This paper reports on a demographic study that focuses on the patterns of migration to and from specific metropolitan areas which contribute to nonmetropolitan growth and decline. For background, the paper examines some general properties of the United States migration system. Then the concept of metropolitan areas as redistributors of population…

This article suggests that there are three principal sources of metropolitan population decline: the declining birth rate, the reversal of rural-to-urban migration, and inter-metropolitan migration. (Author/AM)

Using a case study and surveys, assesses the major changes that have occurred in population trends within the nonmetropolitan sector of Australia, and South Australia in particular. Appears that a reversal in the long-standing pattern of increasing concentration of the population in large urban settings is continuing but at a slower pace than in…

The 1970's ushered in widespread population deconcentration, seen in the pervasive shift of the United States population down the size-of-place scale. To document population changes in various sized places in the country from 1950 to 1980 and to show the pervasiveness of urban-rural deconcentration in nonmetropolitan areas, researchers examined…

Over the past several years significant changes have occurred in longstanding patterns of population growth within Wisconsin. Before 1960, growth occurred primarily in and around major metropolitan areas. In the 1970's a growth revival took place in nonmetropolitan counties. This, along with a sharp decline in urban growth, allowed rural growth to…

Gallup Polls conducted between 1966 and 1972 indicated that the percentage of persons stating they would prefer living in a city has steadily declined, reaching the all-time low of 13 percent in 1972. Interviews conducted with a sample of 1,806 Americans showed that while one-third of the respondents currently live in towns, villages, or rural…

Several demographic aspects of population concentration and deconcentration within the nonmetropolitan sector during 1960-1984 are examined using census data. Relative rates of urban and rural growth during 1960-70, 1970-80, and 1980-84 are compared. Shifts in the proportion of nonmetropolitan counties experiencing rural growth during 1980-84 are…

Rural sociology confronts a continuing crisis of identity because of its failure to develop a sociology of agriculture. Despite an initial focus on agriculture, rural sociology became deflected to the analysis of rurality. Several neo-Populist and neo-Marxist developments in the sociology of agriculture hold promise for a revised rural sociology.…

Current U.S. settlement patterns have begun to exhibit a significant shift away from very large metropolitan centers toward more thinly settled peripheral areas. This new trend has been the subject of many recent studies which have considered data on the county level but have been unable to detect population movement within counties and among…

Examines rural growth of 1970s and 1980s, suggesting ongoing movement of middle class to small towns and rural areas. Describes benefits and problems associated with increasing urban to rural migration. Describes community responses designed to preserve rural integrity. Includes statistics and maps showing population changes. (TES)

This study of population change in Ohio during the 1960s and 1970s analyzed change by size of place and found sharp contrasts between the two decades. Places in metropolitan core counties which had the highest growth rate in the 1960s showed that lowest growth rate in the 1970s. Small towns in fringe metropolitan areas and nonmetropolitan counties…

Increased migration to the sunbelt and the metropolitan-nonmetropolitan "turnaround" represent departures from longstanding redistribution trends. Although these patterns have been examined from a number of perspectives, their consequences for individiual metropolitan areas have not been brought to light. In the present study, stream-disaggregated…

To further an explanation of the post-1970 United States demographic phenomenon of increased population for non-metropolitan areas, the relationship of 3 ecological phenomena to non-metropolitan net migration rates between the 1960's and the 1970's is examined for a random stratified sample of 380 United States non-metropolitan counties (primarily…

Inmigration to Maine was found to have altered population distribution, increased the proportion of younger, highly educated persons, and provided a pool of professional/managerial persons for community involvement. Data gathered from 417 persons moving into Maine during the July through December period of either 1980 or 1983 showed inmigrants to…

The nine chapters in the book focus on the 1970s' metropolitan to nonmetropolitan migration stream and address both population patterns and processes and the impacts and policy issues associated with the resulting population redistribution in the Midwest. Peter A. Morrison places the Midwest in the national context of changing population structure…