Studies/Études : Rural Income, Poverty, and Welfare in the US

Source: ERS/USDA.
Unprecedented economic growth during the 1990s benefited rural areas, but some of that benefit has since been lost due to nationwide recession.

Between 1993 and 2000, real median income for nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) households grew by 10.5 percent and the percentage of people in poverty fell from 17.1 to 13.4 percent. Between 2000 and 2008, nonmetro median household income decreased from $41,145 to $40,785 (in 2008 dollars), while the nonmetro poverty rate rose from 13.4 percent to 15.1 percent. Nonmetro poverty rose again from 2008 to 2009, reaching 16.6 percent, which is the highest rate since 1992 when it was 16.9 percent.

Read the full briefing.

WWW: http://www.ers.usda.gov