Demographic and Socioeconomic Change 

in Appalachia 

A “NEW DIVERSITY”: 

RACE AND ETHNICITY IN THE APPALACHIAN 

REGION 

by 

Kelvin M. Pollard 

Population Reference Bureau 

September 2004

 

 

 
About This Series 

“Demographic and Socioeconomic Change in Appalachia” is a series of reports that 

examine demographic, social, and economic levels and trends in the 13-state Appalachian 

region. Each report uses data from the decennial censuses of 1990 and 2000, plus 

supplemental information from other data sources. 

Current reports in the series include: 

• “Appalachia at the Millennium: An Overview of Results from Census 2000,” by 

Kelvin M. Pollard (June 2003). 

• “Housing and Commuting Patterns in Appalachia,” by Mark Mather (March 

2004). 

• “The Aging of Appalachia,” by John G. Haaga (April 2004). 

• “Households and Families in Appalachia,” by Mark Mather (May 2004).

• “Educational Attainment in Appalachia,” by John G. Haaga (May 2004). 

• “A ‘New Diversity’: Race and Ethnicity in the Appalachian Region,” by Kelvin 

M. Pollard (September 2004). 

• “Labor Market Performance, Poverty, and Income Inequality in Appalachia,” by 

Dan A. Black and Seth G. Sanders (forthcoming). 

Additional reports will cover: Migration and Immigration; Population Change and 

Distribution; and Geographic Concentration of Poverty. 

You can view and download the reports by visiting either www.prb.org or www.arc.gov. 

For more information about the series, please contact either Kelvin Pollard of the 

Population Reference Bureau (202-939-5424, kelvinp@prb.org) or Gregory Bischak of 

the Appalachian Regional Commission (202-884-7790, gbischak@arc.gov). 

The authors wish to thank the Appalachian Regional Commission for providing the 

funding for this series. 

Population Reference Bureau 

1875 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 520 

Washington, DC 20009-3728 

The Population Reference Bureau is the leader in providing timely and objective 

information on U.S. and international population trends and their implications. 

Appalachian Regional Commission 

1666 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 700 

Washington, DC 20009-1068 

The Appalachian Regional Commission’s mission is to be an advocate for and partner 

with the people of Appalachia to create opportunities for self-sustaining economic 

development and improved quality of life.
A “NEW DIVERSITY”: 

RACE AND ETHNICITY IN THE APPALACHIAN REGION 

Kelvin M. Pollard 

Population Reference Bureau 

The Appalachian region has long been considered a predominantly white section 

of the United States, particularly in comparison with the rest of the country. Yet ever 

since the nation’s early origins, nonwhites always have been present in Appalachia. For 

starters, there have been the region’s first inhabitants—the myriad American Indian tribal 

groups that called the Appalachians home prior to the arrival of the first European settlers 

in the 18th century. Appalachia also has long had an African American population—

starting with the presence of slavery in the southern states, where the “peculiar 

institution” had already been established. Moreover, antebellum Appalachia had a small 

population of free blacks. In the first U.S. census of 1790, the combined population of 

slaves and free blacks in Appalachia totaled more than 19,000 (6 percent) of the region’s 

total population of 307,000. By 1860, blacks had become 10 percent of Appalachia’s 5.4 

million residents.1

But over the past century, numerous developments—the Great Migration of 

African Americans to northern U.S. cities after World War I; the overall trend of the 

United States from a rural, agrarian society to an urban, industrial one; and the general 

out-migration of the Appalachian population to seek better economic opportunities—

have served to isolate Appalachia relative to the rest of the country. By 1990, the 

percentage of Appalachia’s total population that was minority had shrunk from its preCivil War levels. The region seemed largely untouched by the rest of the country’s 

growing racial and ethnic diversity: About 9 percent of Appalachians (1.9 million 

1 
persons) were members of minority groups, compared with 25 percent of persons living 

outside the region. And of those 1.9 million minority Appalachians, nearly 1.6 million 

(84 percent) were non-Hispanic African Americans (see Figure 1).2

 Hispanics, who by 

1990 had become the region’s second-largest minority group by then, numbered just 

137,000—1 percent of all Appalachian residents and 7 percent of Appalachia’s minority

population. 

Figure 1 

By 1990, minorities’ share of Appalachia’s population remained essentially unchanged from that of the 

previous century—even as racial and ethnic diversity increased in the rest of the United States. 

