小城镇，巨大机遇：释放美国农村的潜力

Small towns,massive opportunity:Unlocking ruralAmerica’s potential Six strategies could catalyze growth and improve the well-being andeconomic mobility of rural residents across the country. About the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility The McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility (IEM) is a research institute and think tank dedicated toadvancing inclusive economic growth in the United States—and globally. Its mission is to help private-,public-, and social-sector leaders take coordinated action to accelerate inclusive economic growth andimprove economic mobility. IEM is anchored in an economic perspective, dedicated to rigorous andobjective research, and focused on moving stakeholders toward long-term action that can lead to theeconomic development of communities across the globe. Rural Economic Mobility As the US population has become increasingly concentrated in urban centers, rural communities have oftenbeen an afterthought. In all, rural areas in the United States account for one-seventh of total population,nearly 46 million Americans, 71 percent of the geographical United States, and approximately $2.7 trillionof US GDP (close to 10 percent). Yet, it has not benefited from the economic development of our nationequitably. Our focus on rural economic mobility aims to provide a data-driven, nonpartisan perspective onthe opportunities for rural America to thrive. Please visit the McKinsey IEM Rural Economic Mobility websitefor more information. Acknowledgments The research was led by JP Julien, a partner and leader of the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility(IEM); Nora Gardner, a senior partner and leader of IEM Rural Economic Mobility; Sarah Tucker-Ray, apartner and leader of IEM Rural Economic Mobility; and Shelley Stewart III, a senior partner and chair ofIEM and the global leader of Reputation & Engagement at McKinsey; along with consultants Charlie Crosbyand Chase Mizzell, as well as Kelemwork Cook, an IEM fellow. Modeling and analytic work was led by Artem Pimkin and Michael Zhang and enabled by McKinsey’s CityXtool. Christiana Hollis and Marissa Ancona led the research team. Core team members who supportedresearch, analytics, and solution development include Caty Buchaniec, Jasmine Marshall, Jihae Lee,Marisa Ancona, Ryan Chuang, Teni Akeju, and Tom Casazza. This project benefited immensely from the insights and perspectives of Rachel Riley. We extend ourgratitude to Scott Leff and Caty Mick from LEFF. We also thank our colleagues Dennis Alexander andDenvol Haye, Jr., for their contributions and support. This work is independent, reflects our own views, and has not been commissioned by any business,government, or other institution. Introduction The term “rural America” often conjures a patchwork of shorthand phrases—“the heartland,” “small-town America,”“flyover country”—an attempt to encompass the vast expanse of communities outside the nation’s cities and suburbs.Yet these labels obscure more than they reveal. Rural America is not a monolith. It is home to one in seven Americans(approximately 46 million people in 20231) and encompasses a vast array of geographies, economies, and cultures.While rural communities share some attributes and often differ from urban centers in meaningful ways, they alsocontain a multitude of strengths, challenges, and opportunities that defy broad generalizations. This complexity is compounded by the lack of a consistent definition of what constitutes a rural community.2Moreover, the rural classification of individual communities is fluid, because both places and classificationcriteria evolve. For instance, rural counties are often reclassified as urban or metropolitan because of economicgrowth, urban sprawl, and population expansion. And as the Center on Rural Innovation (CORI) has noted,“Superstar rural counties often grow into run-of-the-mill urban counties,” distorting the historical economicperformance and well-being outcomes of rural America.3 To put that claim into empirical terms, one group of researchers found that if analyses used the 1950 definitionof “rural,” they would find that these counties have actually grown faster than urban ones.4Even with the fluidityof classification, many residents in counties newly considered urban maintain a strong rural identity. This evolvingrural–urban continuum complicates both analysis and the narrative of rural America’s decline or progress,demanding segmented analyses and tailored solutions to address diverse contexts and needs. Despite rural America’s scale and significance, it remains underresearched. To address this gap, in 2025, weestablished a dedicated focus on rural communities within the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility.5Ourmission is to better understand the unique challenges and opportunities facing rural communities and helpdevelop actionable insights that can achieve meaningful results. Our first publication, in March 2025, examinedthe question, “Who is rural America?”6Our analy