What is the definition of frontier?
Frontier areas are sparsely populated rural areas that are isolated from population centers and services. While frontier is sometimes defined simplistically as places having a population density of six or fewer people per square mile this does not take into account some important factors that may isolate a community. Therefore, other definitions are more complex and address isolation by considering distance in miles and travel time in minutes to services. Definitions of frontier for specific state and federal programs vary, depending on the purpose of the project being researched or funded. Some of the issues that may be considered in classifying an area as frontier include population density, distance from a population center or specific service, travel time to reach a population center or service, functional association with other places, availability of paved roads, and seasonal changes in access to services. Frontier may be defined at the county level, by ZIP code or by census trac