Racial-ethnic distribution of Appalachian and non-Appalachian population, 1990 

Non-Hispanic

White

91%

Other races *

1%

Hispanic

1% Non-Hispanic

Black

7% Non-Hispanic

White

74%

Other races *

Hispanic 4%

10%

Non-Hispanic

Black

12%

*Includes non-Hispanic American Indians, Asians, and Pacific Islanders.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 1990 census. 

APPALACHIA NON-APPALACHIAN U.S.

Since 1990, however, Appalachia has become more diverse: as racial and ethnic 

minorities have constituted nearly half the region’s population growth through 2000. This 

report will look at the post-1990 diversity of Appalachia, examining its geographic 

concentrations, its contributing factors, and its breakdown by racial and ethnic minority 

2 
group. The study also will analyze how Appalachia’s increased racial and ethnic diversity 

affects selected economic and social developments in the region; it concludes with an 

examination of the potential implications of these growing trends. Comparisons 

examined not only will involve Appalachia and the rest of the United States, but also 

areas within the region—its three major subregions, the 13 states that are part of the 

official Appalachian region, counties at different levels of economic development, and 

urban and rural Appalachia. 

 

Appalachia, the Census, and Racial/Ethnic Categories 

The Appalachian Region. Analysts have come to define Appalachia—the area 

surrounding the 1,500-mile Appalachian mountain system in eastern North America—

along economic typologies.3

 This report uses the regional definition employed by the 

Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), a federal-state government partnership 

designed to improve conditions in the Appalachia. The 410-county ARC region covers all 

of West Virginia and parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, the 

Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.4

Appalachia has three major subregions. Northern Appalachia contains the 

Appalachian counties of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Ohio as well as 46 of 

West Virginia’s 55 counties. Central Appalachia (often known as the region’s core) 

includes the Mountaineer State’s nine southernmost counties as well as eastern Kentucky, 

Virginia’s southwestern tip, and the northwestern portion of Tennessee’s Appalachian 

area. Finally, southern Appalachia includes most of Appalachian Virginia and Tennessee 

3 
as well as the western Carolinas and the northern parts of Georgia, Alabama, and 

Mississippi.5

 

Appalachia has some areas that are economically depressed and others that are as 

advanced economically as the United States average. Recognizing this fact, the ARC has 

classified the region into four categories of economic development—Distressed, 

Transitional, Competitive, and Attainment.

6

 The region’s Distressed counties, which are 

mostly in central Appalachia, have (a) per capita income no greater that 67 percent of the 

national average, and both poverty and unemployment levels at least 150 percent of 

United States levels. Counties with poverty rates that are 200 percent of the national 

average also fall in the Distressed category. Transitional counties (which constitute most 

of geographical Appalachia) are noticeably worse off economically than the nation as a 

whole but do not meet all of the criteria necessary to be classified as Distressed. Counties 

in the Competitive category have unemployment and poverty rates better than the national 

average but per capita incomes of between only 80 percent and 99 percent of the U.S. 

midpoint. Finally, Appalachian counties at the Attainment level have reached parity with 

the rest of the nation in terms of income, poverty, and unemployment.7

 

The 2000 Decennial Census. The decennial U.S. census provides a detailed 

examination of demographic, social, and economic characteristics for small areas of the 

country such as counties and cities. The census—required by the U.S. Constitution to 

provide data for congressional apportionment among the states—is also a guide for the 

distribution of nearly $200 billion in federal funds. In addition, local officials, business 

people, and others in both the public and private sector rely on census data to make 

important decisions in such areas as transportation, housing, and economic development. 

4 
Finally, the results from the 2000 census allow researchers to analyze both the state of the 

total U.S. population as well as of various demographic subgroups. These finely detailed 

data sets allow users to study small areas individually and in comparative combinations. 

Evolution of Racial and Ethnic Categories. The 2000 census was the first that 

allowed individuals to categorize themselves as belonging to more than one race. 

Although much has been made of this new feature (and there has been much debate about 

how best to examine racial and ethnic trends between 1990 and 2000), racial categories 

have always been evolving throughout the country’s history. In the first U.S. census of 

1790, for example, census takers were instructed to classify free individuals as white or 

“other”—the “other” category including American Indians, free African Americans, and 

other “nonwhites.” (The 1790 census counted slaves separately.) By 1890, the racial 

categories included white, black, several black-white mixed race groups (e.g., mulatto), 

American Indian, and two Asian groups (Chinese and Japanese). Data for persons of 

Hispanic or Latino origin were not collected until the 1970 census, as Latino immigrants 

to the United States were beginning to increase in numbers.8

 Thus, racial and ethnic 

categories in the United States—indeed, of any society—have always reflected societal 

assumptions. 

