What small town people see as their biggest challenges
Update: 2023 results
Survey of Rural Challenges 2023 by debworksFull 2023 results
See the full 2023 results, infographic and PDF report here.
I wait every other year for the results of this rural survey to help us align our work at Crowdfund Better with what rural businesses need. Thanks to Becky McCray and Deb Brown of SaveYour.Town for your dedication to putting this report together that reflects the challenges felt by real people who live and work in rural communities.

Kathleen Minogue
Crowdfund Better, IdahoSince 2015, over 1700 people answered the Survey of Rural Challenges. It uncovered big disconnects between what rural people want and what media, service providers and policy makers provide.
- Services and assistance commonly offered to rural people don’t match up with what rural people say they want help with.
- Common themes in media coverage and policy conversations around rural communities don’t match rural views.
- What urban and suburban people think of rural challenges is tinged by stereotypes that don’t agree with what rural people are thinking.
Press and Media Information
The 2023 survey results are available here.
See analysis of 2015 – 2021 rounds of the Survey of Rural Challenges
The 2021 survey results are available here.
The 2019 survey results are available here.
The 2017 survey results are available here.
The 2015 survey results are available here.
Important reading for any Economic Development professional serving a rural or small town community.

Clark Hoskin
Deloitte CanadaMedia coverage
2023
- Survey of Rural Challenges 2023 results, Small Biz Survival
- Survey of Rural Challenges 2023 results, SaveYour.Town
- Council for Community and Economic Research, newsletter January 12, 2023
- Texas Downtown Association, May member newsletter
- Labor Market Information Institute, newsletter January 26, 2023
- How to get customers in the door of small town and rural retail stores, Small Biz Survival
2022
- Today’s Interview: Becky McCray, of Save Your Town on leadership in flood stricken eastern Kentucky, with Tom Martin, WEKU
- Midwest Farm Report, “Save Your Small Town,” Wisconsin
- WOSU, All Sides with Ann Fisher, Changing landscape of rural America and small towns
- A Cleave within the Piney Woods: Nacogdoches, Stephen F. Austin State University and How Racial Integration Divided the Town and Gown, Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas, thesis by Caitlin R. Hornback, 2022
- Comprehensive Land Use Plan Update, Survey of Rural Challenges, Jones County Iowa, 2022
- What challenges do you face in your community and business? Tell us here, reprinted from Small Biz Survival, Dr. Rayyan Eshaghpour, Asia
- Strategic Management Planning Program and Five-Year Financial Management Plan, Survey of Rural Challenges, Greene County, Pennsylvania, 2022
- Village of Hinckley, Illinois, Planning Commission Meeting minutes
- K-State Research and Extension email newsletter, December 2022
- Radically Rural email newsletters, Survey of Rural Challenges, December 2022, Brushy Fork Leadership Institute email newsletter, December 2022
- University of Missouri Extension Engaged Neighbor Newsletter, December 2022
- What counts as rural? Becky McCray email newsletter
- What challenges do you face in your community and business? Tell us here, Small Biz Survival
- What challenges do you face in your community and business? Building Possibility
- What challenges does your community or business face? Tell us here, SaveYour.Town
2021
- Research results presented to Oklahoma State University Rural Renewal Symposium
- Presented to National Rural Electric Cooperatives Association five Regional Meetings nationwide
- Public Policy in Contentious Times by Peter K. Kresl, 2021, published by Edward Elgar Publishing
- North Central Kansas Pandemic Recovery and Resiliency Plan, North Central Regional Planning Commission, 2021
- LaJunta (Colorado) Tribune-Democrat – SaveYour.Town Survey of Rural Challenges pinpoints small town needs
- Cooperative Living Magazine, New Ways to Boost Rural Areas, October 2021
- High Plains Journal, Speaker shares tips on tackling rural housing challenges: SaveYour.Town co-founder taps into sever years of surveys with small communities
- Midwest Farm Report, “Rural Towns Recover From Pandemic,” Wisconsin
- Rural Messenger, First Friday speaker shares tips on tackling rural housing challenges
- Idaho Business Review, National rural challenges survey on par with Idaho’s
- Kansas Ag Connection, First Friday speaker shares tips on tackling rural housing challenges
- The Paper, Dwight, Illinois, The Corner by Tom Tock, July 2021
- Radically Rural email newsletter, July 2021
- Tourism Currents newsletter, June 2021, July 2021 email newsletter
- Small town greatness, AARP Live, RFD-TV
- Miltonvale (Kansas) Record, June 2021
- Atchison County (Missouri) Development Corporation newsletter, June 2021 sent via Atchison County Mail newspaper saturation issue to all county residents
- This is Where You Belong, author Melody Warnick, email newsletter, Issue 41, June 2021
- Insight on Business the News Hour with Michael Libbie podcast, radio 1540 KXEL
- Rural Route podcast with Trent Loos, May 2021, video and audio
2020
- Small Towns, Big Opportunities: Rural-Business Expert Becky McCray, MarketingProfs podcast
- Big Sky Economic Development, email newsletter, December 2020
- Wisconsin State Representative Tony Kurtz email newsletter, December 2020
- Inside Our Industry, Agracel, Inc., email newsletter, Issue 21, November 2020
- Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Council of Governments, Weekly Reader, January 2020
- Western Nevada Development District, The Results Are In!
- LISC Rural eNews, February 2020
- Small and Rural Community Marketing Program: Experience Community, 2020
