The study directs attention away from urban poverty to the nation's rural poor and how they are served by five public assistance programs: Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and its Unemployed Fathers Component (AFDC-UF), Supplementary Security Income (SSI), Food Stamps (FS), and General Assistance. The 41% of the nation's poor who live in rural areas are older, more disabled, less educated, more likely to be employed and live in husband-wife households, and less likely to receive income from public assistance than their urban couterparts. Twenty-five states house 83% of the rural poor in or near small towns. In 20 of those states, most public assistance programs examined serve the rural poor less adequately and equitably than their urban counterparts. The public assistance programs in states which have more than 1/3 of their total population in rural areas tend to be characterized by low benefits, underparticipation, and limited coverage. Public assistance policy should be as much a rural as an urban issue. There should be a minimum floor for AFDC benefits and separate FS bonuses should be continued. The federal government should mandate AFDC-UF benefits for 2-parent families and design financial incentives to stimulate expansion of general assistance programs. (SB)