Immigrants are keeping rural America alive

Farm/immigration.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

The old cliché is that immigrants come to the United States to do the jobs Americans won't do. In reality, they're often here to do the jobs that Americans aren't around to do — at least in the rural parts of the country.

Last week's 2020 census results showed that the country's urbanization is continuing apace: While cities and metropolitan areas are growing, rural areas are emptying out. In my home state of Kansas, 80 of 105 counties lost population in the last decade; next door, in Nebraska, only 24 of 93 counties added people. This is having obvious political ramifications — 90 percent of the counties nationwide that lost population voted for Donald Trump. "Blue America is driving America's population growth," Slate's Jordan Weissman wrote over the weekend.

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Joel Mathis, The Week US

Joel Mathis is a writer with 30 years of newspaper and online journalism experience. His work also regularly appears in National Geographic and The Kansas City Star. His awards include best online commentary at the Online News Association and (twice) at the City and Regional Magazine Association.