for various types of public programs. To provide policy-relevant information about diverse county conditions to policymakers, public officials, and researchers, ERS has developed a set of county-level typology codes that captures differences in economic and social characteristics.
The 2004 County Typology codes classify all U.S. counties according to six non-overlapping categories of economic dependence and seven overlapping categories of policy-relevant themes. The economic types include farming, mining, manufacturing, services, Federal/State government, and unspecialized counties. The policy types include housing stress, low education, low employment, persistent poverty, population loss, nonmetro recreation, and retirement destination. In addition, a code identifying counties with persistent child poverty is available.
An update of the County Typology codes is planned for 2014.
Data Set
Download as Excel
Downloads Last Updated Next Update
2004 County Typology Codes Download as Excel 7/1/2008 1/1/2014
1989 County Typology Codes Download as Excel 9/2/2009
1979 and 1986 County Typology Codes (uses the 1983 nonmetro definition) Download as Excel 9/3/2009
1979 and 1986 County Typology Codes (uses the 1974 nonmetro definition) Download as Excel 9/3/2009
