[5][6][7][8] Its themes include low wages ("for bullshit pay"), food poverty ("nothing to eat"), high inflation ("dollar ain't shit"), high taxes ("taxed to no end"), child trafficking ("minors on an island"), welfare abuse ("the obese milkin' welfare"), and centralization of power ("wanna have total control").

[5][9][10][6] In a video explaining his songwriting, Anthony said that his lyrics attempt to speak for the working class and that he aspires to be a "voice for those people", noting that "whatever it is they're doing, they can't quite get ahead".

[16] The song has been attributed to a diverse range of influences, and various commentators have described it as an "anthem" for the "everyman",[17] for blue-collar workers,[18] as well as for conservatives,[16] and the right-wing, the latter of which Anthony has rejected.

[5][19] The song was praised by Republican House representative Marjorie Taylor Greene,[5] country singer John Rich, podcaster Joe Rogan, and conservative commentators Dan Bongino and Matt Walsh.

[22] In contrast, conservative National Review's executive editor Mark Antonio Wright criticized the song's lyrics, arguing that "if you're a fit, able-bodied man, and you're working 'overtime hours for bullshit pay,' you need to find a new job.

"[23][10] Describing the song as "a passionate screed against the state of the country", Rolling Stone writer Joseph Hudak also said that Anthony delves into "Reagan-era talking points about welfare".

[14] Jay Caspian Kang wrote in The New Yorker that "depending on your politics, [Anthony] is either a voice sent from Heaven to express the anger of the white working class, or he is a wholly constructed viral creation who has arrived to serve up resentment with a thick, folksy lacquering of Americana.

Club that Anthony's lyrics are "not ... as blatantly threatening" as those in Aldean's single, but "they're generally still based on a number of regressive and gross stereotypes that are filtering into mainstream music in a frightening way".

[22] In The Washington Post, it is argued that coming after the film Sound of Freedom and Jason Aldean's "Try That in a Small Town", the song is significant in demonstrating that "the far-right is gaining ground in the world of pop culture" previously dominated by "leftist personalities and values".

The question, by Martha MacCallum, was directed to Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis: "Why is this song striking such a nerve in this country right now?"

"[34] "Rich Men North of Richmond" debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 dated August 26, 2023, with 147,000 downloads and 17.5 million streams that week.

[3][37] It also makes him the third unsigned artist to have a number-one single on that chart, following Lisa Loeb's "Stay (I Missed You)" in 1994 and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Can't Hold Us" and "Thrift Shop" in 2013.