Understanding Rural America
Rural Change
Rural Population
Growing in some areas, but declining in others.
The United States, like the rest of the world, is steadily becoming more
urban. Two national censuses illustrate the point dramatically. For the first
140 years of the Nation's existence, most Americans lived in open country and
small towns. The 1920 Census was the first to record that urban people
outnumbered those living in open country and small towns. Just 70 years later,
the 1990 Census recorded not only that most Americans lived in urban areas, but
that they lived in metropolitan areas of over 1 million people. The Nation today
is not only urban, it lives predominantly within major metro areas.
Map: Population growth varied widely across rural America.
After a long period of little or no growth as the farming and mining
populations decreased, rural and small-town areas grew faster in the 1970s than
urban and suburban America. That turn-around showed the continuing potential for
rural America to thrive economically and retain its people. Industries moving to
rural areas, growth of recreation and retirement areas, renewed mining activity,
urban workers living in and commuting from rural areas, and dissatisfaction with
urban conditions all contributed to the resurgence.
In the 1980s, this trend reversed under the weight of the lengthy general
business recession, foreign industrial competition, the farm crisis, and fewer
retirees moving to rural areas. The loss of well-educated young adults (a
continuation of a long-term trend) was indicative of the poorer prospects that
people saw for rural communities.
The 1990s, thus far, have seen an encouraging rebound for rural areas.
Softness in the national economy has been more urban than rural in character.
Nonmetro unemployment rates are below those in metro areas. Although a majority
of farm-dependent counties are still losing people, the losses are much lower
than in the past. Areas with recreation and retirement development have grown
substantially. Rural areas near growing urban areas have also grown. But while
there are some encouraging signs overall, there is still a wide range of
conditions and trends across rural areas, with each area facing its own problems
and opportunities.
Chart: After attracting new residents in the
1970s, nonmetro areas reverted to their long-term trend of outmigration in the
1980s. So far in the 1990s, rural areas have seen population gains through
inmigration.
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Updated: February 10, 1997
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