Rural America is shrinking as residents leave for bigger metros in search of better opportunities.
Out of the top 10 counties nationally that have seen a decline in population, five are in Mississippi, according to new U.S. Census Bureau statistics.
“Rural areas have a hard time competing with larger cities that offer more job opportunities and higher wages to young residents and families,” says Hannah Jones, a senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com®.
In Yazoo County, MS, the population dropped by 6.4% between July 2023 and 2024. The county, once an agricultural hub in the Mississippi Delta, has lost residents due largely to domestic outmigration.
Similarly, the neighboring Sunflower County—which was once a thriving center of the Delta’s cotton industry—has seen its population shrink by 10.8% since 2020.
“A lot of people have moved out because there just isn’t much happening here—no real job opportunities or economic growth,” says Reginald Wells, a local real estate agent with The Agency Haus LLC. “Most homes are being rented rather than sold. People inherit homes or move away and end up renting them out because they don’t want to come back to live here.”
Similar patterns are emerging across Georgia, Alabama, and Oregon, where smaller counties with a resident population of 20,000 or more are struggling to hold on to their people.
In Mitchell County, Georgia saw a notable drop of 2.2% in its population, despite its relatively affordable median home value hovering around $248,425.
Nationally, about 37% of adults said their household found it somewhat or very difficult to cover typical expenses. Also, Mississippi (49.5%) and Alabama (45.5%) have the highest percentage of adults reporting difficulty affording basic needs, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey.
Additionally, counties like Yazoo and Sunflower had unemployment rates as high as 5.6% by the end of 2024.