Understanding Rural America

Economic Research Service

Agriculture Information Bulletin No. (AIB710) 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 #ERSAIB710)

Updated date: February 1, 1995