Slide Presentation of the 2007 Annual Meeting of AHRQ

Who we are

Rural Medical Service Study Areas

• 80% of land mass
• 14% (and growing) of population live in rural California
• 4.9 million residents

Source: 2000 census data

Image shows a map of California and the percentage defined as Frontier, Rural, or Non-Rural. Frontier is defined as less than 7 persons per square mile, and Rural as less than 250 persons per square mile.

Notes:

In fact, 80% of California's land mass is rural

When you look at the Inland Empire, easily half is frontier (7 people per square mile), and most of the rest is rural (less than 250 per square mile). Only a very small portion is urban.
And rural is growing —not because of the overall growth in population in california, but because of
Dynamic of "equity refugees"—people in urban areas who sell their homes, cash in their equity, and move to a more tranquil life in rural regions. And yet, those same people expect amenities, such as healthcare, at the same level of access and quality as in urban regions.

And rural Inland Empire is changing too.