Most farming-dependent counties lost population in 2010-20

Percentage of rural counties, by major-economy types, that gained population from 2010 to 2020
Daily Yonder chart; click the image to enlarge it.

An analysis of Census Bureau data show that "rural counties where farming makes up a major part of the local economy were more likely than the rest of rural America to lose population over the past decade," Tim Marema reports for The Daily Yonder. "Counties that depend on recreation, on the other hand, were more likely to gain population than rural America overall."

The Yonder's recent analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data found much the same trend over the past 20 years.

Here are some other findings from the Yonder's analysis of Census Bureau data from 2010 to 2020:

• 21% of rural counties with farming economies gained population over the decade.
• Nearly 6 in 10 rural counties with recreation economies gained population.
• About one-third of the nation's 1,976 non-metropolitan counties gained population.
• Only 84 of the 391 rural farming-dependent counties gained population, compared to 135 of 228 recreation counties.
• Rural farming counties lost 2.6% of their combined population, while the combined population of recreation counties grew by 3.5%.
• Nationally, the rural population fell by 0.6%, from 46.3 million to just under 46.1 million.

Read more here from the Yonder, including an interactive county-level map.