Rural areas in the United States
Rural areas in the United States, often referred to as rural America,[1] consists of approximately 97% of the United States' land area. An estimated 60 million people, or one in five residents (17.9% of the total U.S. population), live in rural America. Definitions vary from different parts of the United States government as to what constitutes those areas.
Rural areas tend to be poorer and their populations are older than in other parts of the United States because of rural flight, declining infrastructure, and fewer economic prospects. The declining population also results in less access to services, such as high-quality medical and education systems.
Definitions[edit]
The United States Census Bureau defines these areas in the United States as sparsely populated and far from urban centers, which make up an estimated 3% of the land area of the U.S., but is home to more than 80% of the total population. The United States Office of Management and Budget defines rural areas in the United States by county; some rural areas are classified into metropolitan counties.[2][3] Others are spread throughout the numerous micropolitan statistical areas.[4]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has four different systems for defining rural areas: Frontier and Remote (FAR) area codes, which define rural areas in four levels of increasing remoteness by ZIP code,[5] Rural–Urban Commuting Areas (RUCA), Urban Influence Codes (UICs), and Rural-Urban Continuum Codes (RUCC).[2][6]
The United States Department of Health and Human Services has two agencies that define rural areas. The Health Resources and Services Administration addresses the shortcomings of the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and RUCA definitions to produce a definition that is balanced between them.[3] The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services uses its own definition for setting Medicare payment rates.[2]
CityLab defines rural areas by congressional district, based on census tracts and a machine-learning algorithm.[7][8]
History[edit]
Rural America was the center of the Populist movement of the United States in the 1880s and 1890s. Farmers tried to solve their problems using co-ops and the Grange movement. They failed to win elections and that movement ended in the Gilded Age.[9] The changes desired by farmers for economic stability in an era of rapid technological change in agriculture were put in place by government, as these ideas were sound.[9]
Since the 1940s and 1950s, the rural parts of the United States have largely been a stronghold for the Republican Party.[10][11]
A notable exception in recent years is Vermont. Despite being one of the most rural states in the nation, Vermont has a very heavy partisan lean in favor of the Democratic Party. It was Joe Biden's strongest state in the 2020 United States presidential election.