Urban vs. Rural Safety

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doitmyself

doitmyself

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Some try to extol the virtues of rural living over urban living without considering all of the factors. Here are just a few data points presenting some pros and cons. Comments?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23886781
"Using total injury death rate as an overall safety metric, US urban counties were safer than their rural counterparts, and injury death risk increased steadily as counties became more rural. Greater emphasis on elevated injury-related mortality risk outside of large cities, attention to locality-specific injury prevention priorities, and an increased focus on matching emergency care needs to emergency care resources are in order."

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457509001092
"The death rate from many common causes in the United States (US) is significantly higher in rural, compared to urban areas (Eberhardt et al., 2001), even accounting for the older age of the rural population (Wright et al., 1985). This higher mortality rate among rural residents can be attributed to a higher incidence of unintentional injury and traumatic deaths (Svenson et al., 1996)."

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1748-0361.2008.00188.x/full
"Despite higher levels of physical activity, rural adolescents experienced a higher prevalence of overweight than their urban counterparts."

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pds.1626/abstract;jsessionid=C478DAC6FF6652DB2249C7025EB9877E.f03t03
"Unintentional and undetermined drug poisoning mortality rates rose 62% from 1999 to 2004. Metropolitan county rates rose 51%, an increase of 2.66/100 000, while nonmetropolitan county rates rose 159%, an increase of 4.81/100 000."

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20150309/news/150309901
"Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 24, and rates are nearly twice as high for young adults in rural communities than in urban areas...."
 
You have a lot of control over many of the items that factor into death rates, so just arguing rural vs. urban isn't very illuminating. For example, if you smoke, are overweight, and work on a fishing boat your chances of dieing early are much higher whether you live in a big city or in a rural area. Medical errors are now the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer, so if you go to the doctor or hospital a lot for some reason you are more likely to die early. Similarly, some of those links talk about drug abuse and suicide rates--you have control over those things.
 
A small farm isn't a very safe environment. sawmills, heavy equipment repair. For one who contemplated suicide in my teens, I'm not surprised. The Boston 'burbs are loaded with ODs from cheap heroin cut with even cheaper fentonyl. Curious kids to begin with.
 
I highly doubt there truly is a "best". Notionally people pick places to live to optimize on what they can afford and how to minimize their commuting time.

There are horrible inner city conditions with excessively poor people and high crime. But these conditions are typically very localized to a few "neighborhoods". Suburbia is the highest affluence one can find, and it decays the further you get out from there. The cities can have extremely "rich" zip codes, but those are often enclaves and well isolated from the rest of the city, and sometimes outskirts communities and whatnot.

http://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/richest-zip-codes-america.html

There are also some really poor highly rural states with some very bad obesity and other numbers, which also don't likely paint a good picture of all rural America.

Some of the facts presented in the OP like poisoning and death rates, may be due to substantially longer wait times for any help to arrive. I have a paid fire department that only serves our one mile square suburban town. We also have outer own police force and ambulance corps. Yes we pay higher taxes but we have any emergency responder available in literally a minute. That's a big difference from a few sherrif on duty in an entire county or unincorporated area. It likely affects many of those facts that show rural life in a poorer light.
 
The chart shows a lot less homicides which most people are focused on. The other stuff you're somewhat in control of, like killing yourself. Of course driving more miles increases chances of crashes. Rural folk also tend to do outdoor activities that carry risk like hunting, fishing, riding ATVs, etc. And if there is a accident help is further away.
 
I personally don't look at death rates when choosing a place to live--choose someplace you like! If you like it I bet you'll live longer: less depression, drugs, alcohol, and suicide. I live in a small city that is a good compromise between urban, suburban, and rural. I can be in a forest or climbing a mountain within 20 minutes, or I can walk to the library, the movies, shopping, or a restaurant. I walk ten minutes to work. I can leave my house unlocked perfectly safely, though I usually lock the doors at night to avoid surprises. The police have arrived at my house in literally 3 minutes and the fire station is closer. We have excellent schools, a big public park within walking distance, low crime, parking and traffic isn't a hassle most of the time, people are friendly, and we have lots of arts and performances going on. Today I went for a motorcycle ride on beautiful winding back roads through farm country, while my wife is visiting a nearby State Park where we buy an annual pass.
 
