Mapping Outcomes Across Rural and Urban Communities
How different are economic outcomes across rural and urban communities? What factors are at the heart of these differences? This year, we've been building our data products to help data users and local and state leaders gain quick insight into geographic differences across a range of indicators. This Regional Matters post presents several of the rural-urban comparison maps we've created, along with complementary data visualizations. We focus specifically on rural-urban differences in employment and educational attainment to highlight how these visualizations can be used.
Employment Tends to Decline With Increasing Rurality
A healthy labor market is an important driver of a region's economy. The map below presents employment-to-population (EPOP) ratios — the number of employed residents divided by the population — for working-age adults (ages 25-64) in Fifth District counties. EPOP ratios are generally lower in rural areas than urban areas. The dark green areas (low EPOP) in rural West Virginia, southwestern Virginia, eastern North Carolina, and eastern South Carolina contrast with the prevalence of light brown (high EPOP) areas in urban Maryland, northern Virginia, and around most cities labeled on the map.
Note: The cutoff values were chosen so that approximately one-third of the Fifth District's counties fall into each group, regardless of urban or rural status. The darkest shade of color corresponds with the less favorable value. Urban counties are those with an Rural-Urban Continuum Code of 1 or 2.
The chart below details the distribution of EPOP ratios in urban and rural places in the district. The most common EPOP range for urban counties is between roughly 70 percent and 75 percent. For rural counties, the most common EPOP values lie between roughly 65 percent and 70 percent. Moreover, about 20 percent of rural counties have EPOP ratios below 59 percent, compared to only 4 percent of urban counties.
Rural Residents Tend to Have Lower Educational Attainment
One factor affecting employment outcomes is education. On average, people with higher levels of education fare better in the labor market. The next map shows the percentage of working-age adults with a bachelor's degree or higher in each county. This map bears a lot of similarity to the previous map: The counties with the lowest percentages of bachelor's and advanced degree holders are primarily in rural areas of West Virginia, southwestern/southern Virginia, eastern North Carolina, and eastern South Carolina.
Note: The cutoff values were chosen so that approximately one-third of the Fifth District's counties fall into each group, regardless of urban or rural status. The darkest shade of color corresponds with the less favorable value. Urban counties are those with an Rural-Urban Continuum Code of 1 or 2.
In nearly three quarters of rural counties, less than 22 percent of working-age adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Only about a quarter of urban counties fall into this category.
Of course, not all jobs require a four-year degree. There may be industry and occupational differences in urban and rural areas that correspond to different education requirements for jobs, on average. The map below attempts to account for these differences by providing information on the share of the population without a high school education. Many of the counties with low shares of bachelor's and advanced degree attainment also have relatively high shares of working-age populations without a high school diploma or equivalent.
Note: The cutoff values were chosen so that approximately one-third of the Fifth District's counties fall into each group, regardless of urban or rural status. The darkest shade of color corresponds with the less favorable value. Urban counties are those with an Rural-Urban Continuum Code of 1 or 2.
The majority of urban counties in the district have few residents (9.3 percent or less of their population) with less than a high school diploma. By contrast, it is relatively common for rural counties in the district to have more than 9.3 percent of their population without a high school diploma.
The following charts plot the relationship between educational attainment and EPOP. Each dot is an individual county from the maps. (Hover over each dot to get more detail.) While there is a lot of dispersion in employment outcomes for counties with similarly educated populations, low educational attainment appears to be strongly connected to low employment in many rural areas.
What's Next? Visualizing Other Employment Barriers
Education is only one of the factors shaping differences in rural and urban employment outcomes. The Richmond Fed will continue adding to its repository of data visualizations on factors such as housing, transportation, child care, health, and broadband availability. In the meantime, if you have any feedback on our data products, we'd love to hear from you.
Interested in more content like this? Check out our Small Town and Rural Initiative website, where you can find additional analysis and learn more about our engagement in rural communities.
