This working paper addresses the unprecedented growth of the foreign and U.S.-born Mexican-descent population in non-metropolitan and agricultural areas in the United States. It is organized into four sections. This first part of the paper is a general discussion of immigration from Guanajuato, Mexico, to these areas of the country. The concentration of Mexicans in non-metropolitan and agricultural areas is examined in the second section. The third part describes examples of this concentration in two communities in southeastern Pennsylvania. In the fourth and last section, it is suggested that peasants from Guanajuato and other compatriots not only immigrate to these areas, many migrate in order to continue practicing subsistence agriculture in their homeland. Migration allows them to pursue this important traditional economic activity.

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