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Locales 2023

Published by National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) | Department of Education | Catalog Last Checked: May 08, 2026 at 08:15 PM | Dataset Last Updated: March 18, 2026 at 11:06 PM
This data layer produced by the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) Education Demographic and Geographic Estimates (EDGE) program provides a geographic locale framework that classifies all U.S. territory into twelve categories ranging from Large Cities to Remote Rural areas. NCES uses this framework to describe the type of geographic area where schools and school districts are located. The criteria for these classifications are defined by NCES, and rely on standard geographic areas developed and maintained by the U.S. Census Bureau. The NCES Locale boundaries are based on geographic areas represented in Census TIGER/Line. For more information about the NCES locale framework, and to download the data, see: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/edge/Geographic/LocaleBoundaries. The classifications include:City – Large (11): Territory inside an urban area with population of 50,000 or more and inside a principal city with population of 250,000 or more.City – Midsize (12): Territory inside an urban area with population of 50,000 or more and inside a principal city with population less than 250,000 and greater than or equal to 100,000.City – Small (13): Territory inside an urban area with population of 50,000 or more and inside a principal city with population less than 100,000.Suburban – Large (21): Territory outside a principal city and inside an urban area with population of 250,000 or more.Suburban – Midsize (22): Territory outside a principal city and inside an urban area with population less than 250,000 and greater than or equal to 100,000.Suburban – Small (23): Territory outside a principal city and inside an urban area with population less than 100,000 and greater than or equal to 50,000.Town – Fringe (31): Territory inside an urban area with population less than 50,000 that is less than or equal to 10 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more.Town – Distant (32): Territory inside an urban area with population less than 50,000 that is more than 10 miles and less than or equal to 35 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more.Town – Remote (33): Territory inside an urban area with population less than 50,000 that is more than 35 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more.Rural – Fringe (41): Territory outside an urban area that is less than or equal to 5 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more, as well as territory outside an urban area that is less than or equal to 2.5 miles from an urban area with population less than 50,000.Rural – Distant (42): Territory outside an urban area that is more than 5 miles but less than or equal to 25 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more, as well as territory outside an urban area that is more than 2.5 miles but less than or equal to 10 miles from an urban area with population less than 50,000.Rural – Remote (43): Territory outside an urban area that is more than 25 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more and is also more than 10 miles from an urban area with population less than 50,000.All information contained in this file is in the public domain. Data users are advised to review NCES program documentation and feature class metadata to understand the limitations and appropriate use of these data.

