{"id":13786,"date":"2021-05-18T11:17:38","date_gmt":"2021-05-18T16:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/?page_id=13786"},"modified":"2023-08-11T16:12:18","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T21:12:18","slug":"survey-of-rural-challenges-2021-results","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/survey-of-rural-challenges-2021-results.html","title":{"rendered":"Survey of Rural Challenges – 2021 results"},"content":{"rendered":"

Update: See analysis of all four rounds of the Survey of Rural Challenges<\/a><\/h1>\n

\"Survey<\/p>\n

Rural communities were not immune to the chaos of 2020, but remained more concerned with ongoing challenges.<\/h1>\n

To find out what rural people felt were their biggest challenges, SaveYour.Town and SmallBizSurvival.com surveyed over 280 rural people in the fourth quarter of 2020. The results make up this fourth edition of the Survey of Rural Challenges<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Challenges stemming from the pandemic and economic crisis were ranked as less important than long-existing rural challenges.<\/h2>\n

Continuing challenges with losses in housing, business and population ranked as the highest rural community challenges. The ongoing lack of workers, stiff competition from online businesses, and marketing ranked as the highest challenge to rural small businesses.<\/p>\n

Other preconception-changing results<\/h2>\n

Defying stereotyped media profiles of poverty, crime and drug abuse as the primary rural challenges, rural people ranked these lowest of all community challenges.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although rural economic development often centers around jobs, it was one of the least-mentioned challenges in this survey.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For all the concern over small business lending, rural people say usable buildings are as hard or harder to find than loans.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rural small business owners show little interest in business plan assistance, yet it remains a popular type of assistance offered to rural businesses.<\/strong><\/p>\n

More rural people said they needed an idea for a business to start than said they were worried their business would fail.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rural Community Assets, Challenges<\/h2>\n

A new question for 2021 invited people to share more about their community, positive or negative. Over 100 responses were received.<\/p>\n

Assets<\/h2>\n

Tourism, recreation, natural resources and bike trails were commonly mentioned assets (23 responses).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Caring people, volunteerism and effective local leaders were the next most common asset (20 responses).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Challenges<\/h2>\n

Resistance to change, newcomers or new ideas were the most commonly cited challenges, in 20 responses.<\/p>\n

Other challenges mentioned were widely disparate, receiving only a handful or responses or just one.<\/p>\n

This may indicate a need for more customized support for the individual challenges of each community.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rural Community Challenges ranked<\/h1>\n

The pandemic and economic crisis not only did not dominate the responses, but it also did not rank in the top ten challenges.<\/p>\n

Housing, business and population losses continue to rank as the highest rural community challenges.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Top five concerns at the community-wide level this year are somewhat different from the results from 2019, 2017 and 2015.<\/p>\n

The top five rural community challenges in 2021 were:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Not enough good housing<\/li>\n
  2. Downtown is dead<\/li>\n
  3. Losing young people<\/li>\n
  4. Need new residents<\/li>\n
  5. Not enough volunteers<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    How this compares to previous survey results<\/p>\n

    \u201cNot enough good housing\u201d moved up from third in 2019, when it was a newly-offered choice.<\/p>\n

    \u201cLosing young people\u201d and \u201cDowntown is dead\u201d have appeared in the top five in all rounds of the survey.<\/p>\n

    \u201cNeed new residents\u201d ranked in the top 5 in 2021, 2019 and 2017.<\/p>\n

    This is the first time that \u201cNot enough volunteers\u201d ranked in the top five.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Small-town Business Challenges ranked<\/h1>\n

    The lack of workers and difficulties with marketing continue to challenge rural small businesses.<\/p>\n

    Online competition continued to increase pressure on rural small businesses, climbing to the second-highest ranking challenge.<\/p>\n

    Despite the pandemic and economic crisis, rural business owners ranked the likelihood of business failure and the inability to find a business loan as some of the lowest of all listed challenges.<\/p>\n

    Crisis relief loan packages may have played a role in supporting small businesses in late 2020 as this survey was being conducted. On previous surveys, inability to find a business loan scored from the middle to low: ranging from sixth to ninth of the eleven listed challenges, before dropping to eleventh this time.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    The top five challenges ranked by rural small businesses were:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Can\u2019t find good employees<\/li>\n
    2. Online competition<\/li>\n
    3. Tried later hours without success<\/li>\n
    4. Marketing isn\u2019t working<\/li>\n
    5. Need to sell my business<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      More than \u2153 of respondents identified themselves as current or prospective small business owners or having an interest in business challenges by answering this question.<\/p>\n

      How this compares to previous survey results<\/h2>\n

      \u201cCan\u2019t find good employees\u201d was the number one challenge in 2021 and 2019. Previously worded as \u201cNeed help but cannot hire,\u201d it was in the top five in 2017 and 2015.<\/p>\n

      Online competition continues to move up, ranking sixth in 2017 and 2015, third in 2019, and second this year.<\/p>\n

      \u201cMarketing isn\u2019t working\u201d and \u201cTried later hours without success\u201d remain in the top five on all three surveys.<\/p>\n

      \u201cNeed to sell my business\u201d ranked in the top five for the first time, and may reflect an increasing pressure on aging business owners.<\/p>\n

      Diversity in rural people and communities<\/h1>\n

      An open-ended question invited participants to tell more about the diversity of their communities, including people of different ages, colors, languages, disabilities, genders or incomes.<\/p>\n

      Fewer than half of people (132 of 289) entered an answer. Approximately the same number of responses mentioned increasing diversity (33), no change or \u201cis diverse\u201d (29), and a lack of diversity (35).<\/p>\n

      Race, color or ethnicity were the most commonly mentioned types of diversity, appearing in 14 answers. Challenges with inclusivity, resistance, tension or factions were mentioned by 17 people. Aging population and losing young people were mentioned as a diversity challenge by 21 people.<\/p>\n

      Download the survey report<\/h1>\n

      Survey of Rural Challenges 2021 results (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n

      About the survey methodology<\/h1>\n

      The survey was open from October 19, 2020 to January 1, 2021. A total of 289 responses were collected online from subscribers and visitors to SaveYour.Town and SmallBizSurvival.com, from media coverage and cooperating groups that publicized the survey.<\/p>\n

      Respondents identified themselves as rural, and 101 identified themselves as business owners by responding to the business question. Participants included 276 from the USA, four from Canada, four from Australia and one from Mexico.<\/p>\n

      Based on SaveYour.Town customer data, most respondents likely serve as community leaders and officials, work in community and economic development, own their own businesses or work in a community-oriented business.<\/p>\n

      Presented at these conferences<\/h2>\n