Study finds that 217 rural counties are among top 25 percent of counties with most creative workers

Some of the most creative people in the U.S. are living and working in rural America. A report by the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that 217 rural counties are in the top 25 percent of nation's most creative class counties "when measured by the percentage of workers who are employed in creative-class professions," such as arts, architecture and engineering, Tim Marema reports for the Daily Yonder. Many have a college or a university. (USDA map; CLICK HERE for an interactive map with county data)

"The creative-class thesis holds that communities that attract and retain more workers who are in creative occupations will fare better in today’s economy," Marema writes. "ERS researchers identified creative occupations listed in the 2000 census and refined their selection criteria (the fine print of the study’s methodology and the data itself are here). Then they identified the top quarter of U.S. counties that had the largest percentage of creative-class workers." (Read more)