Poverty in rural areas of the U.S. has long been higher than in more populated areas, but it’s gotten worse in recent years:
At the turn of the century, about 1 in 5 rural counties had a poverty rate higher than 20 percent. Today, about one in three rural counties — 657 counties — have similarly high rates of poverty, the study found.
At the same time, the share of urban counties with pervasive poverty has risen from just under 7 percent to just under 16 percent.
Manufacturing jobs and energy extraction jobs have declined, Walmart and other big box stores have moved in and put small stores out of business, and young people have moved away:
About 15 years ago, 17 percent of Americans living in rural areas were employed in the manufacturing sector, Thiede said. Today, just 10 percent of nonmetro workers are employed in manufacturing. Since 2000, the number of manufacturing jobs in rural counties has declined by 20 percent. [...]
And that leads younger workers — those most likely to start new businesses, the main drivers in job creation — to look elsewhere for work. The demography of rural America has gotten older, whiter and less educated as younger workers flee to larger communities.
Many of these people are doubtless looking to Donald Trump to make things better for them. What’s sad is that he’s almost the last person who would do that—and many of the people vying with him for that last-place slot are in Republican congressional leadership or his Cabinet.