The 1990s: An Era of Increasing Diversity within Appalachia 

The 1990s continued the U.S. trend toward increased racial and ethnic diversity—

not only with a growth in the country’s population of specific racial groups, but also with 

a marked national increase in multiracial marriages and births. Between 1970 and 2000, 

for example, the number of interracial U.S. couples surged from 321,000 to 3.1 million, 

5 
accounting for 6 percent of the nation’s married couples.9

 This latter phenomenon 

spurred the Census Bureau to allow 2000 census respondents the option to describe 

themselves as belonging to more than one race. 

In 2000, members of minority groups made up nearly one in three Americans, and 

this increased heterogeneity also appeared in Appalachia. The number of minority 

Appalachians increased nearly 50 percent to 2.8 million from 1990 to 2000, boosting 

minorities’ share of the region’s total population to 22.9 million, or 12 percent (see 

Figure 2).10 The rate of increase for Appalachia’s minority population was greater than 

the 43 percent increase of minorities in the rest of the country. Moreover, minorities 

accounted for nearly half of Appalachia’s population growth in the 1990s. 

Figure 2 

Minorities’ share of Appalachia’s population rose to 12 percent in 2000, thanks largely to their 

accounting for nearly half of the region’s growth in the 1990s. 

Racial and ethnic distribution of Appalachian population, 2000, and of Appalachian population change, 1990-2000 

Non-Hispanic

White

20.1 million

(88%)

Other races *

471,000 (2%)

Hispanic

Non-Hispanic 465,000 (2%)

Black

1.9 million 

(8%)

Non-Hispanic

White

983,000 (52%)

Other races * 

307,000 (16%)

Hispanic 

328,000 (17%)

Non-Hispanic

Black

294,000 (15%)

*Includes non-Hispanic American Indians, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and multiracial persons.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census. 

TOTAL POPULATION, 2000 PERSONS ADDED, 1990-2000

6 
Unlike in the rest of the United States, where Hispanics outnumbered nonHispanic blacks for the first time, non-Hispanic African Americans continued to make up 

most of Appalachia’s minority population—two-thirds (1.9 million) of the 2.8 million 

minority Appalachians.11 Just as in the rest of the country, however, Hispanics fueled 

much of the growth in Appalachia’s total—and minority—population. The 328,000 

additional persons of Latino origin accounted for one-sixth of the 1.9 million residents 

Appalachia added to its population during the 1990s—and more than one-third of the 

region’s 929,000 additional minority residents. (By comparison, Appalachia added 

294,000 blacks to its population between 1990 and 2000.) 

Figure 3 

The growth of the Hispanic population in Appalachia was especially rapid 

during the 1990s.

Percent population change in Appalachia, by race and Hispanic origin, 1990-2000 

239.3

18.7

5.1

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

Percent

Non-Hispanic White 

Non-Hispanic Black 

Hispanic 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census. 

As a result, the number of Hispanics in Appalachia reached 465,000 in 2000—a 

239 percent increase between 1990 and 2000 (see Figure 3). This increase was more than 

7 
10 times the 19 percent growth rate 

of the region’s non-Hispanic blacks 

and nearly 80 times the 5 percent 

growth rate for Appalachia’s white 

population. Although the region’s 

Latino population in 1990 was tiny, 

its high growth rate in the 

subsequent decade illustrates the 

inroads Hispanics have made in U.S. 

areas where their presence 

previously had been small. 

Table 1 

Throughout Appalachia, the rate of minority population 

growth during the 1990s outpaced that of whites.

