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Misconceptions about U.S. rural areas flourish, but a little information can go a long way. The following is a small collection of facts that might surprise you.
- Of the 200 U.S. counties with the highest poverty rates, 189 are rural. (Housing Assistance Council)
- The homeownership rate in rural areas exceeds that of central cities and the nation as whole. (National Rural Housing Coalition)
- Gentrification is not an exclusively urban phenomenon. It also occurs in rural areas, though there are some significant differences:
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Urban |
Rural |
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Occurs in select neighborhoods |
Occurs throughout whole towns/counties |
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Race and class elements; racial dimensions are very strong |
Less race, more class (although race is an issue in specific areas) |
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Rented houses sold for homeownership; older buildings renovated or torn down; residents displaced |
Most growth is conversion of farmland or other open space; more residents are "locked out" of new developments rather than displaced |
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New residents move in from other parts of metro area |
New residents move into rural areas from expanding metropolitan areas |
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Counter-trend; most growth is still in suburbs |
Dominant pattern of growth in area; rural communities are in the path of metropolitan expansion
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SOURCE: Housing Assistance Council |
- Despite the image that many have of rural America as a farm-driven economy, less than 9 percent of rural jobs are in the combined farming, agricultural services, forestry and fishing industries. (Rural Local Initiative Support Corporation)
- Census defines "rural area" by exclusion; that is, it views all areas that it did not already identify as urbanized areas or urban clusters as "rural." Using this census definition, based on the 2000 census, 59 million Americans (or 20 percent of the population) reside in rural areas, with slightly more than half of them residing within metropolitan statistical areas. (U.S. General Accounting Office)
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