Urban vs. Rural: Counties Ranked in Maryland

Rural areas of the country are vast — covering 97 percent of the nation's footprint — but these areas account for less than 20 percent of the population, according to new census data released Thursday. Rural areas are disappearing in Maryland as large wooded areas are replaced with new neighborhoods, expansive supermarkets and the wider roads that are needed to address that development.

Data released Thursday as part of the 2015 American Community Survey looked at five years of U.S. Census Bureau estimates on housing and poverty and how that relates to the rural and urban divide. As part of the survey, every community in the country is surveyed on more than 40 topics, including housing, employment, education and more.

It found residents of rural areas are more likely to own their own homes and less likely to live in poverty. They're also more likely to have served in the military.

The census definition for "rural" is any area not considered urban. And the "urban" definition is set by standard measures, including population size and density and the amount of impervious surfaces (parking lots for example). There are exceptions for small airports (still rural) or large urban developments that may be separated from metro areas by large parks or nature preserves (still urban).

Of more than 3,100 counties, only 29 are completely urban and 704 are completely rural, so most of us live in counties with some mix of the two. Many cities, including Baltimore, are completely urban.

Here are Maryland's Rurality Levels, based on the percentage of the population living in areas designated "rural" by the census:

Garrett County: 83.9 percent rural
Caroline County: 76.0 percent rural
Kent County: 72.6 percent rural
Dorchester County: 56.2 percent rural
Talbot County: 54.7 percent rural
Queen Anne's County: 54.5 percent rural
St. Mary's County: 50.4 percent rural
Somerset County: 45.8 percent rural
Cecil County: 42.1 percent rural
Carroll County: 39.5 percent rural
Calvert County: 38.7 percent rural
Worcester County: 35.5 percent rural
Charles County: 29.5 percent rural
Washington County: 29.5 percent rural
Allegany County: 27.3 percent rural
Wicomico County: 25.8 percent rural
Frederick County: 25.2 percent rural
Harford County: 17.8 percent rural
Howard County: 9.3 percent rural
Baltimore County: 6.5 percent rural
Anne Arundel County: 5.3 percent rural
Montgomery County: 2.4 percent rural
Prince George's County: 2.0 percent rural
Baltimore city: 0.0 percent rural

Differences in Rural America

Among the national data, census estimates found:

• Most adults in both rural and urban areas owned their own homes, but the percentage was higher in rural areas (81.1 percent compared to 59.8 percent).
• Adults in rural areas were also more likely to live in single-family homes (78.3 percent compared to 64.6 percent) and live in their state of birth (65.4 percent compared with 48.3 percent).
• Veterans comprised 10.4 percent of the population of adults in rural areas compared to 7.8 percent of adults in urban areas.

More of the residents of rural areas were older, with a median age of 51, compared to adults in urban areas with a median age of 45.

Rural households had slightly lower household incomes, but there were fewer in poverty. Home values were lower, but mortgage costs were less and they were more likely to own their home.

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