This report identifies those federal programs that are essentially rural and pursue economic development purposes. Using the 10 Beale population codes, 2,097 of the 3,096 U.S. counties, containing 16% of the U.S. population, were defined as rural (had urban populations of less than 20,000). The approximately 800 federal domestic assistance programs were placed into six categories based on development objectives. The four categories containing the principal rural development-type programs were economic development, agriculture and natural resources, infrastructure, and human resources (including education). In these four categories, 88 programs met the definition of rural development-type programs. The 88 programs provided total funding to both rural and nonrural counties of about $29 billion in fiscal year 1987. Rural share data for fiscal year 1985 was available for 48 programs; these provided about $17 billion total, of which about 21% went directly to rural counties. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administered the greatest number of rural development-type programs, was the only agency with programs in all four rural development categories, and provided the highest percentage of funding to rural counties. Thus, USDA would be the federal agency with the broadest experience base for implementing a rural development policy via the proposed Rural Development Administration. Extensive appendices categorize all U.S. counties by Beale code, provide information on total funding and rural share of all federal domestic assistance programs, and describe the 88 rural development-type programs. (SV)