Whether urban, suburban, or rural or from different United States (US) geographic regions, communities expect public officials to guide them to better prepare for and adapt to changing conditions and recurring natural hazard threats. Natural hazard preparedness conditions characterize the compilation of resilience and vulnerability conditions and incorporate prior response decisions into state and local natural hazard planning, policies, and practices. Many different options are available to empower vulnerable regions with the right resiliency tools; what is essential to understand is these communities' capacity to influence natural hazard resiliency planning effectiveness. The literature suggests when rural, suburban, and urban communities understand why a resilient region inhibits disaster impacts and supports the restoration of local economic, social, and ecosystem services, there is greater participation in the preparedness process. My research provides context and insight about how regional natural hazard preparedness conditions may bolster community planning and capital across the urban-rural continuum. This study evaluates contiguous US county-level natural hazard resilience and vulnerability with a measurement tool developed at the University of Missouri entitled the Missouri Transect Project (MTP). It reflects a gap in the peer-reviewed research as the MTP has yet to be field-tested. I examine the MTP via a mixed-method approach. My two quantitative analyses, a categorical regression, and a spatial cluster/outlier statistic inform my qualitative interview questions with the 10 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) region Community Preparedness Officers (CPO) about the value of the MTP. I use triangulation to test the degree of external validity of the MTP community preparedness tool. My findings validate the MTP as a community natural hazard preparedness tool to promote urban-rural patterns of resilience and vulnerability. My MTP economic variable model findings indicate counties with increased building insurance risk values have slightly increased preparedness odds than lower building risk counties. The MTP economic and infrastructure resilience spatial cluster/outlier statistic for rural counties found them less prepared than suburban and urban counties. My research serves as a useful heuristic to understand why natural hazards do not just bring damages but provide pre-disaster planning insight and the ability to examine post-disaster aid as a community-building versus property re-building opportunity. The CPO interviews indicate the need to bolster education and outreach for rural areas about FEMA preparedness documents, mobile applications, virtual disaster preparedness videos, disaster simulation board games, and context-sensitive social media outreach measures. My research supports establishing social resilience policies and procedures within FEMA, states, and counties to bolster regional and community resilience by reducing regional vulnerabilities through enhanced education and coordination of state and local hazard mitigation planning mechanisms, particularly for under-resourced rural areas.