Nonmetropolitan growth in the late 1970s: The end of the turnaround?

The discovery of the turnaround in growth patterns between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas in the early 1970s generated a large body of both theoretical and descriptive literature. Early research documented that the switch from negative to positive net migration into nonmetro areas was more than just a continuation of urban sprawl and that real growth was occurring in remote rural areas. Explanations for the trend included both the economic (deconcentration of manufacturing, expanding energy extraction, growth in the government and service sectors) and the non-economic (preference for rural living, retirement migration, and the modernization of nonmetro areas, including