I would argue that used to be the case. My parents own a “farm” in Indiana, and most of their neighbors were indeed farmers and farmhands when I was growing up 30 years ago. I’ve visited the farm recently, and was shocked by the gentrification that has happened. None of their neighbors are worth less than $1,000,000 these days. All the old neighbors are gone. The population density didn’t increase, but the prices did, and the price of gas makes it impossible for low paid blue collar workers to live that far out of town. They wouldn’t be able to get groceries.
That may even still be the case west of the Mississippi River, but back east property has gotten so expensive that even the rural areas are turning into havens exclusively for the rich/ wealthy
I would argue that used to be the case. My parents own a “farm” in Indiana, and most of their neighbors were indeed farmers and farmhands when I was growing up 30 years ago. I’ve visited the farm recently, and was shocked by the gentrification that has happened. None of their neighbors are worth less than $1,000,000 these days. All the old neighbors are gone. The population density didn’t increase, but the prices did, and the price of gas makes it impossible for low paid blue collar workers to live that far out of town. They wouldn’t be able to get groceries.
That may even still be the case west of the Mississippi River, but back east property has gotten so expensive that even the rural areas are turning into havens exclusively for the rich/ wealthy