What is rural? “The problem of defining "rural" is not new. People know when they are...

What is rural?“The problem of defining "rural" is not new. People know when they are rural, but such perception does not satisfy demographers, policymakers, or educational researchers.

After all, difficult policy decisions have to be made and resources have to be allocated on some quantifiable basis. Numbers, however,

miss the essence of what it means to be rural, and seldom satisfy those on the receiving end of the definition. Rural people know that rural Maine is not like rural Texas, which in turn is

not like rural Georgia or Alaska. “Source:

http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-929/concept.htm

SBA Definition of a “Small Business”

• 500 employees for most manufacturing and mining industries

• 100 employees for all wholesale trade industries

Source: http://www.sba.gov/size/indexfaqs.html

Persons Per Square Mile (2000)

http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/EIB4/EIB4.pdf

Rural Wisdom

Growing Up “On the Farm”

“When I graduated eight grade from a Wisconsin one-room country school, I looked forward to attending high school in Wild Rose, some four miles from our farm. I suspect it was during the first few weeks in high school that I discovered, firsthand, the differences between city kids and country kids. We country kids learned quickly that we were supposedly inferior to the more sophisticated high school freshmen who had grown up in town”.

Nucor Steel“Nucor built its entire system on the

idea that you can teach farmers how to make steel, but you can’t teach a farmer work ethic to people who don’t have it in the first place. So instead of setting up mills in traditional steel towns like Pittsburgh and Gary, it located its plants in places full of real farmers who go to bed early, rise at dawn, and get right to work without fanfare.”

Southwest Wisconsin

• How many of you grew up on a farm?

• How many of you have visited a farm in the last year?

The Regional Village

• Robert Dick, UWEX, 1992

Source: http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cced/documents/regional_village.pdf

Rural America at a Glance

• http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/EIB4/

Who has created a definition of “rural”

• The U.S. Census Bureau

• Office of Management and Budget

• Economic Research Service

Source:

• http://www.raconline.org/info_guides/ruraldef/ruraldeffaq.php#major

In Iowa County Wisconsin (Home of Lands End) 4,007 workers commute into Iowa

County to work. Of the 12,467 employed Iowa County

residents, how many travel outside the county to work?

439

1,110

2,344

4,547

Live In: Work In: Count:   Travel

To: From: Count::

Iowa Co. WI

Iowa Co. WI

7,920   Iowa Co. WI

Iowa Co. WI 7,920

  Dane Co. WI

3,155     Grant Co. WI

1,494

  Grant Co. WI

446     Dane Co. WI 928

  Sauk Co. WI

387     Lafayette Co. WI

795

  Lafayette Co. WI

141     Sauk Co. WI 298

  Richland Co. WI

129     Richland Co. WI

203

  Green Co. WI

55     Green Co. WI

44

  Dubuque Co. IA

42     Crawford Co. WI

36

  Jefferson Co. WI

33     Columbia Co. WI

25

  Columbia Co. WI

25     Portage Co. WI

25

  Cook Co. IL 16     Cook Co. IL 21

  Crawford Co. WI

11     Winnebago Co. WI

16

  Elsewhere 107     Jo Daviess Co. IL

12

  Grand Total

12,467     Rock Co. WI 11

          Vernon Co. WI

10

          Dubuque Co. IA

10

          Elsewhere 79

          Grand Total 11,927

11,927 -7,920 =4,007

Source:www.uwex.edu/ces/cced/CommunityIndicators_workerflow.htm

% Change in Residents Employed Locally (1990-2000)

18%

9%8%

-2%

-6%

19%

23%

15%

8%10%

16%

13%

10%

1% 0%

-10%

-5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Dane Iowa Wisconsin Grant Lafayette

Sum of % Change in residents employed locally Sum of % Change in residents employed

Sum of % Change in Population

Importers/Exporters of Jobs (# of jobs in the county - # of residents employed,

divided by residents that are employed).

10%

-16%

-36%

-4%

-40%

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

Dane Grant Iowa Lafayette

Commute Time (minutes)

Place 1990 2000 Change Change (%) Days Commuting* Value at $10 per hour

Lancaster 14.2 18.8 4.6 32% 20 $1,628.06

Platteville 13.0 16.7 3.6 28% 18 $1,445.22

Potosi 22.7 26.0 3.3 15% 28 $2,254.07

Mineral Point 15.7 22.7 7.0 44% 25 $1,969.30

Highland 17.9 27.1 9.2 51% 29 $2,345.63

Dodgeville 15.1 16.3 1.2 8% 18 $1,415.14

Darlington 14.9 19.8 4.9 33% 21 $1,718.42

Hollandale 21.7 37.1 15.4 71% 40 $3,214.24

Livingston 21.6 24.3 2.8 13% 26 $2,106.94

Benton 23.5 24.9 1.3 6% 27 $2,155.53

*Assumes 52 week, 5 days a week, 8 hour days (Column C * 2 trips*260 days/480 minutes (60*8))

What are the Community Impacts of Commuting?

• Where do commuters do their shopping?

• What is the expense of commuting?• How much time is spent commuting

that could have been spent on income earning activities, or community and family building activities?

• What is the environmental impact and transportation impact of commuters?

Contact Information:Your County UW Extension Office

(Community Resource Development Educator)

Center for Community Economic Development

610 Langdon Street, Madison, WI 53703http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cced/

Andy Lewis608-263-1432ablewis@wisc.edu

Recommended Reading:

Community Indicators, Center For Community Economic Development, University of Wisconsin

Extension, http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cced/indicate.html

Cultural Map of Wisconsin, Woodward, Ostergren, Brouwer, Hoelscher, Hane, University of Wisconsin

Press, http://sco.wisc.edu/pubs/maps_pubs.php#cultural

Wisconsin’s Past and Present, A Historical Atlas, The Wisconsin Cartographers’ Guild