Understanding Rural America

Economic Research Service

Agriculture Information Bulletin No. (AIB-ERSAIB710) 36 pp, February 1995

The diversity of rural America and the changes it has undergone in the last half century have resulted in a wide variety of economic conditions and needs. This full-color report documents changes in rural employment, population, and well-being for six categories of rural counties: those that depend on farming, manufacturing, and services, and those that have high concentrations of retirees, Federal lands, and poverty.

Keywords: rural employment, rural population, rural well-being, farming counties, manufacturing counties, services counties, retirement-destination counties, federal lands counties, persistent poverty counties, rural America

In this report ...

Chapters are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

• Introduction
• Rural America
• Rural Change
• Rural Employment
• Rural Population
• Rural Well-Being
• Rural Diversity
• County Types
  • Farming Counties
  • Manufacturing Counties
  • Services Counties
  • Retirement-Destination Counties
  • Federal Lands Counties
  • Persistent Poverty Counties
• Conclusions
• Appendix Table 1 -- Selected population, income, and employment characteristics for counties, by county type
• For Additional Reading

Order this report (stock #AIB-ERSAIB710)

Updated date: February 1, 1995