The Need in Appalachia

Appalachia is a region of stark contrasts, some would say. of paradox: While this region of the United States designated as Appalachia comprises some of the most beautiful land & richest natural resources in the nation, it also has the greatest poverty.  Over 91 of the 410 counties within this region are designated by the The Appalachian Regional Commission as economically distressed. 

Distressed counties are defined as ones where poverty and unemployment rates are at least 150 percent of the national averages and where per capita market incomes that are no more than two-thirds of the national average. Counties are also considered distressed if they have poverty rates that are at least twice the national average and they qualify on either the unemployment or income indicator.

Data from which these determinations are made:
The data used by ARC to determine the Region’s economic status were updated and released by source agencies. These updates include the annual release of income and unemployment data, as well as the decennial release of poverty data. Therefore, the most current data available for calculating the economic status in fiscal year 2004 include the 1999–2001 three-year average unemployment rate (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), 2000 per capita market income (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis), and the 2000 poverty rate (U.S. Census Bureau).

Map of Appalachia     History: Causes of Poverty  One Story