Inequality in Energy Costs along the Rural-Urban Continuum: The Price of Residence in Rural America

• In Event: 2353 - Rural Sociology

Abstract

Despite the tendency to view rural life or living close to nature with nostalgia, the unpalatable truth is that rural America is beset with many problems and challenges, including lower incomes, poverty, limited access to well-paying jobs, higher morbidity and mortality rates, inadequate access to health care, and lower educational attainment. In this study, we question whether this palpable rural disadvantage extends to residential energy costs, a subject with serious implications for the wellbeing of households. Analyses of data spanning nearly two decades show that rural households consistently spend more on residential energy than urban households, although they generally use less. This finding, which indicates the existence of energy cost inequality between rural and urban places, represents a kind of rural tax. Higher energy costs portend significant access risks to rural households. This may also present significant challenges to the collective social mobility of rural places and people.

Authors

• Lazarus Adua, University of Utah

• Ashley Beaird, University of Northern Iowa