Where the Creative Class Thrives in Rural America

This is the sixth post in a series of posts that explore the myths and realities of America’s urban-rural divide. This week we focus on the distribution of knowledge, professional, and artistic workers—the jobs that comprise the creative class across urban and rural places. For an overview of the series and the data and methodology we use, see the first post in this series.

Across the nation, the creative class is overwhelmingly concentrated in urban areas. As the map below shows, the location of this class is highly uneven. (The creative class is composed of knowledge workers and professionals in fields such as science and technology; business and management; healthcare, law, and education; and arts, culture, design, media, and entertainment.)