There are newspaper articles and books galore about population decline in rural America. They are misleading. The population of rural America is growing. And, in particular, there is a "brain gain" of young adults.

Military veterans are more likely to live in rural or exurban communities than in large cities. With vets from the Gulf War Era (1990 to today), there is no rural bias.

Per capita income in rural America is still only 80 percent of the national average. But from 2009 to 2010, gains in rural counties were faster than the nation as a whole.

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.