In the late 1970s both jobs and population were growing more rapidly outside metropolitan areas. As a group, nonmetropolitan counties not adjacent to a metropolitan area experienced a faster rate of employment growth than metropolitan areas between 1975-79. Even in rural counties (no urban place of 2,500 or more) not adjacent to a metropolitan…

From 1950 to 1970, the shift from agriculture to industry dominated Ashe County, North Carolina, isolated on the Blue Ridge by rugged terrain and severe weather. Rural farm population declined by 2/3 but rural non-farm population tripled. Many new industries helped shift the bulk of the work force to industry. In 1950, 45% of the work force farmed…

Relative to other urbanized areas, the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas consistently ranks at the bottom in regard to almost every objective indicator of socioeconomic welfare: per capita income, educational attainment, employment, and health and housing conditions. The 1970 census discovered that approximately one-half of its population,…