A comparatively small portion of the U.S. population, roughly 60 million of the nearly 330 million residents, lives in rural America. But that portion is spread across 97 percent of the nation’s land. A new report from the American Communities Project at George Washington University says the immense diversity of rural America defeats the usual approach of a “one size fits all” policy for rural economic growth, even with adjustments for geographic regions or economic sectors.
Instead, “A new portrait of rural America” presents nine types of communities, from “Graying America” and “Hispanic Centers” to “Working Class Country,” as the foundation for understanding rural America and developing policies that match the strengths and needs of the communities. “We’re hoping this is a tool,” said project director Dante Chinni, that will help policymakers organize their work.
Although the farm sector and rural America often are used interchangeably, agriculture is the leading industry in only one of the community types in the report. “Aging Farmlands” covers 161 counties of the 2,243 counties that lie outside urban areas—mostly in the central and northern Plains but spanning from Iowa to Nevada and dotting central Texas,.”Rural Middle America” was the largest community type, at 551 counties, and stretched from New England into the Midwest and Plains. It is the “small town America” that people associate with rural areas, said Chinni, with a relatively high household income but three-fourths of the counties have lost population.
“Education matters,” said a summary of the report. “The three community types with the highest unemployment rates are also below the rural America average for some college. The data suggest that a push toward extending educational expectations to community college could pay large dividends.” A local source of post-secondary education would help communities avoid the “brain drain” in which youth leave their hometowns to earn a college degree and don’t return, said Chinni.
The American Communities Project report is available here.