Rural Counties with More Broadband Tended to Do Better in 2020 Census, Study Shows

Although most of the nation’s rural counties lost population from 2010 to 2020, new Census data shows that rural counties with better broadband access tended to do better with population change than counties that lacked access. As more residents had access to broadband as defined by the Federal Communications Commission in 2011, the county population increased nine years later. Most counties did improve their broadband situation as the 2010s continued. Broadband access grew as the decade progressed for both kinds of counties – those that lost population and those that gained.  But the importance of broadband access only continued to increase. 

[Brian Whitacre is professor and Neustadt Chair in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University.  Roberto Gallardo is the director of the Purdue Center for Regional Development.]