Sociologists have identified a number of different types of rural communities, which have arisen as a result of changing economic trends within rural regions of industrial nations.

The basic trend seems to be one in which communities are required to become entrepreneurial. Those that lack the sort of characteristics mentioned below, are forced to either seek out their niche or accept eventual economic defeat. These towns focus on marketing and public relations whilst bidding for business and government operations, such as factories or off-site data processing.

For instance, International Falls, Minnesota markets itself as a site for sub-zero temperature experiments, Ottawa, Illinois has attracted three Japanese firms, Freeport, Maine has become a center for mail-order companies such as L. L. Bean, and Mobile, Arizona has become the home of a number of solid-waste landfills.