The Rural Think Tank
…It's Different Out Here.
Rural demographics and research. Data-driven analysis of population trends, church attendance patterns, and community shifts in rural America.
The Gone Generation What happens when a generation leaves the rural area to seek education and employment in other parts of the country? The Southern Illinoisan Newspaper did a series looking at the students that leave small communities. The article points out that we are training our best and brightest to leave, and reaping the …
The Crisis Hiding in Plain Sight If you work in a rural community, there is something you need to be aware of. Farmers are hurting. I am not talking about poor harvests or lack of technology. Farmers have a significantly large suicide rate. The CDC has retracted numbers on their last study, deeming coding errors …
The Phenomenon That Is Reshaping Rural America The phrase “Rural Brain Drain” originated from a book called Hollowing Out the Middle, which looked at the effect that adults were having in their community by preparing their best and brightest to be shipped off to colleges and universities, sometimes never to return. Many outlets have since …
The Doctor Is Out — Permanently Debbie Weingarten wrote an article at TalkPoverty.org looking at the shortage of rural primary care health providers in America. She looks at the closings of rural health centers and hospitals and how that can affect the surrounding communities. The problem is getting worse. The National Conference of State Legislatures …
Smaller and Grayer This article from The Atlantic has been out on the web since 2016, but it gives a snapshot of what rural America looks like in many places. There are many small towns all over the landscape that were once prominent, but are now smaller and grayer, as the generations have moved on. …
Where Is Rural America, and What Does It Look Like? The following statistics are from “Where Is Rural America, and What Does It Look Like?” Published February 2017. “Rural America” is a deceptively simple term for a remarkably diverse collection of places. It includes nearly 72 percent of the land area of the United States …
What the Data Reveals Back in March of 2017, PBS ran an article illustrating some differences between Rural and Urban America. You can find that article here. There are some good statistics on poverty, disability, jobs, and entrepreneurship in rural areas. In the workshops that I give, I highlight that poverty and homelessness is very …