Population change in Appalachia for minorities and whites, 

1990-2000 

MINORITY 

POPULATION 

NON-HISPANIC

WHITE 

AREA POPULATION 

Number 

(1000s) Percent Number 

(1000s) Percent 

APPALACHIA 929 49.6 983 5.1

NON-APPALACHIAN U.S. 25,358 43.2 5,442 3.2

Northern Appalachia 211 45.7 -47 -0.5

Central Appalachia 32 52.0 83 4.2

Southern Appalachia 686 50.8 947 12.3

Distressed counties 50 22.1 42 1.7

Transitional counties 442 41.6 618 4.9

Competitive counties 150 90.6 197 11.6

Attainment counties 287 68.8 125 5.4

Appalachian sections of: 

Alabama 150 26.4 117 5.9

Georgia 291 200.4 369 26.4

Kentucky 16 68.8 54 5.2

Maryland 9 76.8 3 1.6

Mississippi 31 17.3 20 5.1

New York 28 53.7 -43 -4.2

North Carolina 84 59.5 135 11.6

Ohio 23 55.9 60 4.5

Pennsylvania 130 42.6 -79 -1.5

South Carolina 61 37.4 80 11.0

Tennessee 72 49.4 261 13.0

Virginia 12 43.0 14 2.3

West Virginia 24 31.9 -9 -0.5

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census. 

 Throughout Appalachia, 

minority population growth outpaced 

that of whites in the 1990s (see 

Table 1). This phenomenon held in 

all three subregions, in all four 

economic development categories, 

and in every state. In some cases, 

racial and ethnic minorities 

accounted for most of an area’s or 

category’s total population growth. 

For instance, minorities were 54 

percent of the additional 92,000 

8 
residents in the Distressed counties and 70 percent of the 412,000 additional residents in 

the Attainment counties. Minorities also comprised 75 percent of the 12,000 persons 

western Maryland added to its population in the decade. Indeed, some parts of 

Appalachia would have lost population in the 1990s were it not for minority growth. The 

211,000 racial and ethnic minorities that northern Appalachia gained between 1990 and 

2000, for example, offset the 47,000 whites the subregion had lost during the decade. 

Similar scenarios played out in all of West Virginia and in Pennsylvania’s Appalachian 

counties. And while southern New York State had about 16,000 fewer residents in 2000 

than in 1990, its population loss would had been even greater were it not for the 

additional 28,000 minority residents in the Empire State’s Appalachian section. 

Despite the growth in the minority population throughout Appalachia, minorities 

still make up a tiny share of the population in many areas of the region. Consider this: 

Southern Appalachia, with a 19 percent minority population, was home in 2000 to 2 

million of the region’s 2.8 million residents who were members of minority groups. By 

contrast, 7 percent of northern Appalachians and just 4 percent of central Appalachia’s 

residents were minority. The lack of racial and ethnic diversity is also stark among most 

Appalachian counties (see Figure 4, page 10). In 2000, minorities were less than 10 

percent of the total population in 310 of the region’s 410 counties, and less than 5 percent 

in 215 of the counties. (On the other hand, every Appalachian county was at least 1 

percent minority in 2000.) Of Appalachia’s 27 counties with minority populations of at 

least 30 percent, all but four were in either Alabama or Mississippi. Non-Hispanic 

African Americans were the predominant minority group in most of these counties—the 

case in 163 of the 195 Appalachian counties that were at least 5 percent minority. 

9 
Figure 4 

Despite the region’s growing diversity, only one-fourth of Appalachian 

counties were at least 10 percent minority in 2000. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census. 

 

Children have been at the forefront of minorities’ increasing presence in the 

region. Of Appalachia’s 5.4 million children in 2000, 16 percent (869,000) were 

members of minority groups, up from 11 percent in 1990. Although this percentage was 

less than half of minorities’ 41 percent share of the child population for the nonAppalachian United States, it does suggest that the Appalachian region’s growing racial 

and ethnic diversity likely will continue. 

An examination of the age structure of Appalachia’s three major racial and ethnic 

groups also sheds light on future trends for the region. In 2000, children were 23 percent 

of Appalachia’s non-Hispanic white population, 30 percent of the region’s African 

American population (including Hispanics), and 33 percent of its Hispanic residents (see 

10 
Table 2). At the other end of the age spectrum, one in seven of Appalachia’s whites were 

age 65 or older, compared to just one in 11 blacks and one in 33 Hispanics. (Similar 

patterns were present in the non-Appalachian United States, with children making up 

about one-third of blacks and Hispanics and older persons comprising just one in 12 

blacks and one in 20 Hispanics.) 

Table 2 

Children and younger workers have been at the forefront of Appalachia’s 

growing racial and ethnic diversity.

