By Brian Thiede, Lillie Greiman, Stephan Weiler, Steven C. Beda and Tessa Conroy

Editor’s note: We’ve all heard of the great divide between life in rural and urban America. But what are the factors that contribute to these differences? We asked sociologists, economists, geographers and historians to describe the divide from different angles. The data paint a richer and sometimes surprising picture of the U.S. today.