North Alabama towns lose urban designation

WASHINGTON — Nearly a half-dozen north Alabama towns are among 24 statewide that have been reclassified rural by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Last week, the bureau designated Haleyville, Hamilton, Hanceville, Hazel Green, and Moulton as rural areas. They were, prior to the 2020 census, urban areas.

The change comes after the bureau redefined the population requirements to be considered urban rather than rural. According to the one of the new requirements, an area must have at least 5,000 people or 2,000 housing units to be listed in the urban category.

The bureau’s new requirements include:

• The use of housing unit density instead of solely population density. The minimum population threshold to qualify as urban increased from 2,500 to 5,000 or a minimum housing unit threshold of 2,000 housing units.
• The jump distance was reduced from 2.5 miles to 1.5 miles for 2020. Jump distance is the distance along roads used to connect high-density urban territories surrounded by rural territory.
• No longer distinguishing between urbanized areas and urban clusters. All qualifying areas are designated urban areas.

The original population requirement, established in 1910, mandated that a town or area had to have at least 2,500 people residing in it to be called urban.

This change also transitioned 100,000 residents into the enlarged rural category. The trend of shrinking urban areas is not an isolated occurrence in Alabama only, the bureau said. It is happening all across the country.

According to census.gov, “Urban areas, defined as densely developed residential, commercial, and other nonresidential areas, now account for 80% of the U.S. population, down from 80.7% in 2010.”

This is not a sign of substantial urban to rural migration, the bureau said. These shifts in proportions are largely the result of changes to the criteria.

“Nationally, about 1,000 cities, villages and towns were moved from urban to rural,” the bureau said.

The former urban areas in the state that are now rural are Brent, Centre, Columbiana, Evergreen, Fayette, Geneva, Grand Bay, Haleyville, Hamilton, Hanceville, Hazel Green, Headland, Jackson, Lake View, Moulton, Moundville, Piedmont, Roanoke, Springville, Sumiton, Tallassee, Thomasville, Union Springs and Woodstock.