The federal government defines rural differently for different reasons. Do you know if your area is designated to be rural? Click on the following resources to see if your area is rural or for a more complete definition of what rural means.
Interactive rural maps of Mississippi
What is rural?
Create a custom report to determine if you are rural
Mississippi’s Definition of Rural
The Mississippi State Department of Health recently passed a definition of “What is Rural” for the State of Mississippi. According to Rule 1.3.1, the state defines a rural area as: 1) a Mississippi county that has a population less than 50,000 individuals; 2) an area that is less than 500 individuals per square mile; or 3) a municipality of less than 15,000 individuals.
This definition is allowed by the federal government to “trump” federal designations of rural, specifically for identification of hospitals in rural areas.
Read the full State Health Plan
New Process for Determining Rural Location for RHCs
CMS officially released the interim process that will be used in determining RHC rural location determinations following the Census Bureau’s definition changes.
The interim process is as follows:
- RHC applicants or relocating RHCs will meet the rural location requirement if the physical address is “non-urbanized” or in an “urban cluster” per the 2010 Census Bureau Data, OR if the physical address is not an urban area per the 2020 Census Bureau Data
- Both 2010 and 2020 Census Bureau data can be found here
Mississippi Rural Health Association 