I live in a very rural area.....But the fire station (Manned 24/7/365) is less than 1.5 miles away, or maybe 3 minutes.

The only person from my neighborhood that died of something emergency care could have helped in the last 10 years was a doctor that died on a golf course, of a heart attack. 500 miles from home.
 
Originally Posted By: AuthorEditor
I personally don't look at death rates when choosing a place to live--choose someplace you like! If you like it I bet you'll live longer: less depression, drugs, alcohol, and suicide. I live in a small city that is a good compromise between urban, suburban, and rural......

As I edge past mid-life, I too have come to greatly appreciate the compromise, semi-rural lifestyle that you describe. Had I remained in the very rural, nearly wilderness area of my career start, I think I would have not been challenged to grow and experience all the opportunities that exist. I surely would have ended up a curmudgeon, mad at the rest of the world for not sharing my views.

I think the point of my OP was to dispel the myth that rural dwellers are not without any of the problems often stereotyped with their urban counterparts.
 
This is not new news. It has been well established for some time that, overall, life expectancy is longer for urban dwellers than rural. A few particular factors contribute to the delta. The charts in one of the links show that highway fatalities hare higher in rural areas. This makes perfect sense. Rural people tend to be more mobile. They enjoy the freedom of travel across wide, open countrysides, unlike city dwellers to tend to find all their entertainment within the city. Another is firearms. Assuming that this is separated from death by homicide, which is listed as a separate item, this also makes sense. Rural people are much more likely to enjoy outdoor activities, which often includes hunting and shooting. There is an inherent danger with these sports. Rural dwellers typically don't have as good of access to health care. Another factor that has to contribute to the delta would be agricultural jobs. Farming is one of the most dangerous jobs there is. Not many farms in the city.

Originally Posted By: AuthorEditor
You have a lot of control over many of the items that factor into death rates, so just arguing rural vs. urban isn't very illuminating. For example, if you smoke, are overweight, and work on a fishing boat your chances of dieing early are much higher whether you live in a big city or in a rural area. Medical errors are now the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer, so if you go to the doctor or hospital a lot for some reason you are more likely to die early. Similarly, some of those links talk about drug abuse and suicide rates--you have control over those things.


I absolutely agree with this.


All that said, it seems these articles miss a very important factor. Quality of life. Based upon my experiences, people I've met, places I've traveled, etc., I find that those who live in a rural setting tend to feel that they have a better quality of life. They are happier with themselves, happier with the world they live in, and enjoy the beauty of nature and their surroundings much more.

That's not to say that everyone I know that is a city dweller is miserable. Far from it. I know many that really enjoy the perks of living in the city. They like the parks, museums, theaters, and stores. (I do too. But after spending a day shopping, going out to dinner, and going to a concert of play, we leave the city and go back to our house across from the irrigation pond and the cows and ducks.) And on the other end of the spectrum, I know many, particularly youth, who find rural life boring, and can't wait to get the opportunity to move to the big city.

I personally feel that I have made good decisions in my lifestyle so I can avoid a lot of the risks of life. I don't smoke or drink. I try to eat fairly healthy. I practice and teach others safe firearms practices. I always wear my seat belt, and I consider safety ratings when buying a car.

That all said, even if there still is risk of rural versus urban life, I for one will risk a few years for the outdoor lifestyle that I enjoy in small rural communities, seeing blue skies, breathing clean air, seeing beautiful mountains, and occasional wildlife. The rest of y'all can live on top of each other all you want.
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Originally Posted By: Nate1979
Misuse of statistics to try to prove a point.

Could you elaborate more, please? I tried to be mindful of your assertion. I'm not saying that urban living is better than rural, or vice versa. My point is that rural living is not a guarantee of Shangri La that some try to purport.
 
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Rural areas are not a place I would want to live, simply no future in a trailer park town.

This statement illustrates another point. There is a huge variety of both "rural" and "urban." I too would not want to live in a trailer park, but I don't consider that rural unless it is located far from a city. I don't mind the trailers--it's just in most parks they are too close together and usually not within walking distance of the town's amenities. I think when many say "rural" they are thinking a detached home on at least several acres, possibly more. Similarly, urban can mean Manhattan or it could mean Miami, or it could be a bad part of Chicago with gun shots heard every night. You could live in Alaska dozens or more miles from anyone. Is that "dangerous" because you can't get to a hospital quickly? Or is it "safe" because it is highly unlikely you will get mugged?
 
