Census Overview
In 2023, there were 45.8 million people (13.8% of the entire U.S. population) living in rural areas. Among the population aged 25 or over, 21.4% of the rural population had earned a bachelor’s degree or higher. This rate is up from 17.7% in 2013, but falls well below the rate of 36.4% for the non-rural population.
