Wisconsin housing financial stress, combined with rising grocery prices, is causing some rural households to compromise nutrition to afford housing. Rural stigma shapes how people access assistance programs designed to alleviate housing financial stress and food insecurity.

Rising housing costs are increasing financial stress among US households. This mixed-method study examines its impacts across the urban-rural spectrum, with particular attention to rural areas and differences between homeowners and renters. We incorporate both quantitative and qualitative insights to understand how rural residents respond to housing stress and how these responses affect health and community well-being.

Over the past several years, state and local governments, along with supportive community organizations, have shifted their focus from exclusively targeting businesses and jobs to prioritizing people. Increasingly, communities are asking, “What can we do to make this a better place to live and work?” Using data from U.S. counties, Steve Deller finds evidence that increasingly jobs follow people, rather than people following jobs. This finding reinforces the importance of attracting and retaining residents alongside the traditional focus on business and job growth.

In Wisconsin there are more job openings than unemployed workers looking for work, coupled with a decline in output per worker. Strategies beyond increasing productivity will likely be necessary to offset the effects of labor shortages on the state’s economic growth.

U.S. agriculture is dominated by many small and few very large farms. Most small and mid-sized farms rely on off-farm income, making a strong agricultural sector dependent on robust off-farm employment opportunities.

See rural-focused highlights of our work on housing and health in one page.

Housing is essential not only to individual well-being but also the well-being of communities. Our findings show that housing financial stress is leading some rural residents to delay medical care, potentially increasing pressure on already strained local healthcare systems, and underscoring the link between housing affordability and health outcomes.

While there is evidence supporting the notions that people follow jobs as well as jobs following people, increasingly the data tend to suggest jobs following people is more prevalent. This finding reinforces the importance of attracting and retaining residents alongside the traditional focus on business and job growth.