Rural poverty affected about 6 million people in the United States in 2023, equal to 13.6% of the rural population. That was higher than the 10.7% urban poverty rate. The figures below show how rural poverty varies by place, age, race and ethnicity, family structure, and measurement period.
Contents
- Recent rural poverty levels
- Regional and county patterns
- Persistent and concentrated poverty
- Rural child poverty
- Race and ethnicity
- Family structure and age
- Official poverty thresholds
Recent rural poverty levels
The U.S. rural population was about 46 million in 2023, or roughly 14% of the total population. About 6 million rural residents lived below the official poverty level, producing a rural poverty rate of 13.6%. The corresponding urban rate was 10.7%.
These are 2023 estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (USDA ERS), reported in Rural America at a Glance: 2024 Edition. They describe the rural United States as a whole and should not be treated as a rate for every rural county or state.
Earlier estimates show both the persistence of the rural gap and some improvement over time. In the five-year American Community Survey estimates, nonmetro poverty was 15.4% in 2019, compared with 11.9% in metro areas. Nonmetro poverty had fallen 3.0 percentage points from its 18.4% 30-year peak in 2013. The nonmetro–metro gap was 3.5 percentage points in 2019.
For context, the average gap was 4.5 percentage points in the 1980s and about 3.1 percentage points over the roughly 2010–2019 period covered by the USDA ERS comparison. The terms “rural” and “nonmetro” are used in different USDA reporting contexts, so these measures should be compared with attention to the stated source and geography.
| Measure | Rural or nonmetro figure | Comparison | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall poverty rate | 13.6% rural | 10.7% urban | 2023 |
| Overall poverty rate | 15.4% nonmetro | 11.9% metro | 2019, five-year ACS |
| Rural/nonmetro peak | 18.4% nonmetro | — | 2013 |
| Rural/nonmetro gap | 3.5 percentage points | — | 2019 |
Source labels: the 2023 figures are from Rural America at a Glance: 2024 Edition; the 2019 and historical comparisons are from Rural Poverty & Well-Being.
Regional and county patterns
The national rural rate conceals substantial regional variation. In the South, the average nonmetro poverty rate was 19.7% in 2015–19. The South’s nonmetro rate was nearly 6 percentage points higher than its metro rate during the same period. That comparison describes a regional average, not a uniform condition across every Southern community.
Child poverty was especially concentrated in a group of counties. There were 138 U.S. counties with average child-poverty rates of at least 40% in 2015–19. Only 11 of those counties were metro counties. The other 127 were nonmetro counties, representing 84.3% of the high-child-poverty county group. Thirty-eight nonmetro counties had child-poverty rates of at least 50%.
The highest named nonmetro child-poverty rates in the USDA ERS figures were recorded in several counties and parishes:
- Claiborne County, Mississippi: 72.0% in 2015–19.
- East Carroll Parish, Louisiana: 66.4% in 2015–19.
- Mellette County, South Dakota: 65.7% in 2015–19.
- Todd County, South Dakota: 64.0% in 2015–19.
- Jackson County, South Dakota: 62.3% in 2015–19.
These county figures are average rates for 2015–19, rather than single-year observations. They also illustrate why a national or regional average cannot represent the experience of every rural place. Source: Rural Poverty & Well-Being.
Persistent and concentrated poverty
The USDA identified 353 U.S. counties as persistently poor under its multi-period poverty definition, using measures from 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2007–2011. Those counties represented 11.2% of all U.S. counties. Of the 353 persistently poor counties, 301 were nonmetro, or 85.3% of the total. Persistently poor counties represented 15.2% of all nonmetro counties.
Nearly 84% of persistently poor counties were in the South, and persistently poor counties made up more than 20% of all counties in the South. The concentration is therefore geographic as well as rural: persistent poverty was more common among nonmetro counties and particularly concentrated in the Southern region.
The older persistence classification also overlapped with more recent high poverty. Of the 301 nonmetro persistently poor counties, 267, or 88.7%, had average poverty of at least 20% in 2015–19. At the same time, the number of nonmetro counties experiencing persistent poverty in 2021 was 9.7% lower than a decade earlier. That comparison refers to a change between 2011 and 2021 and should not be read as a replacement for the earlier multi-period county definition.
