The line between rural and urban has become increasingly blurry as American families move further away from city centers in search of space, amenities and lifestyle changes. As suburbs increasingly become employment centers, workers are able to move even further into rural areas and still have a reasonable commute.

Changes in where people live and work point to the need for new kinds of classifications that consider the social and economic relationships across the urban-rural divide, according to an analysis by the U.S. Census Bureau. Such definitions may move away from describing communities simply as urban, rural, metropolitan or nonmetropolitan.

A rural community within easy driving distance of an urban area, for example, has access to services, amenities and opportunities that are more urban by definition. Meanwhile, a small town more distant from a larger urban center might support services and retail not needed in small communities on the edge of a large urban area, allowing small businesses to compete against larger urban retailers. Isolated rural areas may not have enough people to sustain retail establishments, hospitals and other services, the analysis noted.