Without dissecting every one lets just say inner city kids are skinnier because either the parents don't feed them enough or they way more exercise smashing and grabbing, purse snatching, they don't call sneakers felony shoes for nothing.

Inner city kids don't usually have lawn mowers, tractors and farm implements available to them unless they robbed a landscaping truck and they are at least good enough with the 9mm not to shoot themselves with it.

Its true inner city kids have better access to better trauma centers and Narcan if they do get shot or overdose.
Suicide is not a problem for inner city kids, most don't even have a PC never mind Fakebook that their friends can taunt them on and if they did they would rather go over and shoot the Ahole before killing themselves anyway.
Grades, parental pressure, violent video games and all other little things rural kids get stressed out about don't exist.

So here is the 64K question given that where do you want your kids growing up? Fat dumb and happy who gets all worked up because Suzy broke up with him and steped on a garden rake this morning at got a couple of stitches to the head or..
A street smart little gangster who just got high, robbed a taxi driver at gunpoint and raped suzy.
 
Despite your jaded comments, I'll still take a rural lifestyle over your inner city any day. It's interesting that you only focused on injuries and death rates without a mention of quality of life issues. Here in the rural areas we don't have your pollution, we don't have your traffic, we don't have your higher costs and taxes, we don't have your trash, and we don't have your rate race.

We do have stars at night, we don't have to lock our doors, we don't have to listen to our neighbors unless we driver over and visit them, and we tend to be much more independent. We have property large enough to actually enjoy, we have lower taxes, a generally lower cost of living.

There's also the health benefits of living closer to nature.

The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting With Nature

And of course, the whole crime thing.

Lower Crime Rates

I do have to ask-why do you even care? If you're happy living in the inner city or the cookie cutter suburbs, then by all means that's your business. And given that you seem to be a bit obsessed over it, I strongly urge you to take a look at the following:

Schizophrenia and Urbanicity: A Major Environmental Influence

Quote:
Additional studies have shown that rural residents are much less likely to have anxiety disorders. Scientists examined the prevalence of extreme anxiety in more than 345,000 residents of the Netherlands—male and female of all ages—and found substantially lower rates of disorders among those living in relatively green regions. In residential areas with 90% green space, the annual prevalence was 18 per 1,000; in areas with only 10% green space, the rate increased to 26 out of 1,000.
 
Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Originally Posted By: Nate1979
Misuse of statistics to try to prove a point.

Could you elaborate more, please? I tried to be mindful of your assertion. I'm not saying that urban living is better than rural, or vice versa. My point is that rural living is not a guarantee of Shangri La that some try to purport.


Your premise was that urban living may be better than rural living and then showed some statistics to show reasons to back it up. Dividing two numbers doesn't prove causation. For example, just because you live in rural area doesn't mean you now have a shorter life expectancy. The same can be said for urban because it lumps too many different groups together to try and prove a point. Need to control for income, job type, etc and then see if the statistics still give the same conclusion.
 
It really depends on what we consider "rural" vs "urban".


You can massage statistics any which way you'd like. Many academics are guilty of this, unfortunately ethical standards have fallen over the years as well.

If you consider everything objectively, a "rural" environment is substantially safer than an "urban" environment.

Exponentially lower crime as well as pollution.

Urban environments are pretty [censored] and this is something the "center of the universe" generation doesn't understand yet.
 
Why has society became so feminized and oriented around safety. I like to take risks. No matter where I have lived.
 
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Both areas can be great with mid to upper income. Low income urban and rural life is dreadful.

You're painting with too broad a brush. Sure, more income is probably better for most people, but I have known some very happy low income people in this country--think low enough income so they didn't have indoor plumbing and had to carry their drinking water from a stream winter and summer. I've visited places in the world where people still live in thatched huts, paddle around in dugout canoes, and have no electricity. They were very happy people. They invited us into their homes and we shared what little they could offer us. You don't need money to be happy.
 
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