November 20, 2008
Poll: Rural Residents See Community Shortcomings, But Like Their Lives Anyway
LINCOLN, Neb. — In rural Nebraska, "Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home" is no cliched wall hanging. It captures the tradeoffs residents make in choosing to live in small towns.
That's one way to interpret the Nebraska Rural Poll's consistent finding, during 13 years of surveys, that rural Nebraskans recognize their communities lack some amenities. But they stay put anyway, drawn by a sense of trust, security and belonging.
Surveys for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln poll were mailed to about 6,200 randomly selected households in Nebraska's 84 rural counties last March. Results are based on 2,496 responses.
One trend the survey has tracked over the years is rural residents' perceptions of their communities. This year's findings are similar to those of past surveys.
Seventy-three percent of rural Nebraskans rate their communities as friendly, 61 percent say trusting and 67 percent say supportive. About two-thirds agree that "my community is very special to me," and 63 percent say "I feel I can really be myself in my community." The smaller the community, the stronger those feelings were, according to the survey.
Ninety-four percent of respondents rated a sense of security and safety as an important factor that contributes to their community's quality of life. Other factors seen as important include: quality of community services and facilities, 86 percent; economic well-being, 85 percent; and interactions with neighbors and others in the community, 84 percent.
On the other hand, at least one-third of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with entertainment, retail shopping, restaurants, streets and roads, arts and cultural activities, local government and public transportation.
At the same time, respondents rank some services very highly. Eighty-six percent are happy with fire protection; 75 percent are happy with parks and recreation; 75 percent with library services; 73 percent with religious organizations; and 70 percent with education.
"People who make a decision to live in smaller places give something up in terms of amenities. They recognize that, " said Randy Cantrell, a rural sociologist with the university's Rural Initiative and Center for Applied Rural Innovation. "They could wish for more, but in general they seem content with the social environment."
Bruce Johnson, a UNL agricultural economist, added, "There's a sense of security and safety in rural areas. That's probably even more of an issue as time goes by."
The poll also shows that rural residents' warm feelings about their communities deepen the longer they're there.
Other findings:
– Thirty-six percent of residents living in or near larger communities (population 10,000 or above) said their communities had changed for the better during the last year, while only 23 percent of those in communities with populations of 500 or fewer said that.
– Only 5 percent said they were planning to move from their communities in the next year. Of those planning to move, 50 percent are planning to leave Nebraska – up from 39 percent a year ago.
– Thirty-three percent of rural Nebraskans rate the quality of life in their community as very good, 4 percent rate it as excellent and 46 percent as good. Fifteen percent rate quality of life as fair and 2 percent say poor.
The Rural Poll is the largest annual poll of rural Nebraskans' perceptions on quality of life and policy issues. This year's response rate was about 40 percent. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percent. Complete results are available online at Nebraska Rural Poll.
The university's Center for Applied Rural Innovation conducts the poll in cooperation with the Rural Initiative with funding from the Partnership for Rural Nebraska and UNL Extension and the Agricultural Research Division in the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
11/20/08-DM Becky Vogt
Center for Applied Rural Innovation Nebraska Rural Poll Project Manager (402) 329-4821
 
Bruce Johnson - Ph.D.
Agricultural Economics Professor (402) 472-1794
Randy Cantrell - Ph.D.
Center for Applied Rural Innovation Professor (402) 472-1772
Dan Moser IANR News & Photography Coordinator (402) 472-3007
Department:
Center for Applied Rural Innovation
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