American society has become concerned with the problems of rural areas. These problems result from advances in agricultural technology requiring fewer farm workers and the concentration of national economic growth at urban centers. This concern is being reflected in numerous programs at both state and national levels designed to examine and implement positive income and employment possibilities in rural communities. The study reported here is of this nature. It applies to the five-county Upper Explorerland of northeast Iowa and has been made both for the quantitative answers it provides and for testing of a method in analysis of rural area development. While a specific area of Iowa is used for the quantitative application, the model developed should have general adaptation for the economic planning of other rural areas.