The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) is a national nonprofit focused on improving conditions in the poorest rural places. In this policy brief, HAC identifies 377 persistent poverty counties in the United States – those classified by the Census Bureau as having poverty rates of 20 percent or more for three consecutive decades. Approximately 81 percent of these counties are outside of metropolitan areas.
![Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health](/wp-content/uploads/main-logo.png)