In 2004, almost 51 million people, or 17.3 percent of the population, lived in an area considered to be non-metropolitan. The number of areas defined as metropolitan changes frequently as the population grows and people move. Residents of non-metropolitan areas tend to be older, complete fewer years of education, have public insurance or no health insurance, and live farther from health care resources than their metropolitan counterparts.

Women in metropolitan areas also tend to have higher household incomes. In 2004, 12.1 percent of women in metropolitan areas reported family incomes of less than 100 percent of the Federal poverty level (FPL), compared to 14.7 percent of women in non-metropolitan areas. For women with family incomes of 100–199 percent of the FPL, the rates were 17.8 and 23.6 percent, respectively. Women in metropolitan areas were more likely than women in non-metropolitan areas to report incomes of 400 percent or more of the FPL (39.5 versus 28.5 percent, respectively).

Women in non-metropolitan areas generally have access to fewer health care resources. In addition, they are also less likely to report being in good health. In 2004, 56.7 percent of women in metropolitan areas reported being in excellent or very good health, compared to 51.7 percent of women in non-metropolitan areas. Likewise, metropolitan women were less likely to report having fair or poor health.

> VERTICAL BAR CHART: Women Aged 18 and Older, by Area of Residence, and Poverty Status, 2004

> VERTICAL BAR CHART: Self-Reported Health Status of Women Aged 18 and Older, by Area of Residence, 2004