Johnson & Lichter: The Urbanization of Rural America

In Metropolitan Reclassification and the Urbanization of Rural America, Kenneth M. Johnson (University of New Hampshire, Sociology) and Daniel T. Lichter (Cornell University, Sociology) challenge current claims of widespread rural decline by highlighting the underappreciated role of rural population growth in the ongoing urbanization of America. Utilizing county-level data from the U.S. Census Bureau, these well-known demographers analyze how the Office of Management and Budget’s definitions result in reclassifications of many fast-growing counties from rural (nonmetropolitan) to urban (metropolitan) while slow-growing or declining rural counties remain classified as rural.

This relationship between reclassification of rural counties and urban growth is striking. Between 1970 and 2017, the percentage of the U.S. population living in urban areas climbed from 67 to 86 percent. The authors found all of this urban growth was due to the growth and reclassification of rural counties without which the share of the U.S. population living in urban areas would have declined to 64 percent.

Metropolitan Reclassification argues that the narrative of rural America is actually two tales: (1) the story of rural areas that are no longer considered rural because of population growth and economic development and (2) the account of thinly populated and declining areas that continue to be classified as rural.

This digest was authored by Aurora Kenworthy, UNL Law Student.