Age structure of Appalachian population, by race and ethnicity, 2000 

NON-HISPANIC

WHITE 

AFRICAN 

AMERICAN * HISPANIC 

AREA Number 

(1000s) Percent Number 

(1000s) Percent Number 

(1000s) Percent 

TOTAL POPULATION 20,092 100.0 1,882 100.0 465 100.0

Under age 18 4,557 22.7 565 30.0 153 33.0

Ages 18-44 7,523 37.4 803 42.7 249 53.5

Ages 45-64 4,943 24.6 347 18.4 49 10.4

Age 65 or older 3,070 15.3 167 8.9 14 3.1

*Includes persons of Hispanic origin.

NOTE: Subtotals do not necessarily sum to totals due to rounding.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census. 

But the younger age structure of Appalachia’s minority populations particularly 

applies to the region’s working age population—especially residents ages 18 to 44. 

Nearly 43 percent of Appalachia’s black population and an incredibly high 54 percent of 

its Latino residents were of the younger working ages. By contrast, people ages 18 to 44 

were just 37 percent of the region’s non-Hispanic white population. The share of younger 

working-age persons in the Latino population is particularly remarkable—it, more than 

any other statistic on Appalachia’s Hispanics, reflects the rapid regional growth in this 

11 
population during the last decade, particularly since younger working-age adults are most 

likely to migrate to a new community. 

Fertility, Migration, and Immigration: Accounting for the Rise of Diversity 

Natural increase—particularly the higher fertility rates among many racial and 

ethnic minorities—has accounted for some of Appalachia’s increasing diversity. During 

the 1990s, for example, the total fertility rate (TFR, or the average number of children 

women would have during their lifetime under existing fertility rates) was highest in the 

United States for Hispanic women, at 2.8 in 1995 and 2.73 in 2000. African American 

women had the next highest fertility levels nationally—a TFR of 2.13 in both 1995 and 

2000. For women in the other racial groups (non-Hispanic white, Asian, and American 

Indian), fertility levels were somewhat lower, with TFRs in the 1.8 to 1.9 range. The total 

fertility rate for non-Hispanic white women was 1.78 in 1995 and 1.87 in 2000.12 

Even considering the impact of natural increase, however, it has been migration—

particularly domestic migration—that has been the key force for Appalachia’s increasing 

diversity. Migration patterns during both 1995 and 2000 illustrate this point. Twentyeight percent of Appalachia’s 2.6 million minorities age 5 and older had moved to their 

county of residence between 1995 and 2000, compared with 17 percent of non-Hispanic 

whites. (Mobility rates for the two groups were closer in the non-Appalachian United 

States; 22 percent of minorities and 21 percent of whites had migrated from outside their 

residential counties in the late 1990s.) While many Appalachian migrants had moved to

their county of residence from another county within the region, much of this movement 

12 
suggests an increasing awareness of Appalachian areas as a potential destination for 

minority residents. 

Among some minority groups in the region, mobility rates were even higher (see 

Figure 5). More than half of Appalachia’s Hispanic and Asian residents and one-third of 

its American Indians and multiracial persons had moved since 1995—either into the 

region or from another Appalachian county. (Indeed, the high percentage of recent 

migrants among Appalachia’s Latino population—which occurred throughout the region 

but was not nearly as high in the non-Appalachian United States—helps explain that 

group’s increased visibility in the region.) Among Appalachia’s black population, just 

under one-fifth had migrated from another county between 1995 and 2000—only slightly 

higher than the percentage for non-Hispanic whites. 

Figure 5 

In-migration has been key to the recent increase in Appalachia’s minority 

population.

Percent of Appalachian population (age 5 and older) living outside their county of 

residence in 1995, by race and ethnicity, 2000

33.8

52.8

32.2

53.4

19.0

16.6

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 7

Percent

0

Non-Hispanic White 

African American *

Hispanic 

American Indian *

Asian American *

Two or MoreRaces *

*Includes persons of Hispanic origin.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census. 

