10% of American workers are in agriculture. I’ll admit that’s higher than I anticipated. 50% of Americans live in metro areas smaller than Birmingham, AL or Ro

10% of American workers are in agriculture. I’ll admit that’s higher than I anticipated. 50% of Americans live in metro areas smaller than Birmingham, AL or Rochester, NY [0]. Although some of these places do have picturesque old main streets, they are also highly decentralized, and we’re talking about the metro area. So most Americans are even more dispersed than that. Farmers are not infantry soldiers; it would be very surprising if they needed 5:1 non-agricultural support staff. Many of these places are not about farming anyway, but about some industrial plant, old-economy corporate headquarters, prison, military installation, etc. which may or may not still be around. [0]: https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-median-voter-is-a-50-something?s=r https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-median-voter-is-a-50-someth...