Rural Center cities serve as vital commercial, employment, and residential hubs for the surrounding rural and agricultural areas. Although typically smaller in scale than cities in the urban service area, Rural Centers have similar development patterns. Often these municipalities have a denser historic downtown or core area surrounded by lower density residential subdivisions and include less than 5% prime agricultural land. These cities usually operate their own municipal wastewater treatment services, facilitating denser land uses and provide water supply services to their residents.

Most of these areas were developed prior to 2000 and have relatively higher intersection density, compared to the surrounding areas. Similar to their counterparts in the urban service area, they face the challenge of integrating sustainable development practices to ensure that growth and conservation effectively coexist. Rural Center cities may have more than one community designation due to surrounding township areas that were included in an orderly annexation agreement where growth was planned in previous planning cycles.