The gap in household income between nonmetro households and those in other locations increased between 1979 and 1999, as did disparities by race and ethnicity across residence. Industrial restructuring, increased demand for more-educated workers, changing household structure, and women's labor force participation may influence income levels and…

Compares rural and urban income levels of Whites, Blacks, and Hispanic workers by region for the years 1979 and 1987. Presents information on geographic concentrations of minorities. Suggests the economic status of rural minorities failed to improve because of the nonskilled or semiskilled job opportunities in areas where minority populations are…

Nonmetro educational attainment increased substantially between 1970 and 1990; however, nonmetro areas continued to lag metro in both high school and college completion rates. The metro-nonmetro gap in high school completion rates narrowed, whereas the gap in four-year college degree completion rates widened. Compares completion rates by region,…

Popular notions of poverty in America overlook the rural poor or assume that their problems are the same as those of the inner-city poor. This report, the first in a series on rural poverty, describes the characteristics of the rural poor and examines rural-urban differences in poverty. In 1987, the poverty rate was 16.9% in nonmetropolitan areas,…

In 2004 the Monitoring the Future study marked its 30th year of conducting national surveys of substance use among American young people. Beginning with the first survey of high school seniors in 1975, the study has provided the nation with a window through which to view the important, but largely hidden, problem behaviors of illicit drug use,…

This report builds upon the "State of the South, 1996" report by concentrating on how various segments of the region's population are faring, with special attention to gender, ethnicity, and education. States included in the regional analysis are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina,…

Rural Chicanas share values and problems with other rural women (conservative orientation toward sex roles and life styles, conflict between traditional demands of rural culture and pressure to enter the labor force), but with additional socio-linguistic barriers (limited English-speaking ability, few marketable job skills). Many Chicanas do not…