Much of the data presented by HPRC are categorized by Urban and Rural Counties or Border and Non-Border Counties. Below are explanations of those designations:
Urban and Rural Counties
Counties are designated as Metropolitan or Non-Metropolitan by the U.S. Office of Budget and Management (OMB). HPRC currently uses the designations that took effect in 2003. In Texas, 77 counties are designated as Metropolitan and 177 are designated as Non-Metropolitan. HPRC uses the terms "Non-metropolitan and Metropolitan" interchangeably with "Rural and Urban."
More information can be found at http://www.census.gov/population/www/metroareas/.
Border and Non-Border Counties
Counties are designated as Border or Non-Border according to Article 4 of the La Paz Agreement of 1983, which defines a county as a Border county if that county is within 100 Kilometers of the U.S./Mexico border. There are 32 counties in Texas designated as Border counties by this definition.
The La Paz Agreement may be viewed at http://www.jac-ccc.org/Agreement.htm.
Note: External links to other sites are intended to be informational and do not have the endorsement of the Texas Department of State Health Services. These sites may also not be accessible to people with disabilities.