Life and Debt in Rural America

• In Event: 20812 - Wealth, Debt, and Financialization

Abstract

Sociology’s growing focus on household debt has overlooked an axis of debt disparity where there may be lurking inequalities: rural-urban disparities in the United States. With our current state of knowledge about rural and urban areas, it is difficult to accurately anticipate the direction of any inequality. For instance, rural residents are poorer and often lack access to formal banking, but are also more often White—a group historically favored by financial institutions—and live in lower cost of living areas. In this study, we use data Consumer Expenditure Survey data to investigate rural-urban differences in household debt. Our analysis explores (1) whether household debt varies between rural and urban areas, (2) whether rural-urban disparities changed pre- and post-Covid, (3) what may be driving these gaps, and (4) whether these patterns vary regionally. We find that rural households consistently have less credit card and mortgage debts, while disparities in student loan debt appear to be converging post-Covid. These differences persist above controls. Regional variation in mortgage debt is also particularly large. We interpret these findings carefully to gauge the financial and material well-being of rural households. Our contribution is key in a time of growing rural-urban economic and social divides.

Authors

• Matthew Brooks, Florida State University

• Paromita Sanyal, Florida State University