WASHINGTON Rural America now accounts for just 16 percent of the
nation's population, the lowest ever. The latest 2010 census
numbers hint at an emerging America where, by midcentury, city
boundaries become indistinct and rural areas grow ever less
relevant. Many communities could shrink to virtual ghost towns
as they shutter businesses and close down schools, demographers
say. More metro areas are booming into sprawling megalopolises.
Barring fresh investment that could bring jobs, however, large
swaths of the Great Plains and Appalachia, along with parts of
Arkansas, Mississippi and North Texas, could face significant
population declines. These places posted some of the biggest
losses over the past decade as young adults left and the people
who stayed got older, moving past childbearing years. For
instance in West Virginia, now with a median age of 41.3, the
share of Americans 65 and older is now nearly double that of
young adults 18-24 - 16 percent compared to 9 percent, according
to census figures release