Webinar: The Geography of the Recent Growth in Rural Child Poverty

Using the official poverty measure, child poverty in rural (nonmetropolitan) areas grew by over 5 percent between 1999 and 2013, to affect over 25 percent of rural children. This growth was uneven across rural counties: child poverty increased by over 10 percent in some counties, but declined in others. This presentation examines 3 factors affecting rural child poverty over the period: changing economic opportunities, rising young-adult education levels, and increasing proportion of children in single-parent households. While a decline in high school dropout rates among young adults was associated with lower child poverty rates, weak or declining local economies and substantial increases in single-parent households were associated with higher child poverty rates.