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The objective of this study was to determine if the costs of the Connexions Service, which provides a range of advice, guidance and support on careers and education for young people, differ between urban and rural areas. The research attempted to define rurality and establish the basic cost factors relevant to the Connexions Service which differentiate rural from urban areas. The cost factors include travel costs, the costs of setting up and maintaining Connexions partnerships and communication costs including mobile phone costs. The study offered the tentative conclusions that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that rural service delivery bears disproportionate costs for management information and travel and can be considered less cost effective than service in urban areas in the area of intervention of delivery staff. The differences between rural and urban cost effectiveness can be prioritised as follows: (1) Fixed administrative costs affect rural services disproportionately; (2) Travel costs are higher in rural areas; and (3) Intervention rates are likely to be lower in rural services because of the dispersed client base.