The historical measures and the 2021 comparison come from Rural Poverty & Well-Being and Rural America at a Glance: 2024 Edition. The different periods and definitions matter when interpreting persistence.
Rural child poverty
Children experienced higher poverty rates than the rural population overall. In 2023, about 1.6 million rural children under age 16 were poor. The rural poverty rate for children under 16 was 19.5%; for children under age 5, it was 20.9%; and for children ages 5 to 16, it was 18.9%.
The earlier five-year ACS figures show a similar rural disadvantage. In 2019, the nonmetro child-poverty rate was 21.1%, compared with 16.1% in metro areas. For children under age 5, the nonmetro rate was 24.0%, compared with 17.3% in metro areas.
The 2023 estimates and the 2019 estimates come from different source editions and periods. The 2023 figures are from Rural America at a Glance: 2024 Edition, while the 2019 child comparisons are from Rural Poverty & Well-Being. Together, they show that young children were a particularly high-poverty group in both reporting periods, without implying that the two estimates are directly interchangeable.
Race and ethnicity
The USDA’s 2019 nonmetro estimates show large differences among the individual race and ethnicity groups reported. The nonmetro poverty rate was 30.7% for Black or African American residents, 29.6% for American Indian or Alaska Native residents, 21.7% for Hispanic residents, and 13.3% for White residents.
Among those individual nonmetro groups, Black or African American residents had the highest reported poverty rate at 30.7%. These are population-group rates for nonmetro residents in 2019; they are not county rates and do not describe every person within a group.
| Nonmetro population group | Poverty rate | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Black or African American | 30.7% | 2019 |
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 29.6% | 2019 |
| Hispanic | 21.7% | 2019 |
| White | 13.3% | 2019 |
Source: Rural Poverty & Well-Being. The source labels and 2019 measurement period are retained because poverty comparisons depend on the geography and year being measured.
Family structure and age
Family structure was strongly associated with the 2019 nonmetro poverty rates. The poverty rate for nonmetro female-headed families with no spouse present was 32.0%. Among nonmetro female-headed families with related children, it was 42.6%. The rate for nonmetro married-couple families was 5.4%.
Age groups also differed. The nonmetro poverty rate for adults ages 18 to 64 was 15.0%, while the rate for adults age 65 and older was 10.3%. The comparable metro rates were 11.0% for adults ages 18 to 64 and 9.3% for adults age 65 and older.
| Group | Nonmetro rate | Metro rate | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adults ages 18–64 | 15.0% | 11.0% | 2019 |
| Adults age 65 and older | 10.3% | 9.3% | 2019 |
| Female-headed families, no spouse present | 32.0% | — | 2019 |
| Female-headed families with related children | 42.6% | — | 2019 |
| Married-couple families | 5.4% | — | 2019 |
The family-structure and age figures are from Rural Poverty & Well-Being. A missing metro comparison in the table means that the supplied source fact here specified only the nonmetro figure, not that the metro rate was zero or unavailable in every source.
Official poverty thresholds
The official poverty measure uses annual cash income and household thresholds. In 2019, an unrelated individual with annual cash income below $13,011 was classified as poor under the official poverty measure. The comparable threshold for an unrelated individual was $12,784 in 2018.
The 2019 official poverty line was $13,300 for an individual under age 65 and $12,261 for an individual age 65 or older. For families, the line was $20,578 for a three-person family with two adults and one child, and $30,510 for a five-person family with two adults and three children.
The USDA comparison also reports differences among survey estimates. For nonmetro residents in 2012, the ACS poverty estimate was 18.2%, compared with 17.7% in the Current Population Survey. In 2018, the ACS estimates were 16.1% for nonmetro residents and 12.6% for metro residents.
These benchmarks are historical official thresholds and survey estimates, not current household budgets. They should be read with their stated year and measure. Source: Rural Poverty & Well-Being.