Results reveal some clear differences among jails based on their location within a rural or more urban context. Not surprisingly, more metropolitan jails tended to be larger, with larger capacities and holding more inmates at a single time. They also booked and released more inmates, and they employed more staff. Rural jails, however, were less crowded. The results also show that rural jails were related to staffing patterns. Women made up a larger portion of the staff of rural jails, along with closer supervision for both inmates and correctional officers and their inmate-to-correctional officer ratios and correction officer-to-administrator ratios tended to be more dangerous. However, despite these differences, of 68 separate characteristics examined, a substantial amount of variation among jails remains to be explained. Understanding the administration, structure, and operation of jails in the United States should be a primary objective of criminal justice researchers. Jails touch a tremendous number of lives each year. With the broad reach and interconnectedness of jails in mind, this study sought to shed additional light on American jails by exploring differences across rural and urban areas. Tables, notes and references