Center for Rural Policy: population shifts, nursing‑care declines and mental‑health workforce gaps in rural Minnesota

The Center for Rural Policy and Development briefed the Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee on statewide rural trends including population change, job vacancies, nursing facility capacity and mental‑health access.

Kelly Asch, senior researcher, summarized demographic trends showing that natural change (births versus deaths) is producing population declines in many rural counties because deaths now outnumber births. Asch said the pattern is strongest in the most rural counties and that positive population outcomes increasingly depend on in‑migration — both domestic and international — to offset natural decline. Asch noted that 21 Minnesota counties had lower population in 2023 than in 2010, a significant improvement from 46 counties earlier in the decade.

The center highlighted statewide job‑vacancy rates that…