Excerpts from the article: Since 1970, fewer people have been moving to the city, and increased numbers have been moving to rural (nonmetropolitan) America. For a few decades, however, population policy has focused on the problems of city growth, suburban expansion, and rural decline. Now, this new growth is bringing changes in rural land use, infrastructural development, social and medical services, and impacts on rural environment and ecology. In this article, we review these changes and discuss social, economic, and attitudinal explanations. Next, we analyze the role of residential preferences in decisions to migrate and the resulting policy implications.