Rural America shows population growth and a decline in poverty, according to a new report

Rural America added population for the first time
in decades. (USDA photo)

After multiple decades of decline, rural America is growing in population and has fewer counties where residents live in "persistent poverty," reports Jamie Henneman of The Prairie Star, which serves central Montana. The Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service recently released its "Rural America at a Glance" report, which analyzes population, employment, housing and poverty in America's non-urban areas. "Much of the data suggested a positive trend for Americans living outside of cities, according to USDA ERS economist James Davis."

"We saw rural populations grow a quarter of a percent from 2020 to 2022 after a decline or near-zero growth between 2010 and 2020," Davis noted in the report. "That's an eighth of a percent growth per year, or 50,000 people more in rural areas each year. . . . Domestic migration favored rural areas for their recreation and as retirement destinations. Rural areas near metro areas were also popular."

The Census Bureau determines national "poverty" income thresholds. "In 2023, a family of four making under $29,960 was considered to be in poverty," Henneman writes. "And an individual household making under $14,891 was considered to be in poverty."

"We had 244 rural counties considered persistently poor from 2011 to 2021," Davis said in the report. "Since then, 26 more counties entered persistent poverty, but 55 counties left the designation. Overall, we had 9.7 percent fewer counties experiencing persistent poverty compared with a decade earlier."

"Housing was another topic considered in the USDA ERS report," Henneman adds, as well as how rural employment is fairing post-pandemic.