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overview
Forty-nine million Americans live in nonmetropolitan areas as currently
defined. They make up 17 percent of the U.S. population but are spread
out across four-fifths of the land area. The 1990s were a period of rebound
in rural and small town population growth as more people moved into nonmetro
counties than moved out. The nonmetro population grew, as defined at the
start of the decade, by 5.3 million, or 10.3 percent, during the 1990s
compared with just a 1.3-million increase from 1980 to 1990.
Despite the movement of urban dwellers to the countryside and small
towns, metro America had faster population growth than nonmetro America
because of a higher birth rate, a lower death rate, and rapid growth from
foreign immigration. Since 1994-95, nonmetro population growth has steadily
diminished during a time of unprecedented national prosperity as the net
inflow of newcomers from metro places has dwindled. More
overview...
contents
features
 New Patterns of Hispanic Settlement in Rural America—Since 1980, the nonmetro Hispanic population in the United States has doubled and is now the most rapidly growing demographic group in rural and small-town America. Many Hispanics in counties that have experienced rapid Hispanic growth are recent U.S. arrivals with relatively low education levels, weak English proficiency, and undocumented status. This ERS report compares socioeconomic indicators for Hispanics living in traditional and new rural destinations and documents the growing residential separation between Hispanics and non-Hispanic Whites during the 1990s, a period when Hispanic population dispersion increased significantly throughout nonmetro counties in all U.S. regions.
Understanding Rural Population
Loss—One in four rural counties lost population between 1990
and 2000. Declining farm employment is often cited as the reason. But
recent ERS research suggests that the drawback for such counties is less
their agriculture than their remoteness and thin settlement, coupled with
their lack of natural amenities. Natural amenities, such as varied topography,
lakes and ocean shore lines, sunny winters, and temperate summers, are
a magnet for population and tourism.
Rural America: Older Rural
America—This a special issue on older rural
Americans, with articles on population trends and migration, Federal funding
in elderly counties, the aging of the farm population and aging trends
in Australia. Other feature articles discuss safe drinking water, rural
housing prices, and the socioeconomic impacts of the conservation reserve
program in North Dakota. Rural Updates in this issue cover hired farmworker
earnings and Federal funds to nonmetro counties.
The Shifting Pattern of Black Migration
From and Into the Nonmetropolitan South, 1965-95—Between 1965
and 1995, migration of the Black population from the nonmetro (rural and
small town) South to places in the North and West declined greatly, shifting
instead mostly to the metro South. This movement, in turn, became offset
by migration of Blacks into (or back to) rural or small town districts
from the cities. Migration lowered the educational level of the nonmetro
Black population somewhat by a net loss of college graduates.
recommended readings
Natural Amenities Drive Rural Population Change—This report develops an index of natural amenities, based on climate,
topography, and presence of bodies of water, and ties that index to changes
in nonmetro population over the past 25 years.
Metropolitan, Urban, and Rural Commuting Areas:
Toward a Better Depiction of the United States Settlement System—Classifies
U.S. census tracts using measures of urbanization, population density,
and daily commuting from the 1990 decennial census and compares tract-based
and county-based metro and nonmetro areas.
Migrants Settling
Far and Wide in the Rural West—Examines the rebound in nonmetro
population growth from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s, caused mostly
by changing patterns of net migration. Scenic settings accessible to metro
areas continued to attract a disproportionate share of new residents,
but record numbers of recent migrants chose more sparsely settled and
isolated areas with fewer natural amenities.
Racial/Ethnic Minorities in Rural Areas:
Progress and Stagnation, 1980-1990—Examines rural Black, Hispanic,
Native American, and Asian and Pacific Islander populations and their
economic well-being in the 1980s. Results show minimal progress of minorities
as measured by changes in occupation, income, and poverty rates. However,
the type and speed of progress was quite different among minority groups
and between men and women of the same minority group.
recommended data products
Rural-Urban Continuum Codes—Form
a classification scheme that distinguishes metropolitan counties by size
and nonmetropolitan counties by degree of urbanization and proximity to
metro areas (updated in 2003).
Urban Influence Code—Classifies
all U.S. counties by the population size of the largest city within each
county, and adjacency to a metropolitan area.
County-level population change—State
and county-level data show population change 1990, 2000, and 2003 in data tables
and maps.
recent research developments
 Conference: Population Change and Rural Society—At the conference, held January 29-30, 2004, leading social scientists presented current work on critical demographic trends and drew conclusions about implications for economic and social life in rural America. For details on topics and speakers, see the agenda. Abstracts of selected presentations are also available.
The Graying of Rural America—This article identifies
three critical issues in studying the rural older population: the rural
elderly are diverse in terms of their socioeconomic characteristics and
geographic concentration, rural elders are more likely to be poorer than
their urban counterparts, and rural health services are less accessible
and fewer alternatives are available. Policies and programs for the older
population must take into account these rural differences. Contact Carolyn
Rogers for more information.
Migrants in the
Rural South Choose Urban and Natural Amenities—Analyzes recent
population growth in the rural South and factors underlying the spatial
pattern of net migration within the region. Counties experiencing persistent
net outmigration since the 1970s are concentrated in large subregional
clusters marked by high poverty, low human capital, and high minority
presence. Persistent high inmigration counties face a different set of
challenges related to rapid growth.
related briefing rooms
related links
Center for the
Study of Rural America, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City—Provides
objective analysis of economic and policy issues key to rural America's
future.
U.S. Census Bureau—Provides
access to a full range of U.S. Census information and data products.
FedStats—Provides easy access
to the full range of statistics and information produced by Federal agencies
for public use.
maps and images gallery
Rural Gallery—Charts and maps depict information on rural indicators, including population and migration; labor and education; income, poverty, and welfare; housing; and industry.
for more information, contact:
John Cromartie
web administration: webadmin@ers.usda.gov
page updated: August 10, 2004
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