Spatial theory and human behavior

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45971/1/10110_2005_Article_BF01952731.pd

Small Communities in the Northwestern United States Also Declining

Small communities in North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho experienced population trends very similar to those in Saskatchewan. Metro counties grew faster than nonmetro, except during the rural turnaround of the 1970's. Nonmetro counties containing larger communities grew during all four decades, 1950-90, while counties containing smaller communities lost population except during the turnaround

Changing Rural Village

Though often thought to be dying, villages have shared in the recent economic and population trends of nonmetro America. Changes in population, in the number of retail and service establishments, and in the number of manufacturing establishments have reflected the rural revival of the 1970's and subsequent decline. The principal role of the village seems to be changing. Small towns now serve primarily as residential rather than also as commercial and manufacturing centers. A troubling fact for the future of the village is that data on population and retail service and manufacturing establishments showed lowest growth or absolute decline following 1980

Nonmetro Population Older than Metro: Relatively Fewer Working Age Adults

The median age of nonmetro people has risen, but is still not greatly above that of metro residents. Typically, nonmetro counties have a lower proportion of their people at prime working ages, 20-44 years, and a higher percentage at retirement age. They also still have a modestly higher share of children ages 5-19. The greatest divergence from the national profile occurs in farming-dependent and retirement areas, where, from different causes, higher than normal shares of older people are found

Continuity and Change in Rural Migration Patterns, 1950–1995.

During the past several decades, rural America has experienced turbulent demographic change. We examine rural age-specific migration data for 1950 to 1995 to ascertain whether the numerous economic, social, and technological factors buffeting nonmetropolitan America have altered migration patterns across age groups and types of counties. Both continuity and change are evident in the analysis. We find differentiation in the migration profiles of certain specialized types of rural counties, as well as temporal variability from decade to decade. No clear longitudinal trend in migration patterns is present, however. In fact, an underlying continuity in age-specific trends has endured through good times and bad

Population Change in Nonmetropolitan Cities and Towns

Patterns of population change between 1950-60 and 1960-70 are analyzed for U.S. nonmetropolitan incorporated cities and towns. Ranging in size from less than 100 up to 50,000 population, they included over 30 million people in 1970, or about one-half of the total population living outside metropolitan areas. For this study, a constant geographic boundary is maintained and the research relates to places outside metropolitan areas as defined in 1963. Variations in population growth are examined by size groupings and other variables such as regional location, presence of an interstate highway, distance from a metropolitan central city, and annexation. Results from both the 1950's and 1960's indicate that any general view of small towns as declining or dying is grossly inaccurate. Places in nonmetropolitan areas grew in population 14 percent in 1950-60 and 10 percent in 1960-70; this rate of growth was less rapid than the metropolitan sector, but more rapid than the nonmetropolitan population outside incorporated places. There were growing and declining towns in all size classes, but only the very smallest of village classes witnessed population loss more commonly than growth in the 1960-70 decade

Decade of Pessimistic Nonmetro Population Trends Ends on Optimistic Note

Two years ago, Calvin Beale wrote an article for us on nonmetro population trends from 1980-86 (see June 1988 issue). That article focused on the sharp downturn in nonmetro growth since the 1970's, and the progressive inability of remote farming and mining counties to retain their people. With the decade now at an end, and a couple more years of data available, Beale and Fuguitt here take a look at what has happened since. Their findings should give readers a preview of the results of the 1990 Census, now being processed.-E