13 
Some parts of the Appalachian region experienced extraordinary county-level 

mobility rates among minorities from 1995 to 2000. For example, 53 percent of minority 

residents in western Maryland had lived outside their 2000 county of residence in 1995, 

as had 48 percent of northern Georgia’s minority population and 45 percent of western 

Virginia’s. In 65 Appalachian counties, at least half of minority residents had migrated 

from another county between 1995 and 2000. Most of these counties had fewer than 

2,500 minority residents in 2000; for example, more than 70 percent of the minority 

residents of the eastern Kentucky counties of Wolfe, Lee, and Menifee had lived in 

another county in 1995, yet all of these counties still had fewer than 400 minority 

residents in 2000. Other Appalachian counties that attracted most of their minority 

residents in the late 1990s, however, either were in fast-growing metropolitan areas—

such as the Atlanta-area counties of Forsyth and Gwinnett—or housed major colleges and 

universities—for example, Tompkins County, N.Y. (Cornell University and Ithaca 

College); Centre County, Pa. (Pennsylvania State University); and Montgomery County, 

Va. (Virginia Tech and Radford University). 

Immigration—particularly from Latin America and Asia—has had a key impact 

on the U.S. population’s composition at the dawn of the 21st century. For example, more 

than three-fourths of the country’s 31.1 million foreign-born residents were born in either 

Latin America or Asia, with more than half born in Latin America alone. (Natives of 

those two world regions were nearly 9 percent of the total U.S. population in 2000.) In 

Appalachia, however, immigration—regardless of country or region of origin—has had a 

much smaller impact in the 1990s. Just 3 percent (611,000) of Appalachia’s total 

population was born outside the United States, and 52 percent of that total had arrived in 

14 
the country since 1990. Natives of Latin America and Asia accounted for more than 

410,000 of all foreign-born Appalachians, and 60 percent of those had arrived in the 

country during the 1990s. However, less than 2 percent of all Appalachian residents were 

born in these two world regions. 

However, natives of Latin America and Asia have become a noticeable presence 

in some Appalachian areas: for example, they make up 7 percent of the total population 

for northern Georgia, thanks largely to the booming growth in the Atlanta suburbs and 

north Georgia resort areas. In fact, the Peach State had seven of the 10 Appalachian 

counties in which at least 5 percent of the residents had been born in Asia or Latin 

America. Two of the other three such counties—Tompkins County, N.Y. (Cornell 

University and Ithaca College) and Forsyth County, N.C. (Wake Forest University)—

housed major universities. 

Appalachia’s Racial and Ethnic Groups 

Non-Hispanic whites. From the beginnings of the nation’s history, Americans of 

European origin have been the most dominant population group. At the beginning of the 

20th century, nine in 10 Americans were white.13 As the racial and ethnic composition of 

the country became increasingly diverse, however, non-Hispanic whites’ share of the 

national population steadily grew. Still, non-Hispanic whites—those who do not identify 

with any other racial group—made up nearly seven in 10 Americans at the dawn of the 

21st century. 

At 20.1 million in 2000 (88 percent of the population), non-Hispanic whites are 

an even more dominant presence in the Appalachian region. Appalachia had about 

15 
983,000 more non-Hispanic whites in 2000 than it did in 1990, slightly more than half the 

1.9 million residents the region added during the decade. But whites’ share of the 

Appalachian population declined from 91 percent, as the region’s minority population 

grew at a much faster rate in the 1990s (50 percent versus 5 percent). 

Although Appalachia’s non-Hispanic white population grew more slowly in the 

1990s than the region’s total population (9 percent), it did grow faster than the white 

population in the rest of the country (3 percent). The white population grew fastest in 

southern Appalachia (12 percent); it increased a phenomenal 26 percent in Appalachian 

Georgia (thanks largely to the boom in suburban Atlanta). In northern Appalachia, by 

contrast, the non-Hispanic white population actually declined slightly (by 47,000, or less 

than 1 percent) during the 1990s, although the increase in the area’s minority population 

(by 211,000) more than made up for that loss. Such also was the case in West Virginia 

and in the Appalachian sections of Pennsylvania. In Appalachian New York State, 

however, the increase of nearly 28,000 minority residents between 1990 and 2000 could 

not offset the loss of more than 43,000 whites, making for a 2 percent net loss in 

residents. 

