Population
20-685: The United States Rural Utilities Service ( RUS ) administers programs that provide infrastructure or infrastructure improvements to rural communities . These include water and waste treatment, electric power, and telecommunications services. It is an operating unit of the USDA Rural Development agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). It was created in 1935 as the Rural Electrification Administration ( REA ),
40-778: A New Deal agency promoting rural electrification. The RUS administers the following programs: A total of 890 rural electric and 800 rural telecommunications utilities in 47 states, Puerto Rico , the Virgin Islands , Guam , the Marshall Islands , the Northern Mariana Islands , and the Federated States of Micronesia have received financial assistance. Approximately 7,200 rural communities are served through financial assistance received from water and waste loans and grants. In 2023, RUS
60-686: A low in Connecticut (4.6 percent) to a high in New Mexico (21.9 percent). About 13.4 million children under the age of 18 live in rural areas of the nation. Children in rural areas had lower rates of poverty than those in urban areas (18.9 percent compared with 22.3 percent), but more of them were uninsured (7.3 percent compared with 6.3 percent). A higher percentage of "own children" in rural areas lived in married-couple households (76.3 percent compared with 67.4 percent). ("Own children" includes never-married biological, step and adopted children of
80-529: A majority felt they were better off financially than their parents at the same age. They thought their children would also experience such improvement. Forty percent said their lives came out better than they expected. Micropolitan statistical area United States micropolitan statistical areas ( μSA , where the initial Greek letter mu represents " micro- "), as defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), are labor market and statistical areas in
100-466: A mortgage ($ 1,271 compared with $ 1,561). A higher percentage owned their housing units "free and clear," with no mortgage or loan (44.0 percent compared with 32.3 percent). States with the highest median household incomes in rural areas were Connecticut ($ 93,382) and New Jersey ($ 92,972) (not statistically different from each other). The state with the lowest rural median household income was Mississippi ($ 40,200). Among rural areas, poverty rates varied from
120-496: A wide local area. Because the designation is based on the core urban cluster's population and not on that of the whole area, some micropolitan areas are much larger than some metropolitan areas. For example, the Ottawa, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area had a 2010 census population of 154,908. That would put its total population ahead of roughly 100 individual locations classified as a metropolitan statistical area in 2010. The largest of
140-565: The United States centered on an urban cluster (urban area) with a population of at least 10,000 but fewer than 50,000 people. The micropolitan area designation was created in 2003. Like the better-known metropolitan statistical areas , a micropolitan area is a geographic entity used for statistical purposes based on counties and county equivalents . On July 21, 2023, the Office of Management and Budget released revised delineations of
160-641: The 1936 Rural Electrification Act the REA gave loans and other help to rural organizations setting up their own power systems and was one of the New Deal 's most successful programs. By 1937, hundreds of new municipal power utilities were created nationwide. In 1939, 288,000 households had their electricity provided by rural electric cooperatives. Most of these electric co-ops had applied for and received loans from REA. By 1942, nearly 50% of US farms had electricity, and by 1952 almost all US farms had electricity. In 1949,
180-665: The 1990s. A notable exception in recent years is Vermont . Despite being one of the most rural states in the nation, Vermont has a very heavy partisan lean in favor of the Democratic Party . It was Joe Biden's strongest state in the 2020 United States presidential election . Most rural counties are experiencing persistent population decline. Compared with households in urban areas, rural households had lower median household income ($ 52,386 compared with $ 54,296), lower median home values ($ 151,300 compared with $ 190,900), and lower monthly housing costs for households paying
200-631: The REA became authorized to provide loans to rural telephone cooperatives. Under the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 the REA was absorbed by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS). Rural America Rural areas in the United States , often referred to as rural America , consists of approximately 97% of the United States ' land area. An estimated 60 million people, or one in five residents (17.9% of
