Rural small businesses face a unique set of challenges, but they also have advantages over their urban and suburban counterparts – such as a tendency to be more profitable.
Entrepreneurial Benefits of a Rural Environment
Rural businesses tend to operate at a higher profitability margin than urban businesses (56 percent to 53 percent on average), and they are typically comparable in revenue to urban companies, according to a meta-analysis by SCORE, mentors to America’s small businesses. This means rural entrepreneurs keep more of their business revenue and are subsequently able to provide a higher quality of life for themselves and their families.
Thanks to the rise of remote work and technology, entrepreneurs who grow up in rural areas no longer have to relocate to a major metropolis to build successful, scalable businesses. Rural areas also tend to have lower business operation costs as well as a lower cost of living than urban and suburban areas.
Entrepreneurial Challenges of a Rural Environment
Despite great potential, rural entrepreneurs continue to face significant barriers. Those challenges lie primarily in three areas:
1. Access to Capital
Cash flow is a conundrum for rural businesses. According to SCORE’s Megaphone of Main Street data report, rural entrepreneurs are more likely than non-rural entrepreneurs to say they’re impacted by higher costs of doing business (i.e. rent, utilities, gas), as well as higher financing expenses (i.e. higher interest rates, costs to borrow). Two-thirds of all small businesses need outside financing while three-quarters have trouble accessing it. For those in rural areas, the scarcity of local bank branches can be an added barrier.
2. Access to Labor
Rural areas aren’t typically teeming with a wide array of industries, and this lack of business diversity limits the economic opportunities available to entry-level workers. With population declining in rural America, rural entrepreneurs (45.3%) are significantly more…
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