Geographic Data & Rural-Urban Classification¶

medicaid-utils includes built-in geographic classification for beneficiaries and crosswalk datasets linking ZIP codes, ZCTAs, PCSAs, and rural-urban codes.

Rural-Urban Classification via Person Summary¶

Both MAX and TAF person summary classes automatically classify beneficiaries as rural or non-rural during preprocessing. The classification is based on the beneficiary’s residence ZIP code.

from medicaid_utils.preprocessing import max_ps

# RUCA-based classification (default)
ps = max_ps.MAXPS(year=2012, state="WY", data_root="/data/cms")

# RUCC-based classification
ps = max_ps.MAXPS(year=2012, state="WY", data_root="/data/cms", rural_method="rucc")

After preprocessing, the DataFrame includes:

rural — 1 if rural, 0 if non-rural, -1 if unknown
ruca_code — the RUCA classification code (always created)
rucc_code — the RUCC classification code (always created)

The rural_method parameter controls which code is used to compute the rural column, but both code columns are always present.

RUCA Codes¶

Rural-Urban Commuting Area codes (version 3.1) classify census tracts by urbanization and commuting patterns:

Codes 1–3: Urban (metropolitan)
Codes 4–10: Rural (micropolitan, small town, isolated)

Source: USDA Economic Research Service

RUCC Codes¶

Rural-Urban Continuum Codes classify counties by population size and adjacency to metro areas:

Codes 1–3: Metro counties
Codes 4–9: Non-metro counties (4–7 are urban, 8–9 are rural)

Source: USDA Economic Research Service

Primary Care Service Areas (PCSA)¶

PCSAs are geographic units defined by the Dartmouth Atlas Project based on Medicare patient flow to primary care providers. medicaid-utils includes a ZIP-to-PCSA crosswalk from the Dartmouth Atlas.

ZIP Crosswalk Module¶

The zip module builds a comprehensive crosswalk linking ZIP codes to ZCTAs, PCSAs, and RUCA codes by combining multiple public data sources.

Pooling ZIP/PCSA datasets¶

pool_zipcode_pcsa_datasets() combines four data sources into a unified crosswalk:

Dartmouth Atlas — ZIP-to-PCSA crosswalk
SimpleMaps — ZIP code centroids and state codes
GeoNames — ZIP code geographic coordinates
UDS Mapper — ZIP-to-ZCTA crosswalk

from medicaid_utils.other_datasets import zip as zip_data

df_crosswalk = zip_data.pool_zipcode_pcsa_datasets()

Generating the full crosswalk¶

generate_zip_pcsa_ruca_crosswalk() extends the pooled dataset by merging RUCA codes:

df_full = zip_data.generate_zip_pcsa_ruca_crosswalk()
# Columns: zip, state_cd, pcsa, zcta, ruca_code, ...

Data Sources¶

Dataset	Source
RUCA 3.1	USDA Economic Research Service
RUCC	USDA Economic Research Service
PCSA crosswalk	Dartmouth Atlas Project (via data.world)
ZIP-ZCTA crosswalk	UDS Mapper
ZIP centroids	SimpleMaps, GeoNames