- Small Biz Survival, How has 2020 changed the challenges rural small towns face? Tell us here
- RuralRISE email update, October 2020
- Survey of Rural Challenges, Obion County, Tennessee
- Building Possibility, Survey of Rural Challenges 2020/21
- SaveYour.Town, How has 2020 changed the challenges rural small towns face? Tell us here
2019
- SmallBusiness.com, Challenges Facing Rural and Small Town Businesses and Residents| 2020
- National Association of Development Organizations, email update January 2020
- BIGG Success podcast with Georgre Krueger and Mary-Lynn Foster, Survey of Rural Challenges 2019
- Radically Rural email update, Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship, December 2019
- Alva Review-Courier, December 22, 2019, What do rural people say are their biggest challenges?
- The Agurban, an Agracel Publication – #766 – Survey of Rural Challenges – 2019 Results
- Interesting Survey of Rural Challenges: The results don’t match common stereotypes of the biggest challenges to growth rural communities face, Ann Handley
- Episode 34: Co-Creation in a Small Town – Rebecca Undem, December 2019
- New Zealand Institute for Rural Entrepreneurship, Charging ahead: NZIRE is on the move – and so is rural entrepreneurship
- Economic News – Easton Economic Development Corporation, December 2019
- Daily Yonder, ‘Speak Up, Rural America,’ Say Small-Town Business Consultants
- Rural Assembly, email update July 2019 Survey of Rural Challenges open through July 30
- The Rural Blog, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues Survey of Rural Challenges, open through July 30, helps widely scattered rural communities share ideas
- Rural Delivery newsletter, New York State Rural Housing Coalition, Inc, August 2019, Survey of Rural Challenges
- The Rise of the Rural Millennial, Archinect, Feb 2019
- The Rise of the Rural Millennial, BBHousing.org reprinted from Archinet
- The Hoptown Chronicle (Kentucky) – Survey of Rural Challenges, open through July 30, lets people in small towns share ideas
- The Agurban, an Agracel Publication – Survey of Rural Challenges
2018
- International Association of Community Development, “Survey of Rural Challenges 2017: What small town people in the US and Canada see as their biggest challenges and what topics they most want help with,” Practice Insights issue 10, March 2018
- Main Street America, State of Main 2018, The Future of Retail
- Population Smallsville, Invision Magazine, June 2018
2017
- How Small and Rural Towns Can Attract, Retail Millennials, SmallBusiness.com
- South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Saving Small Town South South Dakota
- Renewed Interest: A Fresh Look at the Rural Church, Collaborative Development International, December 2017
- McClusky Gazette, North Dakota, Survey of Rural Challenges 2017
2015
- EntreWorks – Challenges for Rural Retail
- Agurban – What rural people say they need
- Tourism Currents – Small town tourism challenges? Survey says…
- Small Biz Survival – What rural people say they need: the Survey of Rural Challenges
- Republic County Kansas Economic Development – What rural people say they need.
- NeedALittleAdvice – SaveYour.Town update
About SaveYour.Town
SaveYour.Town believes small towns can be saved by their own people using their existing assets. Deb Brown and Becky McCray joined forces in May 2015 to help small towns and rural communities thrive. They deliver speeches and presentations internationally, lead site visits and community brainstorming sessions, and create online videos and short courses of practical steps that can be put into action right away.
About Small Biz Survival
SmallBizSurvival.com publishes practical articles for rural small businesses. It was founded in January 2006 by Becky McCray from Oklahoma. Over the years, it has achieved top ranking among small business blogs on sites like Technorati, Invesp BlogRank and BizHumm, and it continues to appear on lists of top small business blogs. For her work as publisher, McCray has been named one of the Power Players in Technology Business Media and a Small Business Influencer Journalist four times.
About Becky McCray
Becky McCray is a lifelong small-town entrepreneur. As co-founder of Save Your.Town, she shares insights from her real-world experience as a business owner and cattle rancher. Throughout her career, rural has been the focus. She managed a retail store, served as city administrator and nonprofit executive, bought and sold antiques and taught classes in business and technology. Her practical perspective is featured at her highly-ranked website, Small Biz Survival, and in her award-winning book, Small Town Rules. She’s been featured and quoted in books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, podcasts and university publications. She makes her home base in Hopeton, Oklahoma, a community of 30 people.
About Deb Brown
Deb Brown is a small town enthusiast and expert for small towns. Her practical approach for getting communities into action right away has been shared at national conferences, local visits, service organizations and everything in between. Her wealth of experience includes foreign casualty insurance underwriting, bartending, retail management, selling knives around the US, leading a chamber and working with small towns. Deb has lived in tiny towns, small towns, small cities and a major metro city. Yet, she’s come home to a small town and travels to many other rural communities to help. She collaborates with Becky McCray at www.saveyour.town and has her own business www.BuildingPossibility.com.
Photos and Logos




Website and social media links
Survey Results and News Room:
- https://saveyour.town/surveynews
LinkedIn: Small Biz Survival, SaveYour.Town
Twitter: @SBSurvival, @SaveYourTown
Instagram: @SaveYourTown
Facebook: Small Biz Survival, SaveYour.Town
For more info contact
Becky McCray
- becky@saveyour.town
Deb Brown
- deb@saveyour.town