Contemporary research has measured differences between rural and its urban/suburban counterparts on the backdrop of social, economic, political and health phenomena. However, given the ambiguity of its definition, varying meanings and applications of the word ‘rural’ exist. In this paper we explored three different popular uses of the term rural on the backdrop of quantitative data with findings highlighting 1) there do exist statistical differences in data depending upon how rural is defined and 2) the definition of rural provided through the USDA’s Rural-Urban Commuting Areas (RUCA) best aligned with other definitions of rural. •There are many ways to define rural both quantitatively and qualitatively.•Statistical analysis was performed on different socio-economic-health variables for different applications of rural.•For five of eight variables explored, results highlighted differences based on the way rural is defined.•The definition of rural utilized by the USDA – Economic Research Service agreed best with other definitions of rural used in this research.