Popular notions of poverty in America overlook the rural poor or assume that their problems are the same as those of the inner-city poor. This report, the first in a series on rural poverty, describes the characteristics of the rural poor and examines rural-urban differences in poverty. In 1987, the poverty rate was 16.9% in nonmetropolitan areas, compared to 12.5% in metropolitan areas and 18.6% in central cities. Between 1978 and 1987, poverty rates in both nonmetro areas and central cities rose more than 20%, although unemployment rates for the two years were similar. Poverty rates for Blacks in 1987 were 44.1% in nonmetro areas and 33.3% in central cities; poverty rates for Whites and Hispanics did not differ between nonmetro areas and central cities. In nonmetro areas, as in the rest of the nation, Blacks, families headed by women, young families, and children were most likely to be poor. Nevertheless, the vast majority of the rural poor did not fit common stereotypes. They were White and lived in families containing two parents with at least one worker. Elderly people also comprised a larger share of the nonmetro than of the metro poor. In addition, rural poverty was concentrated regionally. The South contained 53.6% of the U.S. nonmetro poor, virtually all of the Black nonmetro poor, and 188 of 206 "persistently low income counties" in the United States. This report contains 10 references and 24 figures and tables. (SV)