Nearly half of Massachusetts towns and cities are considered rural, but the more closely you look, the more you see that rural East and West have different meanings.
In general, the people of rural towns in the four western counties are older, less affluent and not as educated as the populations in rural towns in the eastern part of the state, according to data presented to the state’s newly created Rural Policy Advisory Commission.
Franklin County has one town, Greenfield, not defined as rural — those having a population density under 500 per square mile.
Franklin County regional planner Linda Dunlavy, who is a member of the commission, said, “To some extent, you can say the rural communities in central Mass. are growing and more affluent, and the ones in western Franklin County and parts of Berkshire County are stagnant and declining in population. Then there’s the Cape, the islands and southern Berkshire County, where you can see second homeowners are influencing housing prices more significantly than in other parts of rural Mass.”
“What it really proved,” said Dunlavy, “is that we really need to acknowledge there are different types of rural in Massachusetts, and we have different needs and characteristics and different methods and policies and strategies that are going to work, depending on where you are and what your conditions are.”
Dunlavy, who is also executive director of the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, pointed out that rural communities in central Massachusetts have largely become bedroom communities for metro Boston, so they tend to be more affluent, with larger under-19 populations and higher property values, “because it’s young families who are commuting to Boston but can afford to live on this fringe of what’s defined as ‘rural.’”
Among the key parts of the recent presentation by the Council of Governments economic development specialist Jessica Atwood:
Although there was 5 percent population growth in rural towns oveall compared to 3 percent statewide, from 2000 to 2010, there was population decline in the western rural communities, including 14 Franklin County towns.
More western rural towns have a higher 65-year-old and older population than the 17 percent rural-town average, while eastern rural towns have a higher percentage of residents under the age of 19.
More rural towns in the west are at or below the statewide median household income, and more above the statewide median single-family home value are in the east and southwestern rural communities — the southern Berkshires.
Rural towns have 11 percent of their populations employed in manufacturing, compared to slightly less statewide, with a concentration in Worcester and Hampden counties — while rural towns have a smaller share of population employed in professional, science and management.
Rural towns have a higher percentage of self-employed workers, especially in the western counties.
A key part of the presentation was also a suggested three-way approach to rural economic development.
“Anchor communities” with workforce training programs or community colleges, which serve as employment centers in traditionally underserved areas could be targeted to extend services and resources.
The approach also points to “targeted town centers” — rural towns with “defined town centers that could support commercial development,” such as Charlemont, where economic activity could be enhanced with needed infrastructure like a public water supply.
There are also “low-density rural” communities without defined town centers, where beefing up services like broadband could help support home-based economic activity.
The presentation was painted in broad strokes for context as the commission considers how to recommend policies to help rural communities, said Atwood, and without specific information for each of 170 rural communities. She’s preparing an appendix to a final report for completion later this year with actual numbers, based on the U.S. Census and its 2015 American Community Survey, as well as Department of Revenue statistics.
You can reach Richie Davis at: rdavis@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 269