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Figure 4: 1,941 USDA Nonmetro counties in the United States
This map shows the location of 1,941 U.S. counties that are classified as not metropolitan areas by the USDA. In 2020, these counties had a population of 45,134,003 people. In 2020, this area covered 68% of the U.S. and had 13.7% of the U.S. population. This report refers to these counties as “USDA Nonmetro U.S.” in tables and graphs. These counties constitute “Rural America” in this report.
Rural America
This report focuses in large part on a comparison of leading economic and population indicators between Adirondack Park communities and an area of the United States called Rural America. This report compares the 61 Adirondack “Park Towns” and 31 Adirondack “Split Towns” with four subsets of Rural America.
The main area of Rural America used in this report consists of 1,941 counties in the U.S. defined as not metropolitan areas by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In 2020, the USDA “nonmetro” counties covered a vast landscape in the U.S., nearly 68% of the area of the lower 48 states, and was home to 45,134,003 people, some 13.7% of the total U.S. population. In this report these are called the “USDA Nonmetro counties” and constitute Rural America. This configuration of USDA nonmetro counties is commonly used in research concerning Rural America. Figure 4 above shows the locations of these 1,941 rural counties.
In many ways the economic and population trends of the rural Northeast counties stand out from other rural areas in the U.S. This report also compares the rural counties in the Northeast U.S. (nine states from Pennsylvania and New Jersey north to Maine) to the Park Towns. Figure 5 shows 80 rural counties in the Northeast that are a subset of the 1,941 USDA nonmetro counties. These 80 counties were home to 4,212,421 people in 2020 and are referred to as “Rural Northeast U.S.” counties in this report.
Figure 5: 80 USDA Nonmetro counties in the Northeast United States
This map shows the location of 80 counties in the Rural Northeast U.S. that are classified as not metropolitan areas by the USDA. In 2020, these counties had a population of 4,212,421 people. This report refers to these counties as “USDA Nonmetro NE” in tables and graphs. These counties constitute the “Rural Northeast U.S.” in this report.