Roughly one in five rural Americans is over the age of 65, and the number of “older age” counties, where at least 20 percent of residents have reached retirement age, has tripled since 2010, said a USDA report on Tuesday. Rural counties have a higher proportion of elderly residents than urban counties.
The annual Rural America at a Glance report said the working age population in rural areas was shrinking at the same time the elderly population was growing. Some 9.7 million rural Americans were over the age of 65, an increase of 2 million since 2010.
“The rapid increase in the non-metro older population during the 2010s and early 2020s resulted in a large increase in the number of older age counties,” said the report. The 439 older age counties of 2010, found most often in the Great Plains, western Corn Belt and upper Great Lakes, mushroomed to 1,294 counties spread across the country in 2023, it said. A high percentage of recreation, retirement destination, and farming counties were also older age counties. By one count, there were 1,958 rural counties.
After declining from 2010-2020, the rural population grew by 0.24 percent, half the urban rate, in the year ending in June 2023. All of the growth was due to people moving into rural areas. Deaths outnumbered births. “The pandemic and subsequent social and economic changes, including increased telework, contributed to changes in migration patterns between metro and non-metro areas,” said the USDA.
Total rural employment has nearly recovered to pre-pandemic levels, accompanied by record-low rural jobless rates of around 4 percent, said the Economic Research Service report. About 57 percent of rural Americans over the age of 16 were employed. The labor force participation rate has been relatively steady for the past few years.
About 28 million rural Americans were between the ages of 16 and 65 at present, 2 million less than in 2010. Rural and urban areas have similar shares of the population below the age of 15 but “non-metro counties had a larger share of the population over age 65. The relatively small share of people aged 25-54 in non-metro counties is especially important because people of those ages tend to be the most engaged in the labor force,” said the USDA. “Altogether, the non-metro age structure poses challenges for providing service and care for both younger and older age groups with a relatively small labor force.”
Rural America covers 74 percent of the United States. Its 46 million residents are 14 percent of the population, using the Office of Management and Budget definition of rural and urban areas.
The Rural America at a Glance report was available here.