Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural America

Despite considerable social scientific attention to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on urbanized areas, very little research has examined its impact on rural populations. Yet rural communities—which make up tens of millions of people from diverse backgrounds in the United States—are among the n...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 118; no. 1; pp. 1 - 6
Main Authors Mueller, J. Tom, McConnell, Kathryn, Burow, Paul Berne, Pofahl, Katie, Merdjanoff, Alexis A., Farrell, Justin
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 05.01.2021
Subjects
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Economic conditions
Economic forecasting
Female
Humans
Male
Medical research
Mental Health
Middle Aged
Minority & ethnic groups
Pandemics
Populations
Public Opinion
Rural areas
Rural communities
Rural Health
Rural Population
Rural populations
Self Report
Social Sciences
Unemployment
United States
Young Adult
United States
COVID-19
well-being
health
economy
rural America
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Summary:Despite considerable social scientific attention to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on urbanized areas, very little research has examined its impact on rural populations. Yet rural communities—which make up tens of millions of people from diverse backgrounds in the United States—are among the nation’s most vulnerable populations and may be less resilient to the effects of such a large-scale exogenous shock. We address this critical knowledge gap with data from a new survey designed to assess the impacts of the pandemic on health-related and economic dimensions of rural well-being in the North American West. Notably, we find that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural populations have been severe, with significant negative impacts on unemployment, overall life satisfaction, mental health, and economic outlook. Further, we find that these impacts have been generally consistent across age, ethnicity, education, and sex. We discuss how these findings constitute the beginning of a much larger interdisciplinary COVID-19 research effort that integrates rural areas and pushes beyond the predominant focus on cities and nation-states.
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Edited by Douglas S. Massey, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, and approved November 25, 2020 (received for review September 16, 2020)
Author contributions: J.T.M., K.M., P.B.B., K.P., A.A.M., and J.F. designed research; J.T.M. and K.M. performed research; J.T.M., K.M., and P.B.B. analyzed data; and J.T.M., K.M., P.B.B., K.P., A.A.M., and J.F. wrote the paper.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2019378118