Rural California Fact Sheet Compiled from SORH Presentation

The California State Rural Health Association (CSHRA) has developed a Rural California Fact Sheet with statistics collected from the presentation delivered by Sam Willburn, Chief of the State Office of Rural Health during the CSRHA annual conference, December 4-6, 2005 in Sacramento. CSRHA appreciates the tremendous effort and time dedicated by the staff of the State Office of Rural Health to provide this information to the public and rural communities.

The fact sheet provide rural definitions, population, geography, socioeconomic indicators, health conditions and health insurance utilization information about rural California. CSRHA encourages rural colleagues to utilize the fact sheet to promote awareness of California's rurality and its need for adequate funding. The data was collected from a variety of sources including: California Department of Finance, 2000 Census, Behavioral Risk Factors Survey 2004, and the California Department of Health Services – Medical Care Statistics Section 2004.

A couple highlights of the fact sheets include:

• Rural areas makeup approximately 80% of the total land mass of 156,000 square miles. 2000 Census data
• The rural population at the 1990 Census was 3,232,00 and the 2000 Census reported 3,896,000 rural residents, an increase of 664,000 or 20%. Department of Finance 2005
• A greater proportion of residents of rural counties compared to residents of non-rural counties are between 100% and 200% of the Federal poverty level (21.5% vs. 16.9%).Behavioral Risk Factors Survey 2004

To view the Rural California Fact Sheets, click here.

Article Posted 03/31/06