Some Rural Counties Are Seeing a Job Boom, Too

This is the second of a series of posts that explore the myths and realities of America’s urban-rural divide. This week, we focus on the distribution of jobs across urban and rural places. For an overview of the series and the data and methodology we use, see the first post in this series.

Jobs are a key dimension of economic growth and social cohesion. There’s no question that urban areas have had faster rates of job growth than their rural counterparts over the past decade and a half. But certain rural places have actually seen rates of job growth similar to counties in medium-size and smaller metros. A close look at the data shows that there are winners and losers across each and every type of rural and urban locale in America.