Rural Population Grows 2000-2007, But Slower Than National Average

This map shows the gain and loss of population in rural counties due to domestic migration. Yellow counties had more people move to cities than moved in. Red and blue counties had more people move in from cities than left.

The population in rural counties increased 2.4 percent from 2000 to 2007, one-third the growth rate of the entire United States (7.2%). The fastest growth rates in the country during this period, according to U.S. Census figures, were in the nation’s exurban regions.

Thirteen states lost rural population from 2000 to 2007. The group of states losing rural population were concentrated in the Great Plains. The 13 states that lost population were Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, North Dakota, Nebraska, West Virginia, New York, Mississippi, Arkansas, South Dakota, Indiana, New Mexico and Alaska.

The states with the largest increases in numbers of rural residents were primarily clustered in the Southeast. Florida and North Carolina each added 148,000 rural residents from 2000 to 2007. Georgia had an increase of 124,000 rural residents.

(For a full listing of states and their change in rural population during the first seven years of this century, see the bottom of this story.)

Only two states lost population overall during this seven year period — Louisiana and North Dakota. Louisiana saw its population drop more than 175,000 from 2000 to 2007, largely as a result of Hurricane Katrina, which struck the state in 2005. All of those losses came from metropolitan areas of the state. Both rural and exurban parts of Louisiana gained people.

Only two states lost urban population — Louisiana and West Virginia. (Urban counties would include both central cities and inner suburbs.) Nationally, urban population increased 7.2%.

And no state lost population in exurban counties. (These are counties that are close to cities, but have some rural characteristics.) The growth rate in exurban America was nearly 11% in this 7-year stretch, more than four times the growth rate for rural counties.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service found from July 2005 to July 2006, rural counties grew because of an increase in domestic migration. More people were moving into rural counties from metro areas than were going the other direction. Most of that migration into rural areas in that year took place in the West, the Texas Hill Country, Florida and Northern Virginia. (See map above.) Farming areas continued to see a loss of population due to migration.

Below are the 48 states ranked by their increase in rural population from 2000 to 2007. (Rhode Island and New Jersey have no rural counties.)

Rural Pop Change Rank	State	Percent Change 2000-07	Total Change 2000-07
1	Florida	14.7%	148,573
2	North Carolina	5.8%	148,527
3	Georgia	7.5%	124,339
4	Tennessee	5.1%	80,057
5	Arizona	11.9%	70,450
6	Texas	2.4%	70,124
7	Washington	7.8%	57,668
8	Colorado	7.6%	47,771
9	South Carolina	4.2%	42,921
10	Hawaii	12.6%	42,406
11	Kentucky	2.4%	42,379
12	Missouri	2.5%	37,629
13	California	4.7%	37,582
14	Virginia	3.5%	37,104
15	Nevada	16.2%	36,688
16	Montana	5.7%	33,647
17	Oregon	4.0%	32,413
18	Idaho	6.6%	32,222
19	Wisconsin	2.0%	30,426
20	New Hampshire	6.5%	30,049
21	Utah	10.6%	27,888
22	Delaware	17.7%	27,653
23	Maryland	8.8%	24,260
24	Minnesota	1.6%	22,728
25	Oklahoma	1.6%	20,398
26	Pennsylvania	1.0%	19,767
27	Wyoming	5.5%	19,085
28	Michigan	0.9%	17,164
29	Alabama	1.1%	14,630
30	Connecticut	4.8%	14,027
31	Maine	1.8%	9,863
32	Louisiana	0.5%	5,243
33	Ohio	0.2%	5,224
34	Vermont	1.0%	3,955
35	Massachusetts	6.2%	1,509
36	Alaska	-0.3%	-778
37	New Mexico	-0.1%	-1,000
38	Indiana	-0.4%	-5,410
39	South Dakota	-1.7%	-7,537
40	Arkansas	-0.8%	-9,348
41	Mississippi	-0.6%	-10,521
42	New York	-0.8%	-13,145
43	West Virginia	-2.1%	-17,113
44	Nebraska	-3.0%	-22,855
45	North Dakota	-7.3%	-26,326
46	Kansas	-3.4%	-35,719
47	Illinois	-2.2%	-36,882
48	Iowa	-3.4%	-46,519

Here is the ranking of the states according to the change in exurban population from 2000 to 2002. Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Hawaii and Wyoming have no exurban counties.

