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COMMUNITY TYPE

Tractor Country

Characteristics

Mostly rural and remote smaller towns with older populations
Among the least diverse counties, with a 95 percent white population
Areas with much higher-than-average employment in the agriculture sector
Reliably Republican voting counties

See the communties »

Community Type Demographics

Ethnicity

Presidential Election Results

2004

31%
Kerry

68%
Bush

2008

34%
Obama

64%
McCain

Representative Communities

Community Type Comparison

Percent Employed in Agriculture

20%
Tractor Country

7.2%
All Counties

Around the Nation

The political perils of stimulus spending

The list of problems that President Obama inherited upon arrival office was massive – an economy near collapse, a struggling financial sector, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the H1N1 virus. And the response so far has been a lot of federal spending – well over a trillion dollars.

But is that spending primarily investment for the future or additional debt? Nearly all our Patchwork Nation communities see it as the latter, according to a poll from Zogby International filtered through Patchwork Nation’s 12 community types – though there are big differences in how strongly the various communities hold that view.

And when ...

Patchwork Nation Director Answered Your Questions on Stimulus Spending

Patchwork Nation project director Dante Chinni answered your questions about how funds from President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package are making their way across the country and about the Patchwork Nation reporting project itself.

Tractor Country Plows Ahead in Transportation Stimulus Funds

When it comes to securing highway funds from the federal stimulus package, there is one clear winner thus far: rural, agricultural America. The 287 counties in Tractor Country have received an average of $144 per capita in stimulus highway dollars, according to an analysis by the Patchwork Nation project and ...

Transportation stimulus money heads for farm country

When it comes to securing highway funds from the federal stimulus package, there is one clear winner thus far: rural, agricultural America.

The 287 counties identified as “Tractor Country” in Patchwork Nation have received an average of $144 per capita in stimulus highway dollars, according to a new analysis by ...

Is the recession finally coming to ‘Tractor Country’?

As the troubles of the recession have worked their way through the nation, one part of the United States has largely been spared, the agricultural communities we call “Tractor Country.” Those counties, clustered heavily breadbasket states like Nebraska and Kansas, have an unemployment rate that is roughly half the national ...