Because non-Hispanic whites are such a large majority of the Appalachian

population, their residency patterns almost match the patterns for all Appalachian 

residents. Almost 90 percent of the region’s white population lives in northern or 

southern Appalachia; Pennsylvania alone is home to more than 25 percent. Unlike the 

pattern with the general Appalachian population, however, northern Appalachia has more 

whites than southern Appalachia (9.4 million to 8.6 million). Three-fifths of the region’s 

16 
total and white populations live in metropolitan areas as defined by the U.S. Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB); one-fifth live in areas of at least 1 million.14 

Blacks/African Americans. The ancestors of most African Americans have been 

in the United States for generations. As a result, blacks have been this country’s largest 

single minority group throughout its history. The 2000 census, however, marked a 

historic turning point. For the first time, Americans of Hispanic/Latino origin 

outnumbered non-Hispanic blacks (35.3 million to 33.9 million). Although the 2000 nonHispanic African American population rises to 35.4 million when we include those 

persons who indicated in the 2000 census that they were of more than one race, the 

imminent status of Hispanics as the nation’s largest minority (fully confirmed with the 

release of Census Bureau estimates for 2002 and 2003)15 is one more illustration of the 

new realities of race and ethnicity in the United States. 

In Appalachia, however, African Americans remain the largest minority group by 

a large margin. In 2000, the region’s non-Hispanic blacks numbered nearly 1.9 million—

67 percent of Appalachia’s minority population and 8 percent of all Appalachians. The 

inclusion of Latino blacks added 16,000 more people to the region’s black population in 

2000, and adding blacks (both Hispanic and non-Hispanic) who marked more than one 

race on the 2000 census form increased the black population in Appalachia to just under 

2 million. This relatively small addition is because blacks are less likely than other 

minority groups to marry non-blacks; just 12 percent of black spouses had a non-black 

spouse in 2000.16

Appalachia’s non-Hispanic black population (using the single-race standard) 

increased 19 percent between 1990 and 2000—not as fast as the minority population 

17 
overall, but still faster than the 16 percent increase among African Americans in the rest 

of the country. The 294,000 additional black Appalachians represent 32 percent of the 

929,000 minorities Appalachia gained during the decade. The African American 

population increased just about everywhere in the region—even in areas that suffered 

losses of either their total population (southern New York State) or their non-Hispanic 

white population (northern Appalachia, West Virginia). Some areas increased their 

numbers faster than others, however. For example, Georgia’s Appalachian section added 

nearly 90,000 non-Hispanic blacks, a gain of 86 percent. And the black population in 

Appalachian Maryland rose 63 percent, increasing the total number of African Americans 

in the Old Line State’s westernmost counties from fewer than 9,000 to more than 14,000. 

Indeed, 160 of Appalachia’s 410 counties more than doubled their non-Hispanic black 

population during the 1990s; 102 of those counties had at least 2,500 non-Hispanic blacks 

in 2000. 

Just as with the overwhelming majority of the region’s minorities, most black 

Appalachians (77 percent as of 2000) live in the region’s southern counties (see Figure 6, 

page 19). Of the 119 Appalachian counties with at least 2,500 single-race African 

Americans (including Hispanics) in 2000, 82 were in southern Appalachia. In fact, 

Alabama alone was home to nearly one-third of the region’s black population; Jefferson 

County (Birmingham) had nearly 261,000 black residents in 2000, the most of any single 

Appalachian county. Twenty percent of the region’s black population resided in northern 

Appalachia, with the vast majority (274,000 of 384,000) living in Pennsylvania. (More 

than 159,000 lived in Allegheny County, Pa.—where Pittsburgh is located—alone.) And 

central Appalachia was home to only 46,000 African Americans, just 2 percent of the 

18 
region’s black population. Indeed, only 25 of central Appalachia’s 87 counties had more 

than 500 single-race African American residents.

Figure 6 

Although more than three-fourths of Appalachia’s 1.9 million African 

Americans lived in the region’s southern counties, northern Appalachia 

had another one-fifth. 

NOTE: The highest number in any county was 260,608. The data include persons of Hispanic origin.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census. 

Blacks in Appalachia (as with blacks in the rest of the country) are more urban 

than the region as a whole. Nearly 75 percent of the region’s African American 

population (including Hispanics) live in metropolitan areas; 34 percent live in metros of 

at least 1 million population. (Among all Appalachians, the respective shares were 62 

percent and 23 percent.) 

Hispanics/Latinos. Hispanics (also known as Latinos) can trace their heritage 

largely from the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America (plus Puerto Rico, which 

19 
has commonwealth status in the United States). Immigration from Latin America, 

coupled with higher fertility among some Latino groups than the U.S. national average, 

has helped the U.S. Hispanic population to more than double over the past two decades—

from 14 million in 1980 to 35.3 million in 2000. In fact, the “lead engine” that has fueled 

U.S. population growth during the 1990s has been the increase among Latinos. The 

additional 13 million Hispanics in the United States between 1990 and 2000 accounted 

for nearly half the growth in the national minority population over that period as well as 

two-fifths of the overall population growth. 

