Facts on Rural Poverty

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one in nine Americans isn't sure where his or her next meal will come from. Rates of food insecurity, the statistical measurement of hunger or near hunger, among rural households is higher than the national average.

It is ironic that many of these hungry  households are in the very rural and farm communities whose productivity feeds the world and provides low-cost, wholesome food for American consumers. That so many people need to turn to a food bank or church pantry just to eat in the very same communities where food is raised is a sad reminder of how much more work we have to do.

• Poverty and unemployment rates are higher, and earnings growth lower, in rural America than in metropolitan areas.

• Many low-income people in rural areas are elderly and live in small towns. If younger and employed, the rural poor tend to work at low-skill, low-wage jobs in light manufacturing and service industries.
  
• Unlike urban areas that have booming suburban rings to absorb new entrants to the labor force, rural counties often have stagnant economies with little hope of providing jobs to those who leave welfare.
  
• Child poverty rates are higher in rural areas (18.9 percent) than in metro areas (15.4 percent). ⁷
  
• 14.9% of the total households, and 16.7% of households with children served by America's Second Harvest reside in rural areas. ⁸

A recent summary of the Joint Center for Poverty Research's Rural Dimensions of Welfare Reform reported in Economic Opportunity Report noted some of the barriers the rural poor face in their effort to attain self-sufficiency. The report stated "there is reason to think that welfare reform may not be working as well for the one-fifth of nation's poor families living in rural areas." ⁹ According to the report, some of the barriers the rural poor face are:

• Fewer jobs are available in rural areas than in urban areas
  
• Rural residents face long commutes to get to jobs and childcare providers.
  
• The need for cars is often greater in rural areas than cities due to longer distances and the pervasive lack of public transportation.
  
• Fewer childcare options exist in rural areas.
  
• Less access to social service programs exist for the rural elderly poor.

(Reprinted from Second Harvest)

NOTES:

1. Welfare Reform in Rural America: A Review of Current
2. Research, Rural Policy Research Institute, February 2001.
3. Rates of Food Insecurity and Hunger Unchanged in Rural Households, Rural America, Vol.16, No.4, USDA/Economic Research Service, 2002.
4. ibid.
5. ibid.
6. Rural Dimensions of Welfare Reform, Joint Center on Poverty Research and the Congressional Research Service, May 2000.
   Rural America and Welfare Reform, Rural Policy Research Institute, February 1999.
7. Rural America at a Glance, USDA/Economic Research Service, 2002.
8. Hunger in America 2001, America's Second Harvest, November 2001.
9. Economic Opportunity Report, The Joint Center for Poverty Research, October 30, 2000.