Numerous factors — including population growth, education, housing, transportation, child care, health, and broadband availability — are shaping the differences in employment outcomes between rural and urban communities.
When immigration is restricted in rural areas, native workers don't seem to fill the jobs left empty.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, have people moved away from urban cores in favor of more rural areas?
Housing and transportation represent the two largest living expenses in most households, but local investment can address households’ travel needs.
Although U.S. employment in manufacturing has decreased since the 1980s, the industry has become a vital employer in rural areas, where it pays above-average wages.
Intermediary organizations, including anchor institutions, rural development hubs, and collective impact backbone organizations, play an important role in rural capacity building.
President Tom Barkin discusses critical investments to support rural economic development.
Although people often associate high housing costs with urban areas, many households in rural areas also struggle with costly housing
The New River Valley Regional Commission is an example of how a regional development organization can galvanize innovative, sustainable regional and local housing strategies to serve its small towns and rural communities.
The GoodCare Program in Virginia helps aspiring workers complete career pathways in health care, addressing workforce shortages in a sector essential to equitable pandemic recovery.
In Florence County, the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing Technology and its Gould Business Incubator are fostering an entrepreneurial ecosystem and fueling small business development in South Carolina.
The Danville region in Virginia has moved the needle on early childhood education and now has an ecosystem in place to help address future challenges.
Focusing on a complete household’s needs, Garrett County Community Action Committee’s integrated “2Gen approach” links children to high-quality early education and their parents to services that build financial security.
Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) like Woodlands Community Lenders are uniquely positioned to help rural towns address unique challenges through place-based revitalization and by attracting investment.
Nicolas Morales reviews his research on the economic role of non-native workers in rural areas. Morales is an economist at the Richmond Fed.
Host Tim Sablik discusses his recent research on the value of entrepreneurs in the economic growth of rural places and small towns, as well as the obstacles that they face compared to more urban communities. Sablik also talks with Erika Bell and Laura Ullrich about what they have learned from their contacts in North Carolina and South Carolina about rural entrepreneurship. Bell is community development regional manager for the Carolinas and Ullrich is a regional economist in the Richmond Fed's Charlotte branch.
Sierra Latham and Peter Dolkart discuss their work on the availability of affordable housing in small towns and rural communities. Latham is a senior research analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and Dolkart is a community development regional manager based in the Richmond Fed's Baltimore office.
Receive an email notification when research and analysis on pressing economic issues that affect our communities are posted online:
