What if a rural community decided it was too beautiful to trash and too thrifty to waste anything? It would be working like Chamisal, New Mexico.

The rural U.S. gained population between 2010 and 2011, but not much. And most of the nation's rural counties lost people during this time, largely through outmigration.

The workforce in rural America grew in the last year — there are more than 210,000 more workers available in rural and exurban counties. But the distribution of those new workers varies across the country.

The median age of most every U.S. county is growing older. But rural counties have the oldest median age — and the gap between rural and urban counties is growing.