Migration to rural America saw a major jump for the 4th year in a row. It marks a notable turn from a nearly decade-long trend of population declines in rural areas.

We take a trip to New River Gorge National Park, the newest national park in the national park system, with Daily Yonder reporter Sarah Melotte, to learn about what Fayetteville, West Virginia is dealing with around the park designation.

In a presidential election year, media attention is often focused on contentious issues as they play out on the national stage. This can lead to sweeping generalizations around the way rural communities feel about issues such as abortion access, natural resource management, school choice, even the programming at their public libraries.

In the newest episode of the Backroad Ballots podcast, we asked our staff what they are paying close attention to between now and the election.

Rural datasets can be difficult to find and even more difficult to analyze. But utilizing data in telling rural stories is a great way to interrogate, and disprove, widespread misconceptions about rural America.