{
  "slug": "rural-health",
  "hypotheses": [
    "H48"
  ],
  "generated_at": "2026-08-05T01:45:19+00:00",
  "methodology_version": "0.7.2-draft",
  "summary": {
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    "rural_hospitals": 1847,
    "rural_share": 34.4,
    "critical_access": 1338,
    "rural_population": 45799659,
    "population": 331449281,
    "rural_pop_share": 13.8,
    "unmatched_county": 239
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    {
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    {
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    },
    {
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    {
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    {
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      "rural_pop_share": 50.9
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      "state": "KY",
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    {
      "state": "WI",
      "name": "Wisconsin",
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    },
    {
      "state": "AL",
      "name": "Alabama",
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    {
      "state": "CO",
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    {
      "state": "OR",
      "name": "Oregon",
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    {
      "state": "UT",
      "name": "Utah",
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    },
    {
      "state": "NC",
      "name": "North Carolina",
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    },
    {
      "state": "GA",
      "name": "Georgia",
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      "rural": 56,
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    },
    {
      "state": "HI",
      "name": "Hawaii",
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      "counties": 5,
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      "rural_pop_share": 18.8
    },
    {
      "state": "MI",
      "name": "Michigan",
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      "critical_access": 35,
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      "unmatched": 0,
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      "population": 10077331,
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    },
    {
      "state": "TN",
      "name": "Tennessee",
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      "population": 6910840,
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    },
    {
      "state": "IL",
      "name": "Illinois",
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      "critical_access": 55,
      "rural_cah": 42,
      "unmatched": 0,
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      "population": 12812508,
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    },
    {
      "state": "WA",
      "name": "Washington",
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      "critical_access": 39,
      "rural_cah": 28,
      "unmatched": 0,
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      "rural_counties": 20,
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    },
    {
      "state": "IN",
      "name": "Indiana",
      "hospitals": 151,
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      "critical_access": 33,
      "rural_cah": 22,
      "unmatched": 0,
      "counties": 92,
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      "population": 6785528,
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      "rural_pop_share": 21.9
    },
    {
      "state": "DE",
      "name": "Delaware",
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      "critical_access": 0,
      "rural_cah": 0,
      "unmatched": 0,
      "counties": 3,
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      "population": 989948,
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      "rural_pop_share": 24.0
    },
    {
      "state": "OH",
      "name": "Ohio",
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      "rural": 56,
      "critical_access": 33,
      "rural_cah": 22,
      "unmatched": 0,
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      "rural_counties": 47,
      "population": 11799448,
      "rural_population": 2135299,
      "rural_share": 28.6,
      "rural_pop_share": 18.1
    },
    {
      "state": "TX",
      "name": "Texas",
      "hospitals": 468,
      "rural": 133,
      "critical_access": 93,
      "rural_cah": 77,
      "unmatched": 0,
      "counties": 254,
      "rural_counties": 168,
      "population": 29145505,
      "rural_population": 2895576,
      "rural_share": 28.4,
      "rural_pop_share": 9.9
    },
    {
      "state": "VA",
      "name": "Virginia",
      "hospitals": 96,
      "rural": 26,
      "critical_access": 8,
      "rural_cah": 7,
      "unmatched": 0,
      "counties": 133,
      "rural_counties": 53,
      "population": 8631393,
      "rural_population": 1068638,
      "rural_share": 27.1,
      "rural_pop_share": 12.4
    },
    {
      "state": "PA",
      "name": "Pennsylvania",
      "hospitals": 187,
      "rural": 43,
      "critical_access": 17,
      "rural_cah": 12,
      "unmatched": 0,
      "counties": 67,
      "rural_counties": 34,
      "population": 13002700,
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      "rural_share": 23.0,
      "rural_pop_share": 13.7
    },
    {
