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Discussion Paper
Impacts of Tariffs on Rural Businesses: Insights from Our Business Surveys
As a part of the Richmond Fed's March business surveys, we asked firms how tariff policies might affect their business. Additionally, we asked responding businesses to indicate their geographic footprint: urban, suburban, small town, and/or rural. We were particularly interested in understanding how rural-operating businesses expect to be impacted by tariff policies compared to their urban counterparts. In our analysis, we consider rural-only businesses to operate only in rural areas or small towns. We consider urban-only businesses to operate only in cities or suburban areas.We find that ...
Journal Article
Features: Virginia's Small Farmers Weather Unpredictability
A typical day on Oak Level Farm in Yale, Va., varies by season, but one thing remains constant: long hours. Jared Webb works 60 hours or more every week to manage and maintain the small farm that his grandfather inherited in the 1960s."I got to spend a lot of time riding around with my granddad on tractors. Farming here was always something that I wanted to do," says Webb, who began to operate the farm in the early 2000s after his grandfather passed away and not long after he graduated from Virginia Tech's Agricultural Technology program. Today, Webb oversees cattle, cotton, peanuts, and ...
Journal Article
District Digest: Working on Wellness: The Rural Health and Employment Link
Adverse health events can be disruptive to employment. A health shock, such as suffering an injury or developing a chronic condition, can limit an individual's ability to perform the physical and mental demands of work, potentially leading to lower productivity, fewer hours, and even a labor force exit. But the relationship between health and employment doesn't end there — employment outcomes also influence health outcomes. Employment is a key social determinant of health, supporting well-being through financial stability and access to employer-provided health insurance. For some, workplace ...
Discussion Paper
Federal Government Transfers in the Rural Fifth District
In previous articles, we articulated the role that cuts in federal government workforce and spending might have on the Washington, D.C., region of the Fifth Federal Reserve District. But another key piece of federal government spending that impacts our Fifth District communities is transfer payments. For many households in the Fifth District, transfer payments from the government comprise a sizable share of personal income. Whether it be medical benefits, social security, or unemployment insurance, transfer payments serve as a tool for both poverty alleviation and household financial ...
Journal Article
Investing in the Great Outdoors
While the appeal of Mother Nature has always been self-evident to enthusiasts, the COVID-19 pandemic brought in new converts. Once it became clear that the virus spread less easily in open spaces, and with many indoor options shut down, outdoor recreation became a compelling option for anyone looking to escape their home or apartment in 2020.In addition to visiting state parks and trails in record numbers, many Americans moved from cities to suburbs, small towns, and rural places in search of more open spaces. According to a March 2023 report from Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing ...
Journal Article
District Digest: What's Driving Rural Population Growth?
Population decline is a familiar story for many rural areas and small towns: Children grow up and leave for college or move to a larger city with more job opportunities. With fewer working-age adults left, some rural employers might leave as well, and new businesses may be reluctant to move in. This self-reinforcing cycle of population decline can continue for decades.In the Fifth District, counties that are today considered small towns or rural are more likely than urban counties to have been shedding population for three or more of the decades between 1970 and 2020. In contrast, about 63 ...
Journal Article
Cover Story: Apprenticeships for Rural America
Apprenticeships, as defined by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), "combine paid on-the-job training with classroom instruction to prepare workers for highly-skilled careers." Many potential apprentices are attracted to the path by the direct pipeline it offers to steady work. ApprenticeshipsUSA, a DOL informational resource on apprenticeships, estimates that 93 percent of apprentices in Registered Apprenticeships are hired by their training company after completing the program. Registered Apprenticeships are programs that meet certain DOL standards, including being industry vetted and paid, ...
Discussion Paper
Land at Risk: Heirs' Property in the Carolinas
In 2021, the Richmond Fed highlighted the issue of heirs' property (and its prevalence in Maryland and Virginia) in a Regional Matters post. Heirs' property occurs when land is transferred from one generation to the next without a clear will or definition of land ownership. Since multiple heirs can lay claim to a parcel of land, heirs' property can impede or complicate the sale of the land or the ability of owners to prove ownership, among other challenges.Using the same methodology for North Carolina and South Carolina, this Regional Matters illustrates the prevalence of heirs' property ...
Discussion Paper
Tracking a Decade of Growth in Rural Registered Apprenticeships
Apprenticeship is a compelling workforce development model for rural communities looking to grow and retain local talent. However, little is known about how common apprenticeship is in rural communities. In this post1, we look at the past 10 years of data on Registered Apprenticeship statewide and nationally. Between 2016 and 2025, the share of registered apprentices in rural communities has grown steadily: In 2025, nearly one-fifth (18 percent) of new apprentices were located in rural communities. While urban communities add more apprentices each year due to their population size, by ...
Speech
How Do Small Towns Grow?
In the last few years, we’ve come across a number of small towns that appear to be turning things around — that have gone from losing residents to growing.The places that have started growing are mostly exurbs or near natural or well-crafted amenities. They’re building worker housing, investing in skill-building, and supporting workers’ whole-life needs.Now-growing counties didn’t begin their growth journeys in 2020. Their momentum started earlier. In time, with the right conditions, momentum starts showing up in the data.