THE GAP: We can’t say we were surprised – perhaps disappointed –
by recent figures on median household income in Pennsylvania which
showed a wide disparity between urban and rural areas. In rural
areas, ,45,000; urban areas, ,55,000.

Here’s some other sad facts: Fewer rural adults, age 18 years
old and older, are employed than urban adults (57 percent and 60
percent, respectively).

In rural areas, 14 percent of children live in households with
incomes at or below poverty, and in urban areas, that number is 12
percent.

Our data is from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania’s 2006 and
2007 Rural Pennsylvania Current Population Survey.

Some other statistics:

• Fifty-one percent of rural poverty households receive food
stamps compared to 44 percent of urban poverty households.

• Thirty-six percent of rural school-age children are eligible
for the Free and Reduced School Lunch Program and 23 percent of
urban school-age children are eligible.

• Twenty-one percent of rural adults have a bachelor’s degree or
higher compared to 35 percent of urban adults.

On the plus side, 85 percent of rural householders own their own
home compared to 80 percent of urban householders. Rural renters
pay a median monthly rent of ,400 while urban renters pay a median
of ,600 per month.

What’s the moral of this story? The life is being wrung out of
rural America slowly but surely, town by town, and the only real
question left is … will anyone be left to notice?