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Research Article
Open Access

Depopulation, Deaths, Diversity, and Deprivation: The 4Ds of Rural Population Change

Daniel T. Lichter, Kenneth M. Johnson
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences January 2025, 11 (2) 88-114; DOI: https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2025.11.2.05
Daniel T. Lichter
aFerris Family professor emeritus in the Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University, United States
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Kenneth M. Johnson
bProfessor of sociology and senior demographer at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire, United States
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Article Figures & Data

Figures

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  • Figure 1.
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    Figure 1.

    Population Change by Metropolitan Status

    Source: Authors’ calculations based on U.S. Census Bureau 2024a.

  • Figure 2.
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    Figure 2.

    Population Change in Nonmetropolitan Counties

    Source: Authors’ calculations based on U.S. Census Bureau 2024a. The optimal way to view the maps in this article is in color. We refer readers of the print edition of this article to https://www.rsfjournal.org/content/11/2/88 to view the color versions.

  • Figure 3.
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    Figure 3.

    Deaths, Crude Death Rates, and Natural Decrease

    Source: Authors’ calculations based on U.S. Census Bureau 2024a, 2024b.

  • Figure 4.
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    Figure 4.

    Racial Diversity of Nonmetro Population

    Source: Authors’ calculations based on U.S. Census Bureau 2024a.

  • Figure 5.
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    Figure 5.

    Nonmetropolitan Poverty Relative to United States Overall

    Source: Authors’ calculations based on U.S. Census Bureau 2023; Economic Research Service 2023.

  • Figure A.1.
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    Figure A.1.

    Nonmetropolitan Population, Floating and Fixed Definition

    Source: Authors’ calculations based on U.S. Census Bureau 2024a.

  • Figure A.2.
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    Figure A.2.

    Population Patterns in Nonmetropolitan Counties

    Source: Authors’ calculations based on U.S. Census Bureau 2024b.

  • Figure A.3.
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    Figure A.3.

    Nonmetropolitan Population by Race and Hispanic Origin

    Source: Authors’ calculations based on U.S. Census Bureau 2024a.

  • Figure A.4.
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    Figure A.4.

    Income and Poverty by County, 2019

    Source: Authors’ calculations based on U.S. Census Bureau 2023; Economic Research Service 2023.

  • Figure A.5.
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    Figure A.5.

    Social Vulnerability and Poverty, 1990–2020

    Source: Authors’ calculations based on U.S. Census Bureau 2023, 2024a, 2024b; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2023; Economic Research Service 2023.

Additional Files

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    Appendix

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    • Adobe PDF - Lichter_Online_Appendix.pdf - Appendix
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RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences: 11 (2)
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
Vol. 11, Issue 2
1 Jan 2025
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Depopulation, Deaths, Diversity, and Deprivation: The 4Ds of Rural Population Change
Daniel T. Lichter, Kenneth M. Johnson
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences Jan 2025, 11 (2) 88-114; DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2025.11.2.05

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Depopulation, Deaths, Diversity, and Deprivation: The 4Ds of Rural Population Change
Daniel T. Lichter, Kenneth M. Johnson
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences Jan 2025, 11 (2) 88-114; DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2025.11.2.05
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Keywords

  • rural
  • 2020 census
  • depopulation
  • diversity
  • mortality

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