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District Digest: What's Driving Rural Population Growth?

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  • Joseph Mengedoth

Abstract

Population decline is a familiar story for many rural areas and small towns: Children grow up and leave for college or move to a larger city with more job opportunities. With fewer working-age adults left, some rural employers might leave as well, and new businesses may be reluctant to move in. This self-reinforcing cycle of population decline can continue for decades. In the Fifth District, counties that are today considered small towns or rural are more likely than urban counties to have been shedding population for three or more of the decades between 1970 and 2020. In contrast, about 63 percent of counties that grew in each of those five decades are urban. (See chart.) The term "rural" refers to counties with a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural-Urban Continuum Code (RUCC) of 3 or greater, and "urban" refers to counties with a RUCC of 1 or 2. (For more on rural definitions, see "Definitions Matter: The Rural-Urban Dichotomy," Econ Focus, Third Quarter 2018.)

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph Mengedoth, 2025. "District Digest: What's Driving Rural Population Growth?," Econ Focus, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, vol. 25(3Q), pages 28-31, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedrrf:101421
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    File URL: https://www.richmondfed.org/-/media/RichmondFedOrg/publications/research/econ_focus/2025/q3/district_digest.pdf
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