Social Policy | |
Americans Moving From City Canyons To Country Haunts |
For two of the past three decades, more Americans have moved to small towns than cities. The trend began in the 1970s, reversed somewhat in the 1980s, then picked up again in the 1990s. Between 1990 and 1996, America's rural population grew by nearly three million -- or 5.9 percent. Sociologist Ken Johnson at Loyola University of Chicago says there are several factors behind this trend:
Kevin Heubusch, author of "The New Rating Guide to Life in America's Small Cities," has coined the word "micropolis" to describe a city having at least 15,000 residents, located in a county with at least 40,000 inhabitants. He identified 193 such cities as of 1994 -- representing 5 percent of the U.S. population. Johnson notes that newcomers to rural areas typically want more public services than do existing residents -- who also don't want the higher taxes those amenities would entail. Source: Carl Horowitz, "Americans Abandon Big Cities to Find Bliss in Country Life," Investor's Business Daily, May 5, 1998. |