Full Citation

Title: Reassessing and Revising Commuting Zones for 2010: History, Assessment, and Updates for U.S. Labor-Sheds 19902010

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2016

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI:

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: This paper employs commuter flow data from the 1990 and 2000 Decennial Censuses, and the 20062010 American Community Survey to replicate, evaluate, and extend the delineation of commuting zones first proposed by Tolbert and Killian (Labor Market Areas for the United States, 1987). Commuting zones offer a valuable tool for research on regional economies and have long served rural sociologists, economists, and geographers interested in a representation of the economy that acknowledges a connection between urban and rural areas and the capacity of economic systems to cross state lines. Our delineations provide both an update in the form of new delineations for 2010 and a revised set of 1990 and 2000 delineations that benefit from a consistent methodology across decades. We also provide a set of tools for comparing delineations across methods and over time. In presenting our revised delineations, we shed light on the role of expert opinion in the original delineations, the strengths and weaknesses of the original method, and offer suggestions for further revision of this tool that may better reflect the theoretical conception of commuting zones.

Url: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11113-016-9386-0

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Fowler, Christopher S; Rhubart, Danielle C; Jensen, Leif

Periodical (Full): Population Research and Policy Review

Issue: 2

Volume: 35

Pages: 263-548

Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Land Use/Urban Organization

Countries: United States