Census Bureau reports rural residents more likely to experience disability

The U.S. Census Bureau reported last week on rural-urban differences in disability.  Here is the introductory material:   

Where people live may impact their ability to access health care services and for those with disabilities or who require specialized care that entails more frequent attention and medical visits, location can play an even more significant role.

It is important to understand how regional and urban/rural differences in disability contribute to the unique challenge of addressing health disparities in the United States. Identifying where people with disabilities are concentrated can help inform where there may be shortages of specialized providers or limited transportation options.

Examining disability rates across geography reveals notable differences between urban and rural areas, and regions.

In 2021, nearly 42.5 million people (13%) among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in the United States had a disability, according to the American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year estimates.

And here are the key findings re: rural-urban difference:

In 2021, the U.S. population was primarily urban, with 80.2% living in urban areas; 12.6% of them reported a disability in 2021.

Rural residents — less than 20% of the U.S. population — were more likely (14.7%) than their urban counterparts to experience disability.

Rural communities may be more geographically isolated and typically have more limited transportation and access to clinics and hospitals than urban areas. As a result, coordination of care for those with disabilities may be more difficult for rural residents due to these geographic and transportation barriers.

And here is what the report had to say about regional differences: 

In 2021, the South had the nation’s highest rates of disability (13.8%), followed by the Midwest (13.1%), the Northeast (12.3%), and the West (12.1%) (Figure 2).

Regional disability rates may differ for a variety of reasons. For example, disability is often associated with age, so regions that contain states with a higher proportion of the population age 65 and over may be more likely to report higher rates of disability.

Many states in the South are part of what is known as the Stroke Belt, defined by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute as a cluster of states (including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia) that have a higher incidence of stroke than the rest of the country.