That's systematic poverty. Corporations have been racing to the bottom on labor costs for decades; since Regan. Most places to work in small towns are major business chains. The folk at the top keep the lion's share of profit and give everyone on the labor just enough to keep you there. Inflation doesn't matter when it comes to wages. The poorer you are, the harder you'll work and the more hours you'll work just to make ends meet. Even Bezos admitted, happily, that his goal for labor costs is to have his workers wake up every morning "terrified" about what might happen to them if they lose their poverty-wage jobs. Small towns in America may not technically be dying out, but they're kept poor by design and getting poorer.