When it comes to poverty, people in rural counties continue to fare worse than their city neighbors. This somber news stems from the recent USDA Economic Research Service Rural Poverty & Well-being assessment. The research shows that the nonmetro poverty rate is roughly 3 percentage points higher than the metropolitan rate. Other features of the report examine poverty rates among different racial and ethnic groups. The report also looks at the geography of poverty, including persistently poor counties, defined as counties where 20 percent or more of the population was in poverty since 1980, based on decennial censuses. Full findings can be found on the USDA Economic Research Service Rural Poverty & Well-being webpage.