Over seven million Americans living in rural areas are poor. Among this number, people of color are a disproportionate segment. Combined, communities of color only account for 17 percent of the total rural population, but they are poor at two to three times the rate of their white counterparts. African American and Latino poverty rates are 34.5 percent and 25.4 percent respectively, and the rate for Native Americans is 34 percent.
Poverty is concentrated by both race and place. Seven of every ten poor, rural African Americans live in six Southern states: Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina. Nearly three quarters of all poor, rural Latinos live in five Southwestern states: Texas, New Mexico, California, Arizona, and Colorado. Over half of all poor, rural Native Americans live in five Western states: Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Montana.
The overall unemployment rate in rural America in April 2005 was 5.2 percent, with whites at 4.4 percent, Blacks at 10.4 percent, and Latinos at 6.4 percent. Blacks and Latinos are concentrated in low-wage, non-union jobs. With the loss of manufacturing jobs in the South, between 1990 and 2000, the number of Black workers in low-wage, nonunion, rural jobs increased by a third. Latinos make up over 75 percent of agricultural laborers and 42 percent of meat processors—both fields that are predominantly non-union.
People of color in rural regions often have lower education attainment and often reside in areas with the lowest high school completion rate. In 1997, 53 percent of rural Hispanics, 41 percent of rural African Americans, and 32 percent of rural Native Americans did not have a high school diploma.
Rural communities lack services and physical infrastructure that urban dwellers take for granted. Adequate plumbing and water and sewer connection, paved roads, safe drinking water, television, telephone service, internet technology, public transportation systems, even electricity are often simply unavailable – and more so for people of color.
Many people of color are still without safe, decent, and sanitary housing in poor rural communities.
Rural America is experiencing a seismic, economic and demographic shift. Decline of the manufacturing sector, consolidation of agriculture, growth of large scale “big box” retail stores, and the growth surge of the meat packing and poultry industry in rural areas have all converged to create economies that are built on the backs of high-risk, low-wage, non-union jobs. With annual turnover rates of more than 50%, Blacks and Latinos finding themselves over represented in low-end retail and meat processing employment.
These changes in the economy are converging to make poverty more intractable for rural people of color. |
Key Learnings