People and Places at the Ragged Edge

PROSPERITY IS NOT EVENLY distributed across the American landscape. Poverty, especially persistent poverty, is highly concentrated, with the highest county poverty rates found in remote rural ¹ counties. Counties with a strong historical dependence on natural resource industries are frequently places with high and persistent poverty. In rural areas, the interdependencies that are the focus of this volume—between humans and the environment, and between rural and urban markets—have not worked to the benefit of the local residents.