PERSISTENT POVERTY ACROSS THE RURAL-URBAN CONTINUUM

Abstract

Persistent is overwhelmingly and is very geographically concentrated. We have redefined the USDA ERS classification to include metropolitan counties meeting the 20 percent or higher poor criterion and we extend the time period through the 2000 Census. With this updated definition, there are 382 counties that have had rates of 20 percent or more in each decennial census between 1960 and 2000. These counties are overwhelmingly (95 percent) and disproportionately (16 percent of nonmetro counties versus 2 percent of metro). The local economic environment in counties is much less favorable than in the nation as a whole. Per capita income is lower and unemployment rates higher in counties. Employment is more concentrated in services, extractive, construction/maintenance, and production/transportation occupations. Residents of counties tend to have lower education levels, and counties generally have larger shares of minority populations. The number of counties reduced considerably during the 1990s, but the leavers were disproportionately metropolitan, making increasingly a problem. Persistent is overwhelmingly and it is very concentrated geographically. In this paper, we examine these striking regularities in U.S. economic geography, seeking to understand the causes and dynamics of across the continuum. We also consider how alternative characterizations of persistent poverty and rural and urban might deepen our understanding of and place. The paper has four sections. In the first, we examine how and vary across the Rural Urban Continuum Codes and Urban Influence Codes developed by the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS). We start with the very useful persistent poverty classification developed by ERS that defines nonmetropolitan counties as counties if the rate is 20 percent or higher in each decennial census between 1960 and 1990.We redefine to include metropolitan counties meeting the 20 percent or more poor criterion and we extend the time period through the 2000 Census. We also examine where is concentrated in the United States and how varies across the new Core Based Statistical Area definitions for counties, developed recently by the Office of Management and Budget. In the second section, we examine how the demographic characteristics of the population vary across the rural-urban spectrum, comparing county demographics with those of all counties. The third section examines the dynamics of and place. We examine the location, rurality and demographics of counties that escaped statues between 1990 and 2000, and how those characteristics compare to counties that remained in poverty. We then identify the new entrants into high since 1960. In the fourth section, we consider implications of reconceptualizing both persistent poverty and rural and diversity. First, we explore the persistent poverty county classification, and how alternative definitions of counties might alter the conclusions one reaches about the geography of poverty. We do this by exploring how defining with a different base year such as 1970 or 1980 affects the number of persistent poverty counties. We then explore what happens to persistent poverty if we raise the threshold to 30 and 40 percent in defining counties. We then examine how conclusions about and change if one looks at persistence in individual households rather than counties. Using PSID data, this analysis examines rates of household by looking at how the percent of households who remain in for all 5 years during the 1993-98 period varies across metro county to remote county continuum (an aggregation of Beale codes). Finally, we briefly explore how conclusions about the geography of change if one divides metropolitan areas into central city and suburb, and nonmetropolitan areas into adjacent and nonadjacent.