Rural Adults Report Worse COVID-19 Impacts than Urban Adults

Author(s)/Creator(s)

Shannon M. Monnat, Syracuse UniversityFollow

Description/Abstract

COVID-19 infection and mortality rates have been higher in rural than in urban America since late-2020. However, the consequences of COVID-19 extend far beyond the deaths that it has caused. This brief uses data from a national survey of working-age adults (ages 18-64) collected in February and March of 2021 to describe rural-urban differences in reported impacts of COVID-19 on physical and mental health, employment, financial wellbeing, and social relationships. Nearly 3 out of 5 respondents (58%) reported that COVID-19 has had a negative impact on their lives. Across most outcomes, rural residents fared worse than their urban peers. Recovery policies must consider geographic variation in COVID-19 vulnerability and impacts.

Document Type

Research Brief

Disciplines

Demography, Population, and Ecology | Place and Environment | Social and Behavioral Sciences | Sociology

Date

3-15-2022

For More Information

Access all Lerner Center research briefs here.

Language

English

Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges support from two research networks funded by the National Institute on Aging (R24AG065159 and 2R24AG045061); the NIA-funded Center for Aging and Policy Studies at Syracuse University (P30AG066583); the NICHD-funded Population Research Institute at Penn State (P2CHD041025); the USDA Agricultural Experiment Station Multistate Research Project: W4001, Social, Economic and Environmental Causes and Consequences of Demographic Change in Rural America; and the Syracuse University Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion.

Funder(s)

National Institute on Aging (NIA) ,NICHD-funded Population Research Institute at Penn State,the USDA Agricultural Experiment Station Multistate Research Project: W4001, Social, Economic and Environmental Causes and Consequences of Demographic Change in Rural America, USDA Agricultural Experiment Station Multistate Research Project: W4001, Social, Economic and Environmental Causes and Consequences of Demographic Change in Rural America; and the Syracuse University Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion

Funding ID

(R24AG065159 and 2R24AG045061, P30AG066583,P2CHD041025

Recommended Citation

Monnat, Shannon M., "Rural Adults Report Worse COVID-19 Impacts than Urban Adults" (2022). Population Health Research Brief Series. 173.
https://surface.syr.edu/lerner/173

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.