Rural Gentrification in the United States 1975--2000: A Demographic Analysis of its Footprint, Impacts, and Implications

The American rural landscape is a patchwork of different demographic and economic conditions. As communities transition away from traditional economic livelihoods, unevenly distributed migration toward rural places makes the patchwork more contrasting. Scholars have examined rural population gains through several lenses, but leave many questions about migration and inequality unanswered. We know that certain rural places have become interfaces of opposing cultural and economic status, but discerning who wins and who loses in the material sense is a complex task. This dissertation examines urban-rural migration between 1975 and 2000 by evaluating urban newcomers' impact on inequality, focusing specifically on home values.;The first paper advances a migration based measure of gentrification in rural US counties and determines how widely it spread between 1975 and 2000. I use spatial analysis techniques to determine if gentrification clustered spatially, and to explore where and why it clustered between 1975 and 2000. My results indicate that gentrification was more closely associated with counties' status as recreation-dependent than their endowments of natural amenities. Further, gentrification was regionally distinct in Eastern and Western states, and responded differently to broad economic conditions.;The second paper examines changes in rural housing markets associated with gentrification, focusing on changes in home values, inequality and segregation in home values, rental housing, and household moves. I find that gentrification was associated with increased population turnover and growth in home values that was segregated across sub county units. Additionally, gentrification was generally associated with a limited number of counties over the three decades, most of which gentrified repeatedly and saw home values appreciate rapidly.;The third paper frames migration between major cities and rural counties as connections to larger economic patterns of inequality. I differentiate between place-making associated with gentrification as conceived in paper two, and that associated with urbanization in the "satellite" counties where large proportions of newcomers from major urban centers migrate. My results show that satellite counties embarked on multiple development trajectories, underwent more diverse economic changes, and faced the most extreme inequality in home values. These results establish an important distinction in the categorization of destination communities.