Rural-Urban and Within-Rural Differences in COVID-19 Mortality Trends
Since late-2020, COVID-19 mortality rates have been higher in rural than in urban America, but there has also been substantial within-rural heterogeneity. Using data from USA Facts, we compare COVID-19 mortality trends between U.S. urban (nonmetro) and rural (metro) counties from March 2020 to May 2021. We then compare trends within rural counties across different types of labor markets defined by county economic dependence (farming, mining, manufacturing, government, recreation, and nonspecialized) and by metropolitan adjacency. As of May 22, 2021, the cumulative COVID-19 mortality rate was 199.3 per 100,000 population in rural counties compared to 175.8 in urban counties. Net of controls, rural counties experienced a 3% higher average daily increase in COVID-19 mortality rates than urban counties over the study period. Rural mortality rates have been highest in the South, Southwest, and Great Plains. Both overall and within rural counties, mortality rates were highest in farming-dependent counties and lowest in recreation-dependent counties. Interaction models demonstrate that the protective buffer for recreation counties was even stronger for remote rural counties (those not adjacent to metro areas.