Essay Sample on Urban-Rural Divide in US: Impact on Poverty, Housing, and Drugs

Introduction

A profound division between rural and urban residential communities in the United States has become a frequent topic of discussion following the 2016 presidential elections. Rural and urban areas have a notable difference in the level of drug addiction, availability of affordable housing, and reasonable career opportunities. Rural areas are characterized by higher poverty levels, older population, and traditional values and work ethics. Rural inhabitants are more likely to be homeowners since most residents are farmers and those who served in the military. However, countryside areas are besieged with a high rate of opioid abuse, slow job growth rate, and lower cost of housing. From a sociological perspective, urban-rural contradictions are the essential factors influencing country's development since they produce risk impacts in the life of residents through drug addiction in undeveloped districts, the unavailability of affordable housing, and the reasonable career opportunities.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Background Information

Having taken a closer look at the differences in resident's life in both rural and urban settings, developing a study that investigates the significant challenges in every context is essential. This paper shall base the research on the levels of devastating opioid effects in rural areas, the cost and affordability of housing, and the level of job opportunities in both environments. However, these factors can influence the stress levels of residents, income rate, and health, which are the determiners of the quality of life. Therefore the paper shall discuss the above factors based on the determiners of quality of life, using a sociological perspective. This study uses statistical evidence from various researches to illustrate that urban-rural ambiguity is essential factors influencing the resident's life. Although numerous analyses have been done to explore the difference between the lives of urban and rural residents, there is still the need for studies in factors that cause these differences between the lives of this demographic. Thus the main objective of this study is to explore these factors since they have a significant influence on the development of the country.

About 15 out of 100 people in America live in rural settings. Many people visualize growing up in a rural area as an environment where every person knows their neighbors, there are no traffic lights, and doors are always open. However, studying about undeveloped districts indicates that there is no vast difference with urban areas in the issue of the devastating effects of the opioid epidemic. The rate of deaths associated with opioid overdose in countryside areas has exceeded the rate in city areas (Noonan, 2017). Therefore, understanding the difference in drug use and overdose deaths in rural areas is a useful tool for public wellness practitioners in identifying, monitoring, and arranging their response to this endemic. Death rates from accidental injuries such as drug overdose, fall, and motor vehicle crash found to be 50% higher in rural areas as compared to urban areas. Socio-economic variances, health performances, and access to Medicaid services contribute to this difference (Noonan, 2017). The opioid death rates in rural areas have quadrupled among the millennials and tripled for women. About half of rural and urban societies see drug addiction as a crucial problem; 46% and 50% of rural and urban residents respectively, says that drug abuse is a significant problem in their local society. A minor but considerable share of adults in out-of-town areas, 35%, states that drug addiction is a major problem in their neighborhood (Noonan, 2017). This indicates that the level of drug abuse is more prevalent in suburban areas than in cities, regarding that the population is relatively lower. Therefore, reducing the impacts caused by drug addiction is one of the critical developments in rural areas that can help to improve the resident's life and a resultant country's development.

The cost of purchasing a house is generally higher in urban areas as compared to rural settings. Because cities are densely populated than the countryside means that availability of space is at superior. The prices of houses in the town are kept high by the fact that industries and jobs are more likely to be developed in cities, which attracts workers from the suburbs. This improves the wages, which have a blow on the price of properties. For instance, the cost of a 1-bedroom apartment in cities can be approximately the cost of a 3-bedroom house in rural areas (Florida, 2016). This can be explained with the fact that many rural areas consist of large tracts of land which are used for farming activities, and ranching, leaving a broad tendency of acquiring land in these areas (Roennevig, 2016). Therefore, this reduces the prices of housing, which means that the houses are more affordable in country areas. Moreover, the limited access to essential resources, low levels of job opportunity, and limited access to public service facilities also contribute to the reduction in house and land costs. For instance, the value of houses per square foot in Boston was about $400 per square foot in urban areas, and $250 per square foot in suburbs by 2015 (Florida, 2016). Therefore, the cost of housing in countryside areas is relatively lower in suburbs though the value varies with different settings.

Rural communities experience a small job market, as indicated by census data. According to a study done in 2008, 4.26% of rural residents had career opportunities (Conroy, 2017). The data was obtained from coal mines at the edges of country areas and bordering gas stations on main streets in the suburbs. Automation, environmental regulations, and heightened global competition have been gradually shaving away the resource extraction communities and shifting job opportunities for most inhabitants in the 21st century. This has been a source of raised fears among rural residents as a result of the severe consequences of history (Conroy, 2017). Due to the continuous decrease in the resource extraction economy, most of the jobs in country areas are generated in service sectors. Therefore, many of the previous coal miners are taking jobs at local markets. However, those who were able to complete their higher learning and secured permanent and part-time jobs seem to prefer living in the cities since there are more job opportunities (Conroy, 2017). Due to the developing country's economic, everyone is more absorbed to high paying jobs for individual development. Therefore, many people are relocating to urban areas since there are many job opportunities. According to a report by US News, among the people employed part time or full time, 31% are of urban residents show that they are satisfied with their current occupation while 27% of suburban and rural residents say that they are happy with their profession (The Conversation, 2017).

Conclusion

In conclusion, drug addiction has increased by about 50% in rural areas than in urban settings. Similarly, the affordability of houses is different among the different environments, which can be explained by the valuation of homes in urban and rural areas. The cost of houses in rural areas is relatively lower in countryside areas, which makes them more affordable than those in urban areas. Job opportunities have seen to decrease recently in rural areas due to the shrinking of the resource extraction economy. Therefore, many people are shifting to cities where there are more career opportunities. Therefore, these factors impact the lives of residents, which in turn affect the development of the country.

References

Conroy, T. (2017). 5 Crucial Differences Between Job Growth In Rural And Urban Wisconsin

Education: Entrepreneurship and Population Shifts Shape Economic Opportunities. [Web]. WisCONTEXT. Available at: https://www.wiscontext.org/5-crucial-differences-between-job-growth-rural-and-urban-wisconsin.

Florida, R. (2016). The Incredible Rise of Urban Real Estate. CITYLAB. [Web]. Available at: https://www.citylab.com/equity/2016/02/rise-of-urban-real-estate/470748/

Noonan, R. (2017). Rural America in Crisis: The Changing Opioid Overdose Epidemic. Public Health Masters Blog. Available at: https://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2017/11/opioids/

Roennevig, M. (n.d). City Vs. Rural Life. The Nest. [Web]. Available at: https://budgeting.thenest.com/city-vs-rural-life-24750.html

The Conversation. (2017). The Divide Between Rural and Urban America, in 6 Charts. U.S.News. [Web]. Available at: www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-03-20/6-charts-that-illustrate-the-divide-between-rurandal--urban-america.