The Affordability Crisis: How Rural Americans are Getting Squeezed

Across America, and especially in rural communities, people are working harder than ever just to get by and raise families. Yet despite their efforts, the essentials to build a good life are slipping out of reach. This isn’t just a temporary rough patch. It’s a full-blown cost of living crisis, and it’s getting worse.

This crisis isn’t from lack of ability or poor choices, it’s the product of a system that’s been tilting further against working people for decades. Structural forces have taken hold that make it harder for everyday people to get ahead no matter how hard they work. Rural communities are especially vulnerable, all too often being overlooked by policymakers and exploited by corporate interests. The result is a widening gap between what families need to survive and what they can actually afford, breaking the promise that hard work will lead to stability and opportunity.

The pillars to build a good life are crumbling. Home ownership, once a symbol of security and pride, is increasingly unattainable. In small towns, housing prices are rising faster than wages, driven by corporate landlords and out-of-town investors who treat homes as profit engines. Properties are flipped into short-term rentals or speculative assets, while longtime residents are priced out or pushed into substandard housing. Zoning laws and development incentives favor luxury builds over affordable homes. New construction rarely meets local needs, and aging homes can be prohibitively expensive to repair. Housing has become a commodity instead of a foundation for family life.

Education, once a pathway to opportunity, has become a crushing financial burden. University tuition has skyrocketed, leaving students with decades of debt, or pricing them out of a degree altogether. Trade schools and community colleges, longtime lifelines for rural students, are also becoming less accessible. Public schools are underfunded, with fewer resources, limited course offerings, and teachers stretched thin. The system is failing the communities that depend on it to break the cycle of poverty and give the next generation a fair shot.

Healthcare is perhaps the most urgent crisis. Insurance premiums keep increasing while coverage shrinks and prescription prices rise out of control. Rural hospitals are closing, clinics are understaffed, basic care often requires long drives and high costs, and mental health services are nearly nonexistent. Behind it all is a healthcare industry that prioritizes profit over people’s health, where insurance companies deny coverage to boost earnings and pharmaceutical giants set prices based on shareholder returns. When getting sick means going broke or going without care, it’s not only unjust, it’s inhumane.

Housing, education, and healthcare may be the most visible aspects of the crisis, but the squeeze is everywhere. Food insecurity is growing as grocery prices climb and access to fresh, healthy options becomes limited. Childcare is often unobtainable, forcing parents to leave their jobs out of necessity. Essential transportation is jeopardized by cost of gas, vehicle repairs, and insurance, as well as limited options for public transit. Utility bills continue to rise, impacting especially those in older, energy-inefficient homes. And costly broadband access in underserved areas further strains already struggling household budgets.

As these pressures mount, they’re forcing families to make impossible choices: skip a doctor’s visit to keep the lights on, delay car repairs to afford groceries, or put off college dreams to pay rent. This is about more than just economics, it’s about whether our country still works for regular people. Every American deserves a life where the basics are within reach and where opportunity isn’t reserved for a wealthy few.

What’s happening in rural America isn’t by chance, it’s the result of a system firmly structured to benefit the powerful. Wages have barely budged in decades, even as corporate profits and CEO pay have soared. Industries that should be providing the basic necessities are increasingly controlled by monopolies that set prices without accountability. Billionaires exploit tax loopholes while public services crumble. And too many politicians protect their donors over the people they are supposed to represent.

This system drains wealth from rural communities and funnels it upward. It rewards speculation over honest labor, blocks opportunity by making the path to it too expensive, and strips away dignity by making basic needs unreachable. It threatens something even more fundamental than financial stability, it threatens the very ability to live with freedom and hope.

It’s clear that the current system isn’t working for many rural communities. Just as clear are the steps necessary to fix it: attainable housing so families can build stable lives, education to open doors without burdening young people with debt, and healthcare accessible to everyone regardless of income or insurance status. Cost of living shouldn’t be political. It’s a basic issue of fairness, opportunity, and the better future we should be building together. Every American deserves a system that allows them not only to survive, but to thrive, not one that stands in their way.