Rural students remain underrepresented in STEM fields even as the number of STEM education initiatives and the demand for workers in STEM disciplines rises. Due to the centrality of motivation in task initiation and persistence, this study utilized a systematic review process to better understand the multifaceted ways in which motivation has been studied within rural contexts to support rural students in STEM. Despite negative perceptions of rural education, several strategies for supporting student motivation were found to already exist within rural STEM classrooms. These include promoting student engagement through partnerships, fostering identity and belonging through culturally relevant and place-based pedagogy, and building teacher competency through curriculum training. However, limitations in how and what motivation has been studied and the ways in which motivational supports have been applied reduce the generalization of these findings across diverse rural contexts and highlight the need for exploration of new avenues of motivational research.