The USDA, Economic Research Service’s (ERS) Frontier and Remote area (FAR) codes classify the remoteness of U.S. census tracts and ZIP Codes. Locations are characterized as "frontier and remote" by a combination of low population and geographic isolation from cities and towns. There are four nested FAR code levels that capture the varying degrees of remoteness experienced throughout the country. This allows users to choose the definition of frontier and remote that best suits their specific needs.
FAR codes are assigned to areas based on the time it takes to travel by car to the edges of nearby urban areas. The four FAR code levels capture variation in the goods and services available in urban areas. This variation depends, in part, on the size of the urban area. FAR Level 1 describes difficulty accessing “high order” goods and services that are available in larger cities, such as advanced medical procedures, stores selling major household appliances, regional airport hubs, or professional sports franchises. This relatively expansive definition represents a lower degree of remoteness, with 12.8 million FAR Level 1 residents (3.9 percent of the U.S. population) in 2020.
At the other end of the spectrum, FAR Level 4 describes difficulty accessing “low order” goods and services that are available even in small towns, such as grocery stores, gas stations, and basic healthcare services. This is the most restrictive definition in the data product and represents a higher degree of remoteness, with 3.6 million FAR Level 4 residents (1.1 percent of the U.S. population) in 2020. The variety of definitions and sub-county units of analysis in the FAR codes result in a geographically detailed data product that may be applied in diverse research and policy contexts.
Highlights
- This data product delineates frontier and remote areas for census tracts and ZIP Codes in the United States based on the population and geographic isolation of the area.
- The FAR codes contain four nested levels of classification. They vary from FAR Level 1, which includes the most population and land area (the most expansive), to FAR Level 4, which includes the least population and land area (the most restrictive).
- The census tract and ZIP Code versions of the 2020 FAR codes data product are distinct. The versions were developed using the same data inputs and methods; however, the areas determined to be FAR may vary between census tracts and ZIP Codes because of the different geographic units used to create the final data.
- The census tract and ZIP Code versions of the 2020 data are available in separate files. The data include indicators for each FAR level, the grid-estimated FAR population and percentage for each unit, and the grid-estimated population, area, and population density, as well as geographic identifiers.
- Earlier versions of the FAR codes (2000 and 2010) are also available. The versions are not directly comparable because of changes each decade to geographic boundaries and data inputs. The 2000 FAR codes only classify ZIP Codes in the contiguous United States. The 2010 and 2020 FAR codes classify all ZIP Codes in the 50 U.S. States and Washington, DC. Census tracts versions of the data are available for both the 2010 and 2020 FAR codes and were released during the 2020 FAR code update.
Additional information about the FAR codes can be found in the downloadable files below—which include the data, definitions and sources, and a codebook for the FAR codes and supporting variables. To determine the census tract for a particular location within a county, please see the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council's FFIEC Geocoding/Mapping System.
For more details on the background and creation of the FAR codes, see the Documentation page. A comparison of the different FAR code levels and discussion of the State summary tables is available on the Descriptions and Maps page. Information on the differences between the ZIP Code and census tract versions of the data, as well as the differences between the 2010 and 2020 vintages, is available in the Users' Guide.
Geospatial Data Files
Geospatial versions of the data are available on the ERS Geospatial Resources page. Shapefiles, which combine the FAR codes data product with location boundaries, are available for the 2020 ZIP Codes and census tracts. A grid cell version of each of the 2020 FAR code levels is also available.