ABSTRACT
Poverty is unevenly distributed throughout the United States with the highest concentrations in the most rural and most urban areas of the country. For decades, urban poverty has received far more research and policy attention than rural poverty, diverting interest away from the 7.5 million poor Americans who live in rural areas. More than 14% of rural residents live in poverty compared to 12.1% of urban residents (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service (USDA/ERS), 2004). According to the USDA/ERS, 2004 family poverty rates were higher for rural families of all compositions, with femaleheaded households faring worst (see Fig. 5.1). Consequently, poor families in rural areas face special challenges that are often left unaddressed. Since more families in rural areas are poor and more often in single-parent households, rural children tend to fare less well than urban children (USDA/ERS, 2004). Rogers (2005) reported that in 2003, rural child poverty was 21% compared to 18% in metropolitan areas. That year rural children represented 36% of the rural poor.
