The US rural population continues to grow, according to USDA’s 2024 edition of “Rural America at a Glance.” Population gains between 2020 to 2023 occurred in almost all county types regardless of degree of rurality. In total, around 46 million people lived in rural counties in 2023, comprising about 14% of the U.S. population. The USDA’s Economic Research Service releases the Rural America at a Glance report annually, which summarizes the status of conditions and trends in rural areas. The full report is HERE. Below are some of the highlights:
Nonmetro Areas Experience More Deaths Than Births:After the only decade of overall population loss for nonmetro counties (2010–2020), the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to renewed nonmetro population growth during the 2020s. From July 2022 through June 2023, the nonmetro population grew by +0.24% compared with +0.53% for metro areas. Unfortunately, the nonmetro areas are experiencing more deaths than births. Since 2020, nonmetro-population growth has relied solely on net migration, meaning new people moving to their area.
Working Age Populations Are Shrinking Across Rural Counties: Between 2010 and 2023, the number of nonmetro people between the ages of 15 and 64 decreased from over 30 million to about 28 million, while the population aged 65 and over grew from 7.4 million in 2010 to 9.7 million in 2023. In 2023, nonmetro and metro counties had similar shares of the population under age 15, but nonmetro counties had greater shares of the population over age 65. The relatively small share of people aged 25–54 in nonmetro counties is especially important because people of those ages tend to be most engaged in the labor force (prime working ages). Altogether, the nonmetro age structure poses challenges for providing services and care for both younger and older age groups with a relatively small labor force.
The Number of Nonmetro-Older Age Counties Nearly Tripled Since 2010: The rapid increase in the nonmetro-older population during the 2010s and early 2020s resulted in a large increase in the number of older age counties, defined as those with 20% or more of their population age 65 or older. Nonmetro older age counties numbered 439 in 2010 and were concentrated in the Great Plains (especially in Montana, the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas), the western Corn Belt (Iowa and Missouri), and the Upper Great Lakes (Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan). With the aging of the baby boom generation, 855 more nonmetro-older age counties emerged between 2010 and 2023. At the same time, only two counties moved from older age to younger age status (Gentry County, Missouri, and Galax County, Virginia;).
Rural America is Finally Nearing Prepandemic Employment Levels: Total rural employment grew +0.9% from 2022 to 2023, nearly recovering to 2019’s prepandemic levels. This employment growth was accompanied by record low rural unemployment rates of about 4%. While rural and urban unemployment rates have been nearly equal since before the Great Recession (December 2007 to June 2009), rural employment growth has been consistently slower than urban growth. Still, the labor force participation rate is around 57% in rural areas versus 64.5% in urban areas, about where they stood in 2019. A primary factor contributing to the flat trend of the overall labor force participation rate is the aging of the U.S. population. Baby boomers have been transitioning from prime working age (ages 25–54) to late career (ages 55–64) and retirement age (ages 65 and over) groups over the last 15 years. These older age groups have much lower labor force participation rates than the prime working age group as people because this is when people start retiring.
Broadband Use Has Increased Since 2019:Rural residents have lower broadband adoption rates than urban residents, though the adoption rate in rural areas is catching up. Across all age groups, the share of the population with a broadband subscription was lower in nonmetro areas than in metro areas in 2013–17 and 2018–22 but increased between those periods to a greater extent in nonmetro areas. For example, the share of the nonmetro population with a broadband subscription grew by +12 percentage points (from 74 to 86%) between 2013–17 and 2018–22, while the share of the metro population with a broadband subscription grew by +9 percentage points (from 83 to 92%). People use the internet for many purposes, including social or entertainment uses, and for economic purposes. All economic uses of the internet are least common among people aged 65 and over. Economic uses are generally most common among adults aged 25–44, except searching for a job online, taking a class, or participating in job training online, which are most common among ages 15–24.
