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Rural Poverty

Displacement Pressure in Rural U.S.: Lessons from a South Carolina Town Parthenia L. Luke*, Parthenia L. Luke, Margot Habets, Susan L. Cutter, Shadya S. Davis,

This study examines how cumulative environmental, economic, and infrastructural changes produce displacement in rural communities. It advances the concept of displacement pressure to describe the chronic strain that emerges when these changes narrow the conditions under which remaining in place is viable. Displacement pressure is distinct from outmigration: while outmigration refers to the act of leaving, displacement pressure captures the conditions that precede and shape physical exit, as well as the experience of remaining under constrained circumstances.

Although displacement has been widely studied in urban contexts, rural dimensions remain under-examined despite sustained depopulation and long-term disinvestment. This study situates rural displacement within a framework that integrates slow-onset environmental change, economic restructuring, infrastructural retreat, and psychosocial strain. These processes accumulate over time, producing conditions that push residents toward leaving or limit their ability to remain.

Using Allendale County, South Carolina as a case illustration, this study traces how these pressures unfold in practice. Environmental exposures, including proximity to hazardous sites and climate variability, intersect with agricultural and manufacturing decline and the erosion of transportation, healthcare, and communication infrastructure. These structural changes are accompanied by psychosocial pressures tied to place attachment, uncertainty, constrained mobility, and weakening community institutions. Together, these forces shape both the feasibility of staying and the likelihood of exit.