What small town people see as their biggest challenges

And what topics rural people most want help with

“I wait every year for the results of this rural survey to help us align our work at Crowdfund Better with what rural businesses need. Thanks to Becky McCray and Deb Brown of SaveYour.Town for your dedication to putting this annual report together that reflects the challenges felt by real people who live and work in rural communities.” Kathleen Minogue, Crowdfund Better, Idaho

Update: 2023 results

Survey of Rural Challenges 2023 by debworks

Full 2023 results

See the full 2023 results, infographic and PDF report here.

Since 2015, over 1700 people answered the Survey of Rural Challenges. It uncovered big disconnects between what rural people want and what media, service providers and policy makers provide.

Services and assistance commonly offered to rural people don’t match up with what rural people say they want help with.
Common themes in media coverage and policy conversations around rural communities don’t match rural views.
What urban and suburban people think of rural challenges is tinged by stereotypes that don’t agree with what rural people are thinking.

Previous survey results reports

The 2023 survey results are available here.

See analysis of the Survey of Rural Challenges 2015-2021

The 2021 survey results are available here.

The 2019 survey results are available here.

The 2017 survey results are available here.

The 2015 survey results are available here.

Who this survey is for

If you live in a small town, you may want to see how your challenges compare to other towns.

If you cover rural stories for any type of media, you want to break through shallow stereotyped coverage. It may help to hear the relative importance of different challenges to rural people.

If you provide services or assistance to small towns in your work, you will want to find out more about rural people’s own view of their challenges.

Methodology

The Survey of Rural Challenges is open every other year. Responses were collected online from subscribers and visitors to SaveYour.Town and SmallBizSurvival.com, from media coverage and cooperating groups that publicized the survey.

Respondents identified themselves as rural by completing the survey, and a portion identified themselves as business owners by responding to the business question. Participants included people from the USA, Canada, Australia and other international locations.

Based on SaveYour.Town customer data, most respondents likely serve as community leaders and officials, work in community and economic development, own their own businesses, work in a community-oriented business or volunteer informally in their community.

The survey is applied research based on a consistent survey protocol that supports data-driven conclusions. Similar to phenomenology, the people within the situation describe their own experiences, and there is a consensus of experiences amongst the participants or informants.

Press and Media Information

Media coverage

2023

Presented to National Rural Housing Conference, iPoster session, October 24 – 27 in Washington DC

Presented to West Virginia Brownfields & Main Street Conference, poster session, September 12-14 in Wheeling, WV

Becky McCray presents Survey of Rural Challenges to Dr. Mark Balschweid of University of Nebraska-Lincoln at the poster session at Oklahoma State University's Rural Renewal Symposium

Becky McCray shares the Survey of Rural Challenges with Dr. Mark Balschweid of University of Nebraska-Lincoln at the poster session at Oklahoma State University’s Rural Renewal Symposium.

Presented to Rural Renewal Symposium, Oklahoma State University, poster session, November 2-3 in rural Oklahoma

Presented to Teeny Tiny Town Summit, Northwest Oklahoma Alliance, Q&A session, October 10, Woodward, OK

Presented by Gus Wagner to Missouri’s Electric Cooperatives communicators

Survey of Rural Challenges, Bank of I.D.E.A.S., Community & Economic Development Matters, Australia
Rural challenges show repeated concerns and a glimmer of optimism by residents, a new survey indicates, IRJCI – Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
Rural Communities Are Upbeat About the Future Despite Persisting Issues, Daily Yonder
Survey of Rural Challenges Results Show Optimism and Big Disconnects (and What Economic Developers Can Do About It), IEDC – International Economic Development Council members only feature
Rural tourism challenges and opportunities – survey results, Tourism Currents
Opportunity and optimism, Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette
A Small Town Never Forgets!! on Appalachia Meets World podcast
Advice to those working in small towns, Building Possibility
Inside Our Industry – Survey of Rural Challenges 2023 Results, Agracel, Inc.
Grow your own outfitters, take advantage of your natural resources, Becky McCray email newsletter
Get started as an outdoor outfitter without breaking the bank, SmallBizSurvival.com
Survey of Rural Challenges 2023 results, Small Biz Survival
Survey of Rural Challenges 2023 results, SaveYour.Town
Council for Community and Economic Research, newsletter January 12, 2023
Daily Yonder email newsletter, June 14, 2023
Texas Downtown Association, May member newsletter
Labor Market Information Institute, newsletter January 26, 2023
How to get customers in the door of small town and rural retail stores, Small Biz Survival

