Rural America’s
best export is its young people. Demographic patterns for decades show that the
better a rural community educates its children, the more likely they are to
seek jobs, careers, and a life elsewhere. K-12 education across the nation is
substantially financed by local property taxes. A community does not gain a
return on their tax-funded investment from graduates who leave to work and pay
taxes elsewhere. The returns to the educational investment made by rural
residents accrue largely in areas that are not rural.
How the Returns to Education in
Rural Areas Vary Across the Nation, a Penn
State University
study, finally measures how much this population shift harms rural areas (and
benefits urban areas). It quantifies how little rural communities get in return
for their contribution to the education of their children. Focusing on per
capita income in rural and urban counties for those 25 and older with a high
school diploma or a higher degree, the study finds that returns to education
are over three times higher in urban areas than in rural areas.
In other
words, increasing the number of people in a rural community with a high school
diploma or higher brings about less than one-third the increase in income as
does the same increase in educated people in an urban area. Returns to
education were lowest in rural areas of the Midwest
(and highest in rural areas of the West). This is particularly ironic since
rural schools in the Midwest have among the
highest performance measures of any schools in the nation.
These
findings have significant consequences. If rural communities get less return
for their school property taxes, there is potentially less support for public
education as the tax burden is placed on fewer people. If returns to an
individual’s educational investment are so much higher in urban areas, the
pattern of educated young people leaving rural areas is sure to continue and
accelerate.
Communities
deprived of educated residents also face challenges in workforce attraction,
retention, and economic development. The magnitude of the gap in returns to
education shown by the report demonstrates the magnitude of the problem and
challenges faced by rural communities. Public policy should place more emphasis
on the need to develop rural economic opportunities, particularly those that
pay enough to provide a return on the community and individual investment in
education.
Contact: Jon Bailey, jonb@cfra.org or
402.687.2103 x 1013 for more information on the Center’s research and analysis
program.
Dakota Rural Action has been a close ally of the Center for Rural Affairs since the South Dakota grassroots organization was established. In particular, Dakota Rural Action is a key ally in South Dakota on livestock market reforms, beginning farmer and rancher initiatives and on anti-corporate farming laws. Visit them online today. 
