The Survey of Rural Challenges asked rural and small town people what challenges they most want help with and what actions they are taking to address them. Stereotyped answers like drug abuse, poverty or a lack of business lending didn’t rank in the top results.

Along with my colleague Deb Brown of SaveYour.Town, we asked 680 rural people what their challenges were and what they most wanted help with. The results don’t match the common themes in media coverage and policy conversation around rural communities.

Much national media coverage focuses on rural crises like opioid addiction or poverty...