      "state": "NV",
      "name": "Nevada",
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      "rural": 10,
      "critical_access": 13,
      "rural_cah": 9,
      "unmatched": 0,
      "counties": 17,
      "rural_counties": 12,
      "population": 3104614,
      "rural_population": 230683,
      "rural_share": 21.7,
      "rural_pop_share": 7.4
    },
    {
      "state": "NY",
      "name": "New York",
      "hospitals": 191,
      "rural": 38,
      "critical_access": 20,
      "rural_cah": 13,
      "unmatched": 0,
      "counties": 62,
      "rural_counties": 25,
      "population": 20201249,
      "rural_population": 1389207,
      "rural_share": 19.9,
      "rural_pop_share": 6.9
    },
    {
      "state": "SC",
      "name": "South Carolina",
      "hospitals": 66,
      "rural": 13,
      "critical_access": 3,
      "rural_cah": 2,
      "unmatched": 0,
      "counties": 46,
      "rural_counties": 20,
      "population": 5118425,
      "rural_population": 728561,
      "rural_share": 19.7,
      "rural_pop_share": 14.2
    },
    {
      "state": "AZ",
      "name": "Arizona",
      "hospitals": 107,
      "rural": 17,
      "critical_access": 17,
      "rural_cah": 11,
      "unmatched": 0,
      "counties": 15,
      "rural_counties": 7,
      "population": 7151502,
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    },
    {
      "state": "MD",
      "name": "Maryland",
      "hospitals": 56,
      "rural": 7,
      "critical_access": 0,
      "rural_cah": 0,
      "unmatched": 0,
      "counties": 24,
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      "population": 6177224,
      "rural_population": 271920,
      "rural_share": 12.5,
      "rural_pop_share": 4.4
    },
    {
      "state": "AK",
      "name": "Alaska",
      "hospitals": 25,
      "rural": 3,
      "critical_access": 3,
      "rural_cah": 3,
      "unmatched": 22,
      "counties": 30,
      "rural_counties": 27,
      "population": 733391,
      "rural_population": 239408,
      "rural_share": 12.0,
      "rural_pop_share": 32.6
    },
    {
      "state": "CA",
      "name": "California",
      "hospitals": 378,
      "rural": 32,
      "critical_access": 38,
      "rural_cah": 22,
      "unmatched": 0,
      "counties": 58,
      "rural_counties": 21,
      "population": 39538223,
      "rural_population": 859372,
      "rural_share": 8.5,
      "rural_pop_share": 2.2
    },
    {
      "state": "FL",
      "name": "Florida",
      "hospitals": 221,
      "rural": 18,
      "critical_access": 12,
      "rural_cah": 10,
      "unmatched": 0,
      "counties": 67,
      "rural_counties": 22,
      "population": 21538187,
      "rural_population": 658499,
      "rural_share": 8.1,
      "rural_pop_share": 3.1
    },
    {
      "state": "MA",
      "name": "Massachusetts",
      "hospitals": 84,
      "rural": 3,
      "critical_access": 4,
      "rural_cah": 1,
      "unmatched": 0,
      "counties": 14,
      "rural_counties": 3,
      "population": 7029917,
      "rural_population": 105884,
      "rural_share": 3.6,
      "rural_pop_share": 1.5
    },
    {
      "state": "CT",
      "name": "Connecticut",
      "hospitals": 36,
      "rural": 0,
      "critical_access": 0,
      "rural_cah": 0,
      "unmatched": 36,
      "counties": 9,
      "rural_counties": 2,
      "population": 3605944,
      "rural_population": 207851,
      "rural_share": 0.0,
      "rural_pop_share": 5.8
    },
    {
      "state": "DC",
      "name": "District of Columbia",
      "hospitals": 10,
      "rural": 0,
      "critical_access": 0,
      "rural_cah": 0,
      "unmatched": 10,
      "counties": 1,
      "rural_counties": 0,
      "population": 689545,
      "rural_population": 0,
      "rural_share": 0.0,
      "rural_pop_share": 0.0
    },
    {
      "state": "LA",
      "name": "Louisiana",
      "hospitals": 161,
      "rural": 0,
      "critical_access": 0,
      "rural_cah": 0,
      "unmatched": 161,
      "counties": 64,
      "rural_counties": 27,
      "population": 4657757,
      "rural_population": 739197,
      "rural_share": 0.0,
      "rural_pop_share": 15.9
    },
    {
      "state": "NJ",
      "name": "New Jersey",
      "hospitals": 79,
      "rural": 0,
      "critical_access": 0,
      "rural_cah": 0,
      "unmatched": 0,
      "counties": 21,
      "rural_counties": 0,
      "population": 9288994,
      "rural_population": 0,
      "rural_share": 0.0,
      "rural_pop_share": 0.0
    },
    {
      "state": "RI",
      "name": "Rhode Island",
      "hospitals": 13,
      "rural": 0,
      "critical_access": 0,
      "rural_cah": 0,
      "unmatched": 0,
      "counties": 5,
      "rural_counties": 0,
      "population": 1097379,
      "rural_population": 0,
      "rural_share": 0.0,
      "rural_pop_share": 0.0
    }
  ],
  "notes": "Rural means the hospital's county carries USDA ERS Rural-Urban Continuum Code 4 to 9 (nonmetro) for 2023. Critical Access is the CMS facility-level designation. 239 hospitals could not be matched to a county code and are counted in each state's unmatched field rather than assigned to either group. Territories are excluded because ERS publishes no continuum code for them.",
  "sources": {
    "hospitals": "CMS Hospital General Information (data.cms.gov provider-data catalog)",
    "rural_classification": "USDA ERS Rural-Urban Continuum Codes 2023"
  }
}