220-988: The United States as sparsely populated and far from urban centers , which make up an estimated 3% of the land area of the U.S., but is home to more than 80% of the total population. The United States Office of Management and Budget defines rural areas in the United States by county; some rural areas are classified into metropolitan counties. Others are spread throughout the numerous micropolitan statistical areas . The Census Bureau updates their definition following each decennial census. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has four different systems for defining rural areas: Frontier and Remote (FAR) area codes, which define rural areas in four levels of increasing remoteness by ZIP code , Rural–Urban Commuting Areas (RUCA), Urban Influence Codes (UICs), and Rural-Urban Continuum Codes (RUCC). The United States Department of Health and Human Services has two agencies that define rural areas. The Health Resources and Services Administration addresses
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#1732765777293240-477: The areas, around Claremont and Lebanon, New Hampshire , had a population in excess of 218,000 in 2010; Claremont's population was only 13,355 in that year's census , and Lebanon's population was only 13,151. The following sortable table lists the 538 μSAs of the incorporated United States (the 50 states and the District of Columbia) with the following information: The following sortable table lists
260-656: The couple). As of 2016, about 7 percent of homeless people in the United States live in rural areas, although some believe that this is an underestimate. There are significant health disparities between urban and rural areas of the United States. The per capita rate of primary care physicians is lower in rural areas of the country (65 primary care physicians per 100,000 rural Americans, compared to 105 primary care physicians for urban and suburban Americans). Rural Americans are also more likely than other Americans to suffer from chronic health conditions such as diabetes , heart disease , and cancer . A study published in
280-535: The following year, the Rural Electrification Act provided federal loans for the installation of electrical distribution systems to serve rural areas of the United States . In the 1930s, the U.S. lagged behind Europe in providing electricity to rural areas. In 1934, less than 11% of U.S. farms had electricity. That same year, in France and Germany, nearly 90% of farms had electricity. Backed by
300-430: The journal JAMA Pediatrics in 2015 analyzed data on U.S. youth suicide rates from 1996 to 2010. It found that the rates of suicides for rural Americans aged 10 to 24 was almost double the rate among their urban counterparts. This was attributed to social isolation, greater availability of guns, and difficulty accessing healthcare. Notwithstanding the economic and health challenges, a 2018 survey of rural adults found
320-408: The shortcomings of the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and RUCA definitions to produce a definition that is balanced between them. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services uses its own definition for setting Medicare payment rates. CityLab defines rural areas by congressional district, based on census tracts and a machine-learning algorithm. Rural America
340-524: The total U.S. population ), live in rural America. Definitions vary from different parts of the United States government as to what constitutes those areas. Rural areas tend to be poorer and their populations are older than in other parts of the United States because of rural flight , declining infrastructure, and fewer economic prospects. The declining population also results in less access to services, such as high-quality medical and education systems. The United States Census Bureau defines these areas in
360-592: The various CBSAs in the United States, which recognized 542 micropolitan areas in the United States, four of which are in Puerto Rico . The term "micropolitan" gained currency in the 1990s to describe growing population centers in the United States that are removed from larger cities, in some cases by 100 miles (160 km) or more. Micropolitan cities do not have the economic or political importance of large cities, but are nevertheless significant centers of population and production, drawing workers and shoppers from
380-834: Was in charge of the ReConnect Program; this Biden administration program is overseen by the Agriculture Department to expand broadband Internet access to rural parts of America including the Marshall Islands . RUS originated with the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), one of the agencies created under the New Deal in 1935 to promote rural electrification . The REA was created by executive order on May 11, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt . Enacted
400-632: Was the center of the Populist movement of the United States in the 1880s and 1890s. Farmers tried to solve their problems using co-ops and the Grange movement. They failed to win elections and that movement ended in the two defeats of William Jennings Bryan in 1896 and 1900. Since the 1940s and 1950s, the rural districts of the northern United States have largely been a stronghold for the Republican Party . Thew rural South turned Republican in
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