Overview
Nearly 50 million Americans live in nonmetropolitan (nonmetro)
areas, as currently defined. The nonmetro classification
covers approximately 2,000 counties outside the
primary daily commuting range of urbanized areas with 50,000 or more people,
and is widely used to define "rural" for research
and policymaking. Nonmetro areas contain 17 percent of the U.S.
population but extend across 80 percent of the land area.
Relatively slow growth characterized nonmetro America
during 2000-05. Population increased by just over 1
million, a 2.2-percent increase compared with 5.3 percent
for the Nation. Several demographic trends
are reshaping economic and social conditions across nonmetro
counties. These trends serve both as key indicators of
rural economic health and as generators of future growth
and economic expansion.
Features
 Rural
America At A Glance, 2008 Edition—The 2008 edition
highlights the most recent indicators of social and economic
conditions in rural areas for use in developing policies
and programs to assist rural areas. The brochure provides
information on key rural conditions and trends for use
by public and private decisionmakers and others involved
in efforts to enhance the economic opportunities and quality
of life for rural people and their communities. See
all At A Glance reports in the series.
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 the North and West declined greatly, shifting
instead mostly to the metro South. This movement, in
turn, was 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.
 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.
County Courthouse
Photos—Calvin Beale, a senior demographer at ERS
with over 60 years of Federal service, visited the majority
of counties in the United States. He typically stopped
at the county seat and talked to USDA staff, extension
service agents, and others about the county and current
trends. During his visits, he'd photograph the county courthouse,
combining his interests in architecture and rural small
town America. Browse the online collection of a sample
of his photos.
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.
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.
Racial/Ethnic Minorities
in Rural Areas: Progress and Stagnation, 1980-90—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.
See all recommended readings...
Recommended Data Products
Rural-Urban
Continuum Codes—This classification scheme
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 2006 in data tables and maps.
See
all recommended data products...
Related Briefing Rooms
Related Links
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.
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