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Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel public
bureauCode 
                                            [
  "018:00",
  "018:50"
]
contactPoint 
                                            {
  "fn": "OpenDataMgr_NCES",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:edge@ed.gov"
}
description <div style='text-align:Left;'><p style='margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:1.5rem; font-family:&quot;Avenir Next W01&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next W00&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next&quot;, Avenir, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif; font-size:16px;'>This data layer produced by the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) Education Demographic and Geographic Estimates (EDGE) program provides a geographic locale framework that classifies all U.S. territory into twelve categories ranging from Large Cities to Remote Rural areas. NCES uses this framework to describe the type of geographic area where schools and school districts are located. The criteria for these classifications are defined by NCES, and rely on standard geographic areas developed and maintained by the U.S. Census Bureau. The NCES Locale boundaries are based on geographic areas represented in Census TIGER/Line. For more information about the NCES locale framework, and to download the data, see: <a href='https://nces.ed.gov/programs/edge/Geographic/LocaleBoundaries' style='color:rgb(0, 97, 155); text-decoration-line:none; font-family:inherit;' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'>https://nces.ed.gov/programs/edge/Geographic/LocaleBoundaries</a>. The classifications include:</p><div><ul><li><font face='Avenir Next W01, Avenir Next W00, Avenir Next, Avenir, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif'><span style='font-size:16px;'>City – Large (11): Territory inside an urban area with population of 50,000 or more and inside a principal city with population of 250,000 or more.</span></font></li><li><font face='Avenir Next W01, Avenir Next W00, Avenir Next, Avenir, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif'><span style='font-size:16px;'>City – Midsize (12): Territory inside an urban area with population of 50,000 or more and inside a principal city with population less than 250,000 and greater than or equal to 100,000.</span></font></li><li><font face='Avenir Next W01, Avenir Next W00, Avenir Next, Avenir, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif'><span style='font-size:16px;'>City – Small (13): Territory inside an urban area with population of 50,000 or more and inside a principal city with population less than 100,000.</span></font></li><li><font face='Avenir Next W01, Avenir Next W00, Avenir Next, Avenir, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif'><span style='font-size:16px;'>Suburban – Large (21): Territory outside a principal city and inside an urban area with population of 250,000 or more.</span></font></li><li><font face='Avenir Next W01, Avenir Next W00, Avenir Next, Avenir, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif'><span style='font-size:16px;'>Suburban – Midsize (22): Territory outside a principal city and inside an urban area with population less than 250,000 and greater than or equal to 100,000.</span></font></li><li><font face='Avenir Next W01, Avenir Next W00, Avenir Next, Avenir, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif'><span style='font-size:16px;'>Suburban – Small (23): Territory outside a principal city and inside an urban area with population less than 100,000 and greater than or equal to 50,000.</span></font></li><li><font face='Avenir Next W01, Avenir Next W00, Avenir Next, Avenir, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif'><span style='font-size:16px;'>Town – Fringe (31): Territory inside an urban area with population less than 50,000 that is less than or equal to 10 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more.</span></font></li><li><font face='Avenir Next W01, Avenir Next W00, Avenir Next, Avenir, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif'><span style='font-size:16px;'>Town – Distant (32): Territory inside an urban area with population less than 50,000 that is more than 10 miles and less than or equal to 35 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more.</span></font></li><li><font face='Avenir Next W01, Avenir Next W00, Avenir Next, Avenir, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif'><span style='font-size:16px;'>Town – Remote (33): Territory inside an urban area with population less than 50,000 that is more than 35 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more.</span></font></li><li><font face='Avenir Next W01, Avenir Next W00, Avenir Next, Avenir, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif'><span style='font-size:16px;'>Rural – Fringe (41): Territory outside an urban area that is less than or equal to 5 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more, as well as territory outside an urban area that is less than or equal to 2.5 miles from an urban area with population less than 50,000.</span></font></li><li><font face='Avenir Next W01, Avenir Next W00, Avenir Next, Avenir, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif'><span style='font-size:16px;'>Rural – Distant (42): Territory outside an urban area that is more than 5 miles but less than or equal to 25 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more, as well as territory outside an urban area that is more than 2.5 miles but less than or equal to 10 miles from an urban area with population less than 50,000.</span></font></li><li><font face='Avenir Next W01, Avenir Next W00, Avenir Next, Avenir, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif'><span style='font-size:16px;'>Rural – Remote (43): Territory outside an urban area that is more than 25 miles from an urban area with population of 50,000 or more and is also more than 10 miles from an urban area with population less than 50,000.</span></font></li></ul></div><p><span style='font-family:&quot;Avenir Next W01&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next W00&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next&quot;, Avenir, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif; font-size:16px;'>All information contained in this file is in the public domain. Data users are advised to review NCES program documentation and feature class metadata to understand the limitations and appropriate use of these data.</span></p><p></p></div>
distribution 
                                            [
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "REST Service",
    "accessURL": "https://nces.ed.gov/opengis/rest/services/Locale_Boundaries/EDGE_LOCALE23_US/MapServer/"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "CSV",
    "format": "CSV",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "downloadURL": "https://data-nces.opendata.arcgis.com/api/download/v1/items/314dae533a18438b9ad32ab224b1b363/csv?layers=0"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "GeoJSON",
    "format": "GeoJSON",
    "mediaType": "application/vnd.geo+json",
    "downloadURL": "https://data-nces.opendata.arcgis.com/api/download/v1/items/314dae533a18438b9ad32ab224b1b363/geojson?layers=0"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "KML",
    "format": "KML",
    "mediaType": "application/vnd.google-earth.kml+xml",
    "downloadURL": "https://data-nces.opendata.arcgis.com/api/download/v1/items/314dae533a18438b9ad32ab224b1b363/kml?layers=0"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Shapefile",
    "format": "ZIP",
    "mediaType": "application/zip",
    "downloadURL": "https://data-nces.opendata.arcgis.com/api/download/v1/items/314dae533a18438b9ad32ab224b1b363/shapefile?layers=0"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "ArcGIS Hub Dataset",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "downloadURL": "https://data-nces.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/nces::locales-2023"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "ArcGIS GeoService",
    "format": "ArcGIS GeoServices REST API",
    "mediaType": "application/json",
    "downloadURL": "https://nces.ed.gov/opengis/rest/services/Locale_Boundaries/EDGE_LOCALE23_US/MapServer/0"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Entire US",
    "format": "ZIP",
    "mediaType": "application/zip",
    "downloadURL": "https://nces.ed.gov/programs/edge/data/EDGE_Locale23_US.zip"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Locale Boundaries Technical Documentation",
    "format": "PDF",
    "mediaType": "application/pdf",
    "downloadURL": "https://nces.ed.gov/programs/edge/docs/EDGE_LOCALE_TECHDOC.pdf"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Original ISO-19139 metadata",
    "format": "XML",
    "mediaType": "text/xml",
    "downloadURL": "https://www.arcgis.com/sharing/rest/content/items/314dae533a18438b9ad32ab224b1b363/info/metadata/metadata.xml?format=iso19139"
  }
]
identifier bfb83312-93c2-4dc2-a2c1-14d28f4ba7de
issued 2025-01-08T20:51:47.000Z
keyword 
                                            [
  "0ee4621b-38be-46bb-8360-219726022a58",
  "city",
  "distant",
  "fringe",
  "geography",
  "geospatial",
  "indicators",
  "locale",
  "nces",
  "remote",
  "rural",
  "school",
  "school-district",
  "suburb",
  "town"
]
landingPage https://data-nces.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/nces::locales-2023
license https://resources.data.gov/open-licenses/
modified 2026-03-18T23:06:38.084802
programCode 
                                            [
  "018:107"
]
publisher 
                                            {
  "name": "National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
rights other-license-specified; other-license-specified
spatial -179.16855109086012,-14.548699019644005,179.74872422774104,71.38961016517703
theme 
                                            [
  "geospatial"
]
title Locales 2023

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