About 75 percent of US rural counties added population between 1990 and 1995, versus 45 percent in the 1980s. The US has about 3,100 counties, and 2,304 are considered rural.
Overall rural population growth in the first half of the 1990s was about 5.1 percent, versus 5.5 percent in metropolitan areas. If grouped by the dominant activity in the county, rural counties that serve as retirement centers added 14 percent to their populations in the first half of the 1990s, rural recreational counties added 10 percent to their populations, and commuting counties added seven percent more people.
Rural counties gained an estimated 1.6 million people via net migration in the first half of the 1990s, versus a loss of 1.4 million in the 1980s.
Rural job growth has been faster than urban job growth in the 1990s, especially in areas where certain industries cluster, such as catfish processing in the Mississippi Delta, and electronics in "silicon forest" near Portland. Between 1989 and 1994, rural counties added a net 167,000 manufacturing jobs, while urban counties lost 1.2 million manufacturing jobs. Many of the newly created jobs in rural America pay lower than average wages, often at least $1 per hour less than urban wages.
A September 16, 1996 Wall Street Journal profile of Wheaton, Minnesota, noted that the town's population peaked at 2,100 in 1960, but was only 1,700 in the late 1980s. Then, the town aggressively wooed manufacturers, and today has more manufacturing jobs than workers.
The US population in the 1990 Census was 249 million, including 22 million Hispanics and 13 million Mexican-origin residents.
The Census of Population divides the US into four regions: the Northeast, with 51 million residents in 1990, four million Hispanics, and 175,000 Mexican-origin residents; the Midwest, with 60 million residents, two million Hispanics, and 1.1 million Mexican-origin residents; the South, with 85 million residents, seven million Hispanics, and 1.2 million Mexican-origin residents; and, the West, with 53 million residents, 10 million Hispanics, and eight million Mexican-origin residents.
The Census distinguishes between farm and nonfarm residents. Many farm residents are not farmers, and most farm workers are not farm residents. Farm residents are overwhelmingly white. Minority farm residents are concentrated in two regions: Blacks are in the Southeast--99 percent in 1984--and Spanish-origin farm residents are mostly in the West--60 percent.
Jerry Fink, "Rural Hispanic Population Booms," Tulsa World, October 13, 1996. Carl Quintanilla and Robert Rose, "Some tiny towns find a way to create jobs: attract manufacturers," Wall Street Journal, September 16, 1996. Scott Kilman and Robert Rose, "Population of Rural America Swelling," Wall Street Journal, June 21, 1996. "Return to Main Street," Governing Magazine, May 1996.
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