State rankings
Most Rural States in the U.S.
Vermont has the highest Rural Population in 2023 (66.1%), followed by Maine (61.5%) and West Virginia (55.2%). California has the lowest (5.8%).
50 of 51 states
Rural Population, 2023
Darker means higher. Click a place to highlight it.
Loading map…
All 50 ranked
Highest first.
Distribution Median and middle halfThe median is the middle value: half of places are above it, half below. The middle half is the range holding the central 50% of places.More in the glossary →
Each dot is one state; the lines mark the median and the middle half.
Median
28.2%
Middle half 14.5% – 36.9%
Average
27.9%
50 states
Highest
66.1%
Vermont
Lowest
5.8%
California
Over time · 1910–2023
The top 5 in 2023, against the median.
- Median of all states
- Vermont
- Maine
- West Virginia
- Mississippi
- Montana
Data
Click a column to sort, a row to highlight that place on the charts.
50 states · # = rank by Rural Population
| # | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Vermont | 66.1% | 98.3% | 42.2 people / mi² |
| 2 |  Maine | 61.5% | 98.8% | 26.7 people / mi² |
| 3 |  West Virginia | 55.2% | 97.3% | 40.6 people / mi² |
| 4 |  Mississippi | 54.4% | 97.6% | 32.8 people / mi² |
| 5 |  Montana | 47.1% | 99.8% | 3.0 people / mi² |
| 6 |  Arkansas | 43.9% | 97.9% | 25.1 people / mi² |
| 7 |  New Hampshire | 42.4% | 92.8% | 62.9 people / mi² |
| 8 |  South Dakota | 42.3% | 99.7% | 4.7 people / mi² |
| 9 |  Alabama | 42.0% | 95.6% | 40.4 people / mi² |
| 10 |  Kentucky | 41.6% | 96.4% | 47.4 people / mi² |
| 11 |  North Dakota | 39.3% | 99.7% | 3.9 people / mi² |
| 12 |  Wyoming | 37.4% | 99.8% | 2.0 people / mi² |
| 13 |  Iowa | 37.3% | 98.3% | 20.0 people / mi² |
| 14 |  Oklahoma | 35.8% | 98.1% | 18.8 people / mi² |
| 15 |  Alaska | 35.1% | 100.0% | 0.4 people / mi² |
| 16 |  Tennessee | 34.7% | 93.0% | 55.6 people / mi² |
| 17 |  Wisconsin | 33.6% | 96.5% | 32.5 people / mi² |
| 18 |  North Carolina | 33.3% | 90.5% | 73.5 people / mi² |
| 19 |  South Carolina | 31.8% | 92.1% | 56.3 people / mi² |
| 20 |  Missouri | 30.8% | 97.0% | 26.6 people / mi² |
| 20 |  Idaho | 30.8% | 99.4% | 5.6 people / mi² |
| 22 |  Louisiana | 29.1% | 95.4% | 29.5 people / mi² |
| 23 |  Indiana | 28.9% | 93.0% | 53.7 people / mi² |
| 23 |  Minnesota | 28.9% | 97.9% | 18.2 people / mi² |
| 25 |  Kansas | 28.2% | 98.8% | 9.1 people / mi² |
| 26 |  Nebraska | 28.1% | 99.3% | 6.4 people / mi² |
| 27 |  Michigan | 27.1% | 93.6% | 47.5 people / mi² |
| 28 |  Georgia | 26.6% | 91.7% | 45.8 people / mi² |
| 29 |  Virginia | 24.9% | 93.3% | 53.3 people / mi² |
| 30 |  New Mexico | 24.7% | 99.3% | 3.9 people / mi² |
| 31 |  Ohio | 24.0% | 89.2% | 69.9 people / mi² |
| 32 |  Pennsylvania | 23.6% | 89.5% | 67.7 people / mi² |
| 33 |  Oregon | 19.7% | 98.9% | 7.7 people / mi² |
| 34 |  Delaware | 17.9% | 79.1% | 97.3 people / mi² |
| 35 |  Texas | 17.0% | 96.7% | 15.2 people / mi² |
| 36 |  Washington | 16.6% | 96.4% | 16.7 people / mi² |
| 37 |  Maryland | 14.7% | 79.4% | 96.0 people / mi² |
| 38 |  Colorado | 14.4% | 98.5% | 6.8 people / mi² |
| 39 |  Hawaii | 14.0% | 93.9% | 18.2 people / mi² |
| 40 |  Connecticut | 13.8% | 62.3% | 142.0 people / mi² |
| 41 |  Illinois | 13.2% | 92.9% | 28.6 people / mi² |
| 42 |  New York | 12.9% | 91.3% | 54.6 people / mi² |
| 43 |  Arizona | 11.5% | 98.1% | 5.8 people / mi² |
| 44 |  Utah | 10.8% | 98.9% | 3.2 people / mi² |
| 45 |  Rhode Island | 9.7% | 61.3% | 154.0 people / mi² |
| 46 |  Florida | 9.1% | 86.2% | 35.9 people / mi² |
| 47 |  Massachusetts | 8.9% | 61.7% | 109.0 people / mi² |
| 48 |  New Jersey | 6.3% | 60.3% | 106.0 people / mi² |
| 49 |  Nevada | 6.2% | 99.3% | 1.4 people / mi² |
| 50 |  California | 5.8% | 94.7% | 12.7 people / mi² |
What correlates with Rural Population (2023)?
Pearson r against 2,111 other state metrics sharing at least 30 states, 1 near-identical series hidden. Ranks are read by standing: a better rank counts as higher, whether rank 1 is the best place on a list or the worst. Correlation is not causation.
Higher together
Places that have a higher Rural Population tend to score higher on these (or rank better)
Opposite directions
Places that have a higher Rural Population tend to score lower on these (or rank worse)
- Linguistic DiversityMost Diverse US StatesA rank: rank 1 is the bestPlotr = +0.87 · very strong · n = 50
- Plot
- Plot
- Estimated % of Pop. Immigrating Annually (2018-2022)Immigrants by StatePlotr = −0.81 · very strong · n = 50
- Chat GPT Messages per Capita RankChatGPT Usage by StateA rank: rank 1 is the bestPlotr = +0.80 · very strong · n = 50
- Cultural DiversityLeast Diverse States in the USA rank: rank 1 is the bestPlotr = +0.79 · very strong · n = 50
Quick answers
- Which state has the highest Rural Population?
- Vermont has the highest Rural Population in 2023, at 66.1%, followed by Maine (61.5%) and West Virginia (55.2%).
- Which state has the lowest Rural Population?
- California has the lowest Rural Population in 2023, at 5.8%.
- What is the median Rural Population across US states?
- The median is 28.2% across the 50 US states with data in 2023.
- Where does this most rural states in the u.s. data come from?
- Rankodex compiles it from World Population Review and the primary sources it cites: Rural Population in United States - America's Health Rankings; Urban and Rural - United States Census Bureau; States with the biggest rural populations - Stacker; 2020 Population and Housing State Data - United States Census Bureau.