ABSTRACT
Aging in place is a concern for all older persons—those who are affluent, middle-income, or poor—but it is especially a problem for those who are frail and poor. Any discussion of the aging in place of older persons in rural communities is based on an assumption that aging in rural communities is in fact different from that experienced in urban communities. Some situations may be uniquely complex, as is the case on Indian reservations, where the combination of great poverty, unemployment, enormous distances between homes and services, and absence of a social service infrastructure create very special problems for those who are aging in place. Women live longer than men, spend longer periods in adulthood alone, are poorer than men, and generally are more vulnerable to the problems of aging in rural settings. However, some limitations on the availability of services in rural communities may equally affect the wealthy and the poor.
