Examining the State of Community Well-Being at the Intersection of Rurality and Agricultural Engagement in the Contiguous United States

Abstract

As the 21st century progresses, rural residents across the United States have often found themselves in disadvantaged positions by many socio-economic measures compared to their urban counterparts. In addition, agriculture – once the emblem of rurality – shared a disputed relationship with the well-being of rural communities in the social science literature. However, the literature specifically related to how community well-being (CWB) varies across the intersection of rurality and agricultural engagement is limited. This study addresses this gap in the body of knowledge. Using county-level data on socioeconomic conditions from the past decade, we examine how agricultural engagement is associated with community well-being in rural areas. We show that CWB varies widely regardless of metropolitan status and engagement in agriculture across the 3107 counties included in the study. However, the most disadvantaged communities are primarily located in rural places. Study findings also show that agricultural engagement is not consistently associated with improved or worsened CWB in rural areas. These findings indicate that the primary factor driving differences in CWB is the level of urbanicity/rurality and that CWB in rural communities is consistently similar regardless of local economies’ reliance on agriculture.