2022

Today’s Interview: Becky McCray, of Save Your Town on leadership in flood stricken eastern Kentucky, with Tom Martin, WEKU
Midwest Farm Report, “Save Your Small Town,” Wisconsin
WOSU, All Sides with Ann Fisher, Changing landscape of rural America and small towns
A Cleave within the Piney Woods: Nacogdoches, Stephen F. Austin State University and How Racial Integration Divided the Town and Gown, Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas, thesis by Caitlin R. Hornback, 2022
Comprehensive Land Use Plan Update, Survey of Rural Challenges, Jones County Iowa, 2022
What challenges do you face in your community and business? Tell us here, reprinted from Small Biz Survival, Dr. Rayyan Eshaghpour, Asia
Strategic Management Planning Program and Five-Year Financial Management Plan, Survey of Rural Challenges, Greene County, Pennsylvania, 2022
Village of Hinckley, Illinois, Planning Commission Meeting minutes
K-State Research and Extension email newsletter, December 2022
Radically Rural email newsletters, Survey of Rural Challenges, December 2022
Brushy Fork Leadership Institute email newsletter, December 2022
University of Missouri Extension Engaged Neighbor Newsletter, December 2022
What counts as rural? Becky McCray email newsletter
What challenges do you face in your community and business? Tell us here, Small Biz Survival
What challenges do you face in your community and business? Building Possibility
What challenges does your community or business face? Tell us here, SaveYour.Town

2021

Presented to Oklahoma State University Rural Renewal Symposium

Presented to National Rural Electric Cooperatives Association five Regional Meetings nationwide

Book: Public Policy in Contentious Times by Peter K. Kresl, 2021, published by Edward Elgar Publishing
Spain: La Información, Los ‘millennials’ urbanitas gentrifican el mundo rural de Estados Unidos
North Central Kansas Pandemic Recovery and Resiliency Plan, North Central Regional Planning Commission, 2021
LaJunta (Colorado) Tribune-Democrat – SaveYour.Town Survey of Rural Challenges pinpoints small town needs
Cooperative Living Magazine, New Ways to Boost Rural Areas, October 2021
High Plains Journal, Speaker shares tips on tackling rural housing challenges: SaveYour.Town co-founder taps into sever years of surveys with small communities
The Pueblo West View (Colorado), Website co-founders create survey about small town needs
Midwest Farm Report, “Rural Towns Recover From Pandemic,” Wisconsin
Fowler Tribune (Colorado), Survey narrows down small town needs
Rural Messenger, First Friday speaker shares tips on tackling rural housing challenges
Idaho Business Review, National rural challenges survey on par with Idaho’s
Kansas Ag Connection, First Friday speaker shares tips on tackling rural housing challenges
The Paper, Dwight, Illinois, The Corner by Tom Tock, July 2021
Radically Rural email newsletter, July 2021
Alberto Pan blog, Los ‘millennials’ urbanitas gentrifican el mundo rural de Estados Unidos
Tourism Currents newsletter, June 2021, July 2021 email newsletter
Small town greatness, AARP Live, RFD-TV
Miltonvale (Kansas) Record, June 2021
Atchison County (Missouri) Development Corporation newsletter, June 2021 sent via Atchison County Mail newspaper saturation issue to all county residents
This is Where You Belong, author Melody Warnick, email newsletter, Issue 41, June 2021
Insight on Business the News Hour with Michael Libbie podcast, radio 1540 KXEL
Rural Route podcast with Trent Loos, May 2021, video and audio

2020

Small Towns, Big Opportunities: Rural-Business Expert Becky McCray, MarketingProfs podcast
Big Sky Economic Development, email newsletter, December 2020
Wisconsin State Representative Tony Kurtz email newsletter, December 2020
Inside Our Industry, Agracel, Inc., email newsletter, Issue 21, November 2020
Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Council of Governments, Weekly Reader, January 2020
Western Nevada Development District, The Results Are In!
LISC Rural eNews, February 2020
Small and Rural Community Marketing Program: Experience Community, by Greg Girard, 2020
Small Biz Survival, How has 2020 changed the challenges rural small towns face? Tell us here
RuralRISE email update, October 2020
Survey of Rural Challenges, Obion County, Tennessee
Building Possibility, Survey of Rural Challenges 2020/21
SaveYour.Town, How has 2020 changed the challenges rural small towns face? Tell us here

