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News from The Associated Press (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CENSUS_RURAL_AMERICA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPL ATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-07-28-00-02-47 - broken link)
It's hardly mind-blowing given the WalMartification of the US. Production has been outsourced along with jobs and with Americans having a weird disconnect with the food supply chain, no concerns of where it's grown (much of it is from Mexico and Canada) and buying whatever's cheapest (see Mexico and Canada). Without factory production or agriculture, there's not much left for rural America.
Sad news, if you ask me. City life sucks. People suck. Traffic sucks. Cookie cutout development sucks. Personally, I would prefer to have a small house with some land (even just 1/2 acre) and space between neighbors, and not hear any highways noise.
Sad news, if you ask me. City life sucks. People suck. Traffic sucks. Cookie cutout development sucks. Personally, I would prefer to have a small house with some land (even just 1/2 acre) and space between neighbors, and not hear any highways noise.
City life and country life coexist pretty well together, actually. It's that in-between sprawly stuff that makes both worse.
It's sad, but my sense is it's probably not universal and is a long-term development. Also I think it might not even continue too much longer. The US isn't Singapore, or even Belgium, so I don't know that it will ever get too much over 90% urban. Rural areas (if we mean areas that are in neither micropolitan nor metropolitan areas as the article seems to) would at least be necessary as places to stop on the way to somewhere else. (And I think more of our land is arable/livable than say Australia which is a nation large in area, but with an 89% urban population)
Among larger-sized nations Venezuela looks the most urban at around 93%. They indicate the US rural population fell from 20% in 2000 to 16% in 2010. So I'm guessing that, at worse, the "percent rural" will continue to decline for 20 years or so then stabilize at 7-8%. I might be tempted to think it will stabilize at more like 10-11% or that some of the kids leaving the rural areas now will retire to rural life, with more advanced telecommunication amenities than any we have, when they get old. Rural areas might stay "older" than, but that won't necessarily mean "dying."
We have to be careful in terms of definitions too. People do not realize that a community of 2500 or more is considered urban by the US Census. So, many of these communities could be considered urban, by that definition. There are many communities in the 2500-10000 range that act as a hub for a county or 2 or 3. So, there will be communities like that, which will still be important.
Some are within a close range of metro centers too.
The rise of corporate farms at the expense of small, family farms probably has a significant roles in this trend.
The numbers are a bit inconsistent, though. In the article above, it states that only 16% of the US population is rural, but in a linked interactive (on demographic "averages"), the percentage touted is 21%. There may indeed be some "wiggle room" in how to define "rural."
rural america just can't provide the high-paying, specialized jobs that exist in cities.
From my experience, bigger city jobs are more stressful and demanding. For this reason, I left my job in NYC three years ago. It's not even worth it for more money IMO. Time lost due to sitting in an office 45+ hours per week is someting you can never get back, later in life.
From my experience, bigger city jobs are more stressful and demanding. For this reason, I left my job in NYC three years ago. It's not even worth it for more money IMO. Time lost due to sitting in an office 45+ hours per week is someting you can never get back, later in life.
i understand, but new york city is the biggest city in America. I live in a city with 300,000 people, and things aren't very stressful.
plus, most rural people i know are farmers who work 6 or 7 days a week, from sunup until after dark.
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