Roughly 1 in 5 Americans live in rural areas – places the federal government defines based on small populations and low housing density.
TL;DR
- Rural America is diverse, not fading, white, or politically uniform as often portrayed.
- Population shifts occur, with some rural areas growing and others urbanizing.
- Farming is not the primary job for most rural Americans; manufacturing and services are key.
- Rural areas face health disparities, less conventional family structures, and evolving political patterns.
However, numerous individuals perceive rural America based on oversimplified notions. Discussions in media and politics frequently employ phrases like “fading,” “white,” “farming,” “traditional” and “politically uniform” when characterizing rural populations.
In truth, rural areas exhibit much greater diversity. Accurately presenting these details is crucial, as public discussions, governmental strategies, and funding allocations—encompassing financial support for initiatives—frequently depend on these presumptions, and misinterpretations can result in genuine requirements being overlooked.
As rural demographers affiliated with Louisiana State University and Syracuse University, our work focuses on the factors influencing and resulting from the well-being of individuals in rural American communities. In this piece, we present six common misconceptions about rural America, drawn from our latest publication, “Rural and Small-Town America: Context, Composition, and Complexities.”.
Myth 1: Depopulation is causing the decline of rural America
A common perception is that rural America is experiencing a population decline. However, the reality is more nuanced. It's accurate that from 2010 to 2020 most rural counties lost population. But about one-third grew, particularly areas adjacent to urban centers or those boasting natural features like lakes and mountains. Furthermore, there have been periods, such as the 1970s and 1990s, when the population in rural regions expanded at a quicker pace than in urban areas – periods called “rural rebounds.”
A key aspect of shifts in the rural populace is that the areas designated as “rural” are subject to alteration throughout time. Should a rural community experience sufficient expansion, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget reclassifies it as “urban. This implies that rural areas of the United States aren't vanishing; rather, they are undergoing transformation, occasionally becoming urbanized.
Myth 2: The majority of individuals residing in rural areas of America are farmers.
Agriculture continues to hold significance in numerous rural communities, yet it no longer represents the primary source of income for the majority of rural Americans. Presently, roughly 6% of rural jobs are in agriculture. Furthermore, most farm families also have members who work off-farm jobs, frequently to secure health coverage and retirement provisions.
Manufacturing represents a significant source of jobs in rural America. Consequently, manufacturing plays a larger role as a share of jobs and earnings in rural areas than in cities. This also signifies that the decline of manufacturing, marked by consistent job reductions over many years, has been particularly detrimental to rural areas. Unlike major urban centers with a wide array of businesses, rural areas depend on a limited number of them. When a rural plant or factory closes, the local impacts are often devastating.
A significant portion of employment in rural areas currently is in service-sector work, encompassing sectors like retail, dining, in-home medical assistance, and lodging. These positions frequently come with modest pay, limited employee perks, and unpredictable schedules, presenting challenges for numerous families in the countryside to maintain their economic stability.
Fiction 3: The inhabitants of rural America are exclusively Caucasian.
Rural America is frequently imagined as predominantly white, but that’s not the full story. A significant portion, approximately one-quarter, of those residing in rural areas are people of color. The largest demographic groups among them are Hispanic and Black individuals, while Indigenous populations have a higher concentration in rural settings compared to any other racial classification.
Each year, rural America is experiencing an increase in racial and ethnic diversity. This transformation is primarily driven by younger generations, with approximately 1 in 3 rural children are nonwhite of them contributing to this shift. Despite common perceptions, the upcoming era for Rural America is characterized by racial diversity.
Myth 4: Rural America boasts superior health compared to urban America
Numerous individuals envision country living as more salubrious compared to urban existence. Nevertheless, the converse holds true. People in rural areas die younger and at higher rates than inhabitants of metropolises. Academics refer to this phenomenon as the “rural mortality penalty,” and it has been widening for years.” The global health crisis known as COVID-19 exacerbated this disparity owing to higher death rates in rural communities.
This isn't solely due to a larger elderly population in rural regions. Working-age individuals in rural settings, aged 25 to 64, are experiencing mortality at younger ages compared to their urban counterparts, and the gap is growing. This pattern is currently driven by nearly all major causes of death. Individuals residing in rural areas exhibit elevated mortality rates from various causes including cancers, heart conditions, COVID-19, traffic accidents, self-harm, excessive alcohol consumption, diabetes, strokes, and complications related to childbirth.
Myth 5: Families residing in rural areas tend to be more conventional compared to those in cities.
Depictions of country living frequently bring to mind families where spouses are bringing up offspring within conventional household arrangements. In times past, rural children were more likely to live with married parents. But that’s no longer the case.
Presently, youngsters in the countryside face a greater likelihood of experiencing certain challenges compared to their city counterparts to live with married parents, and they are more prone to residing with partners who are not married or being looked after by grandparents or other family members. Consequently, rural child poverty rates are higher than those found in urban settings, and a significant number rural families rely on safety-net supports such as the food aid program SNAP. Families in rural areas exhibit variety, with many facing financial insecurity.
Myth 6: A fresh 'rural uprising' propelled Donald Trump to his presidential wins
Many rural voters have supported Donald Trump, but this didn’t happen overnight.
Throughout a significant portion of the 20th century, the Democratic Party garnered substantial backing from country regions, largely owing to the party’s alignment with the working class and 100 years of single-party rule in the South that extended from The Reconstruction period through the civil rights movement.
Nonetheless, shifts in voting behavior based on social standing and geographic location have led to rural constituents increasingly favoring Republicans for approximately five decades. The most recent instance where individuals in rural and urban areas cast ballots with a difference of no more than one percent was in 1976, the year Georgia's peanut farmer and ex-governor, Jimmy Carter, secured the presidency.
The divergence in political affiliation between those in the countryside and city dwellers averaged 3 percentage points during the 1980s and 1990s, subsequently expanding to 10 percentage points in the 2000s and reaching 20 percentage points in recent election periods. Therefore, Trump’s support in rural America was not a new “revolt” but rather a component of an enduring pattern.
Furthermore, the primary geographic narrative of 2024 did not revolve around rural constituents; instead, it was characterized by a significant decline in voter participation within major metropolitan areas. Both contenders received a lower number of votes from urban centers compared to 2020, with Kamala Harris securing more than 10 million fewer votes in major and medium-sized cities compared to Joe Biden's total four years prior.
Tim Slack, Professor of Sociology, Louisiana State University and Shannon M. Monnat, Professor of Sociology, Syracuse University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
