Subjects were classified into three categories by residence: nonmetropolitan-urban, metropolitan-rural, and nonmetropolitan- rural. Respondents indicated about 10 percent of adults were current users of marijuana or other illegal drugs. Discriminant analysis was used to examine differences among groups of individuals classified as current users, past users, and nonusers. For both marijuana and other illegal drugs, variables that accounted for most group differences were age, marital status, employment status, occupation, and income. Only minor differences in drug use were found across the three residential categories. The authors recommend future research on the rural and nonmetropolitan adult population incorporate both structural measures of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of localities and individual measures of peer influences, work stress, family factors, and psychosocial characteristics. 34 references and 5 tables