Stef W. Kight and Juliet Bartz at Axios:
Let’s say you were born, grew up and now reside in rural America. Throughout your life, you have been more susceptible to poverty, lower education, illness and even death than your urban counterparts.
- As a kid, chances are, you lived farther away from a doctor or hospital and got less exercise.
- You were more likely to live in a school desert — having to travel long distances to make it to school, if you were able to attend at all. Your school might have shuttered, as school consolidation has become more common in many rural areas, per the New York Times.
- You had a greater likelihood of getting your high school diploma than the national average, but were far less likely to go straight to college than your urban and suburban counterparts, as The Atlantic reported.
- If you did graduate with a college degree, you'd likely end up so saddled with student debt that returning to your rural hometown wouldn't be an option if you hoped to get a job that would enable you to pay it off, according to research by the Federal Reserve.
- Even if you stay, some of the brightest people you grew up with would leave, contributing to the rural "brain drain."
- As an adult, you’re more likely suffer from obesity, mental health issues, diabetes, cancer and opioid addiction. You are more likely to know people who took their own lives.
- If you keep working in your hometown, your job is more likely to be taken over by AI, according to a study by the Brookings Institution — especially if you live in Indiana, Kentucky, South Dakota, Arkansas or Iowa.
- Your community's economy still hasn't fully recovered from the 2008 recession, according to Fed data.
- As you get older, you are more likely to die from a preventable death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- If you do make it into old age, you may not have a place to grow old near your friends, family and the place you called home your whole life.
At Bloomberg Business Week, Monte Reel quotes Dr. Joan Dickson of Glendive, Montana: “If you look at a map of the United States,” she says, “I am the only psychiatrist between Bismarck, North Dakota, and Billings, Montana.” That’s 400-plus miles. It’s like having one psychiatrist between New York City and Akron, Ohio.