2019

SmallBusiness.com, Challenges Facing Rural and Small Town Businesses and Residents| 2020
National Association of Development Organizations, email update January 2020
BIGG Success podcast with Georgre Krueger and Mary-Lynn Foster, Survey of Rural Challenges 2019
Radically Rural email update, Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship, December 2019
Alva Review-Courier, December 22, 2019, What do rural people say are their biggest challenges?
The Agurban, an Agracel Publication – #766 – Survey of Rural Challenges – 2019 Results
Interesting Survey of Rural Challenges: The results don’t match common stereotypes of the biggest challenges to growth rural communities face, Ann Handley
Episode 34: Co-Creation in a Small Town – Rebecca Undem, December 2019
New Zealand Institute for Rural Entrepreneurship, Charging ahead: NZIRE is on the move – and so is rural entrepreneurship
Economic News – Easton Economic Development Corporation, December 2019
Daily Yonder, ‘Speak Up, Rural America,’ Say Small-Town Business Consultants
Rural Assembly, email update July 2019 Survey of Rural Challenges open through July 30
The Rural Blog, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues Survey of Rural Challenges, open through July 30, helps widely scattered rural communities share ideas
Rural Delivery newsletter, New York State Rural Housing Coalition, Inc, August 2019, Survey of Rural Challenges
The Rise of the Rural Millennial, Archinect, Feb 2019
The Rise of the Rural Millennial, BBHousing.org reprinted from Archinet
The Hoptown Chronicle (Kentucky) – Survey of Rural Challenges, open through July 30, lets people in small towns share ideas
The Agurban, an Agracel Publication – Survey of Rural Challenges

2018

International Association of Community Development, “Survey of Rural Challenges 2017: What small town people in the US and Canada see as their biggest challenges and what topics they most want help with,” Practice Insights issue 10, March 2018
Main Street America, State of Main 2018, The Future of Retail
Population Smallsville, Invision Magazine, June 2018
Rural challenges, McClusky Gazette, North Dakota
Survey draws interest, McClusky Gazette, North Dakota

2017

How Small and Rural Towns Can Attract, Retail Millennials, SmallBusiness.com
South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Saving Small Town South South Dakota
Survey of Rural Challenges 2017, McLean County Journal (North Dakota)
Renewed Interest: A Fresh Look at the Rural Church, Collaborative Development International, December 2017
McClusky Gazette, North Dakota, Survey of Rural Challenges 2017

2015

EntreWorks – Challenges for Rural Retail
Agurban – What rural people say they need
Tourism Currents – Small town tourism challenges? Survey says…
Small Biz Survival – What rural people say they need: the Survey of Rural Challenges
Republic County Kansas Economic Development – What rural people say they need.
NeedALittleAdvice – SaveYour.Town update

Origin of the Survey of Rural Challenges

Speaking: Becky McCray, creator of the Survey of Rural Challenges.

The very first time I ran the Survey of Rural Challenges, I was only asking people what topics they wanted me to write about on my site Small Biz Survival. That’s why the questions say things like “which of these would you be most excited to learn more about.” I never expected to share the results as a public report. Once I read what people told me about their towns, the challenges they were facing, and what they most wanted help with, I realized that other people needed to see this, especially people and organizations who serve small towns. For some reason, a lot of the services and assistance that I saw offered to small towns simply didn’t match what the people themselves were saying they most wanted help with.

About SaveYour.Town

SaveYour.Town believes small towns can be saved by their own people using their existing assets. Deb Brown and Becky McCray joined forces in May 2015 to help small towns and rural communities thrive. They deliver speeches and presentations internationally, lead site visits and community brainstorming sessions, and create online videos and short courses of practical steps that can be put into action right away.

About Small Biz Survival

SmallBizSurvival.com publishes practical articles for rural small businesses. It was founded in January 2006 by Becky McCray from Oklahoma. Over the 14 years it has achieved top ranking among small business blogs on sites like Technorati, Invesp BlogRank and BizHumm, and it continues to appear on lists of top small business blogs. For her work as publisher, McCray has been named one of the Power Players in Technology Business Media and a Small Business Influencer Journalist four times.

About Becky McCray

Becky McCray is a lifelong small-town entrepreneur. As co-founder of Save Your.Town, she shares insights from her real-world experience as a business owner and cattle rancher. Throughout her career, rural has been the focus. She managed a retail store, served as city administrator and nonprofit executive, bought and sold antiques and taught classes in business and technology. Her practical perspective is featured at her highly-ranked website, Small Biz Survival, and in her award-winning book, Small Town Rules. She’s been featured and quoted in books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, podcasts and university publications. She makes her home base in Hopeton, Oklahoma, a community of 30 people.

About Deb Brown

Deb Brown is a small town enthusiast and expert for small towns. Her practical approach for getting communities into action right away has been shared at national conferences, local visits, service organizations and everything in between. Her wealth of experience includes foreign casualty insurance underwriting, bartending, retail management, selling knives around the US, leading a chamber and working with small towns. Deb has lived in tiny towns, small towns, small cities and a major metro city. She’s come home to a small town and travels to many other rural communities to help. She collaborates with Becky McCray at SaveYour.Town and has her own business www.BuildingPossibility.com.