This booklet profiles key economic and social features of rural Arkansas. Data are drawn from reports by the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and Arkansas state agencies. About half of Arkansas' people live in rural areas, and most of these live in open country (not incorporated areas) and are completely dependent on county governments for services. Compared to the urban population, Arkansas' rural population is older, has higher poverty and unemployment rates, has less access to health care, and has lower levels of educational attainment (due in part to the outmigration of educated young people to urban areas). Rural areas depend more heavily on transfer payments, spend more on transportation and roads, but are losing retail sales and service income. Maps, graphs, and tables illustrate discussions of rural population, population change from 1980 to 1989, percentage of population in three age categories, types of local government, local property assessment per capita, employment by major sector, agricultural employment, personal income, transfer payments as percentage of personal income, retail sales, transportation, educational expenditure per student, educational attainment, infant mortality, access to primary care physicians, poverty rates, and Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Appendices provide data by county on most of these factors. (SV)