The Decimation of America’s Heartland
Although America was originally a rural place and most of its people lived and worked on farms and in rural areas, things have changed dramatically over the course of the past century. Hundreds of farming and mining towns that were born during the railroad “boom” of the 1800s have long since gone “bust.” And today, after decades of decline, less than 2 percent of the nation’s population live on farms in rural areas. By contrast, more than 50 percent live in metropolitan areas of more than a million people.
Consider, for example, that more than twice as many people live in New York City than on all of the nation’s farms combined.
Why such a shift in the nation’s population? Consider that most Americans once held jobs that relied on the production of natural resources (farming, mining, and related industries), but most of them now work in service or technology oriented industries (customer service or computer programming). And in these industries, employers do not need to be located near the grain elevator or coal mine; they need to have access to large numbers of potential employees with varying skills. As a result, newer industries have concentrated in cities and suburbs, and the large share of jobs that was once in the Heartland has shifted to the cities and suburbs as well.
To put it more simply, technology and other factors have reshaped our national economy. New technologies have allowed American industry, including agriculture, to become so productive that far fewer people and much less money are required to make most products today than were ever thought possible.
With the farm economy and population in serious decline, over the past 50 years, hundreds of thousands of people have left small rural counties in search of opportunities elsewhere. And nearly one third of the nation’s rural counties have seen at least 10 percent of their population depart for other places – literally decimated by the out-migration of people and jobs.
