This paper explores the relationship between the quality of a school (or lack thereof) and the economic vitality of rural communities in Indiana. Indiana’s Department of Education (IDOE) has a robust accountability system that provides the proxy for school quality, and the American Community Survey (ACS) provides the economic and demographic data for communities. However, ACS data presents obstacles for rural researchers to navigate due to the small population sizes of rural communities. Therefore, this paper addresses both the conceptual and the technical details of using ACS-type data for rural research. I offer suggestions to assist rural researchers in navigating ACS-type data and bring attention to the whys behind the results, pushing researchers to embrace these questions so that they might propel future studies that give rural schools and communities a voice in education policy.