Report Outlines Rural Trends

ural areas cover 97 percent of the U.S., but contain only 19.3 percent of the nation’s population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And that share has been shrinking; rural populations have been on the decline this decade, to the tune of almost 62,000 fewer residents in 2011 — the year this population was lowest. But a reversal may be underway; the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2018 edition of “Rural America at a Glance” shows