Rural Communities

Eighty years later, California’s housing market has run dry and Oklahoma is building river parks. As families gravitate back to the heartland, with its cheap homes and lower unemployment, the migration patterns of the Great Depression have turned backward. "It’s the Wrath of Grapes," says Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett.

At the current rate, more people could be working at home than riding transit by 2017.

The benefits U.S. businesses and employees could gain from adopting virtual work policies, include reduced stress, increased productivity, better work and life balance, and reduced absenteeism.

Do urban areas have the monopoly on livability? Transportation 4 America says no, and presents 12 case studies to prove it.

While there’s no hard data on the subject, there is anecdotal evidence that many people would jump at the chance to sell their family home and “move down” to a smaller home in a different environment such as a college town.

“Just attracting more residents won’t have much effect,” he says. “But building relationships with other cities both near and far, for example through business partnerships or more nonstop flights, can go a long way.”

There are jobs in rural America. But people are stuck in high unemployment areas because they can’t sell their houses.

Do urban areas have the monopoly on livability? Transportation 4 America says no, and presents 12 case studies to prove it.

A generation of young workers flocked to the coasts at the turn of the millennium, drawn by job opportunities and the fast-paced lifestyle that the big cities provide. But the priorities of a 30-year-old can be dramatically different from those of a 20-something.

Rural America — like the rest of the country — is getting older. But it’s not that simple. In some parts of the Great Plains, the percentage of young people is growing!