Exurban Pop Change Rank	State	Percent Change 2000-07	Total Change 2000-07
1	Texas	19.6%	410,569
2	Georgia	22.2%	291,956
3	North Carolina	13.7%	211,922
4	Arizona	37.9%	175,767
5	Virginia	12.6%	158,043
6	Arkansas	15.9%	119,091
7	South Carolina	8.5%	104,701
8	Missouri	11.1%	99,165
9	Alabama	8.2%	97,202
10	Tennessee	10.6%	94,219
11	Minnesota	11.7%	83,598
12	Kentucky	10.4%	77,156
13	Mississippi	11.4%	58,915
14	Michigan	5.5%	56,936
15	Wisconsin	7.4%	52,523
16	Oregon	27.7%	44,097
17	California	15.3%	42,794
18	Ohio	3.7%	42,043
19	Maryland	15.1%	40,919
20	Oklahoma	7.7%	40,023
21	West Virginia	7.7%	33,675
22	Indiana	3.9%	32,796
23	Louisiana	6.4%	30,208
24	Florida	15.6%	27,375
25	Iowa	10.1%	24,127
26	New Jersey	5.5%	23,702
27	Pennsylvania	2.0%	23,356
28	Alaska	38.0%	23,292
29	Maine	4.8%	22,659
30	Illinois	4.5%	16,115
31	South Dakota	18.8%	14,201
32	New Hampshire	8.3%	9,348
33	Utah	18.6%	8,399
34	New Mexico	6.4%	8,313
35	New York	0.8%	8,278
36	Idaho	10.1%	7,123
37	Colorado	9.5%	6,566
38	Kansas	2.9%	6,167
39	Washington	6.8%	5,228
40	Vermont	6.1%	3,217
41	Nebraska	3.2%	2,738
42	Nevada	23.4%	794
43	North Dakota	2.5%	623
44	Montana	1.8%	169
45	Massachusetts	0.1%	67

This final list shows the change in urban population from 2000 to 2007 by state. The list includes Washington, D.C.

Urban Pop Change Rank	State	Percent Change 2000-07	Total Change 2000-07
1	California	7.9%	2,601,191
2	Texas	16.2%	2,571,867
3	Florida	14.1%	2,092,917
4	Arizona	23.6%	961,906
5	Georgia	18.1%	942,002
6	North Carolina	16.5%	651,270
7	Nevada	30.0%	529,643
8	Washington	10.1%	511,407
9	Colorado	14.0%	505,917
10	Illinois	4.4%	454,022
11	Virginia	9.3%	442,718
12	Utah	19.5%	375,874
13	New York	2.0%	326,139
14	Tennessee	9.1%	293,160
15	Maryland	5.4%	256,679
16	Oregon	10.1%	249,546
17	South Carolina	14.0%	248,075
18	New Jersey	3.1%	247,868
19	Indiana	6.2%	237,418
20	Minnesota	6.1%	171,816
21	Idaho	22.6%	166,104
22	Wisconsin	4.9%	155,016
23	Missouri	4.6%	146,410
24	New Mexico	14.1%	143,556
25	Kansas	8.2%	117,131
26	Pennsylvania	1.2%	108,615
27	Oklahoma	6.5%	106,241
28	Massachusetts	1.6%	99,082
29	Iowa	6.3%	84,114
30	Nebraska	9.7%	83,425
31	Connecticut	2.7%	82,717
32	Kentucky	5.2%	80,170
33	Alabama	3.5%	68,919
34	Ohio	0.8%	66,510
35	Michigan	0.8%	59,278
36	Delaware	8.5%	53,511
37	Arkansas	6.7%	51,654
38	New Hampshire	6.2%	40,645
39	South Dakota	14.7%	34,706
40	Alaska	9.9%	34,032
41	Hawaii	3.4%	29,445
42	Mississippi	3.8%	25,733
43	North Dakota	9.0%	23,218
44	Montana	7.2%	21,850
45	District of Columbia	2.8%	16,233
46	Wyoming	6.7%	9,963
47	Maine	3.7%	9,762
48	Rhode Island	0.9%	9,513
49	Vermont	3.6%	5,255
50	West Virginia	-2.4%	-12,871
51	Louisiana	-7.4%	-211,223

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