Urban Core, Urban Fringe and Rural Fringe

Urban core, urban fringe, and rural fringe can be used to distinguish the types of communities included in a census metropolitan area (CMA) or census agglomeration (CA). Together the urban core, urban fringe and rural fringe cover all territory within a CMA or CA.

Urban core is a large urban area around which a census metropolitan area or a census agglomeration is delineated. The urban core must have a population (based on the previous census) of at least 100,000 in the case of a CMA, or between 10,000 and 99,999 in the case of a CA.