One key aspect of the growth among Hispanics in the 1990s has been the 

occurrence of this increase in places with small (or previously small) Hispanic 

populations—such as Appalachia. The region’s Latino population in the 1990s soared 

from 137,000 in 1990 to 465,000 in 2000, a 239 percent increase. Hispanics accounted 

for 17 percent of Appalachia’s population increase during the decade—more than any 

other minority group. In several parts of Appalachia, this rate of increase was even 

greater: the Latino population nearly quadrupled in large metropolitan areas (at least 1 

million population), quintupled in southern Appalachia and in the region’s Attainment 

counties, and sextupled in the Appalachian sections of Georgia and North Carolina. (The 

Latino population in the Peach State’s Appalachian counties mushroomed from 24,000 in 

1990 to 159,000 in 2000.) Although the small base of Appalachia’s 1990 Latino 

population accounts for that group’s astronomical population increases by 2000, 

Hispanics inarguably have become a more significant segment of the region’s 

demographic profile. 

20 
As with African Americans, the region’s Hispanics were concentrated in southern 

Appalachia (see Figure 7). Georgia’s Appalachian counties alone accounted for one-third 

of the region’s Latino population in 2000, while Alabama and North Carolina combined 

for another one-fourth. (Gwinnett County, Ga., in suburban Atlanta, had more than 

64,000 Hispanics—the most of any Appalachian county.) Most of northern Appalachia’s 

106,000 Hispanics lived in Pennsylvania. Fewer than 20,000 Hispanics lived in central 

Appalachia in 2000, although that did represent an increase of 12,000 from the 

subregion’s 1990 Latino total. Still, only eight central Appalachian counties had at least 

500 Latino residents. The region’s Hispanic population—again like its black 

Figure 7 

The geographic concentration of Appalachia’s 465,000 Hispanic residents 

was similar to that of the region’s black population. 

NOTE: The highest number in any county was 64,137.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census. 

21 
population—had a predominately urban character: three in four Appalachian Latinos 

lived in metropolitan areas in 2000, and more than half lived in metros of at least 250,000 

population. 

American Indians and Alaska Natives. Often called “the first Americans” 

because of their presence on the North American continent before the arrival of 

Europeans and Africans, the American Indian and Alaska Native population consist of

people with a variety of historical experiences. The American Indian population also is 

one whose size is very difficult to measure, thanks to the “more than one race” option 

allowed in the 2000 census and high rate of exogamy (marrying outside one’s own racial 

group) among American Indians. Nearly 70 percent of American Indian spouses in the 

United States were married to someone of another race in 2000. 

In 2000, Appalachia was home to 60,000 non-Hispanic persons who identified 

themselves as American Indians alone. Including Hispanics raises the region’s singlerace American Indian population to 65,000. And when one includes those American 

Indians who also identify with another racial group into the mix, the number of American 

Indians (including Hispanics) in Appalachia balloons to nearly 153,000—more than 

twice the size of the “race alone” population. Even by the most inclusive standard, 

however, American Indians remained less than 1 percent of the Appalachian population 

in 2000. 

Of course, which standard one uses to measure the American Indian population in 

Appalachia also changes the growth rate measured for that demographic group during the 

1990s. Appalachia’s population of non-Hispanic American Indians grew 31 percent 

(14,000 persons) between 1990 and 2000 when the single-race standard was employed. 

22 
Under the multiple race definition, Appalachia’s American Indian population (including 

Hispanics) tripled during the 1990s. Nationwide, American Indians and Alaska Natives 

increased their numbers 26 percent or 110 percent, depending on whether the single-race 

or multiple-race definition is used. 

Southern Appalachia is the locus for the region’s American Indian population, 

with 63 percent of Appalachia’s single-race American Indians (including Hispanics) in 

2000. Forty percent of these people lived in just two states—Alabama and North Carolina 

(see Figure 8). In fact, the Tar Heel State had the only two counties (Swain and Jackson) 

with at least 2,500 single-race American Indian residents. (Just 19 other Appalachian 

Figure 8 

In 2000, more than two-fifths of Appalachia’s American Indian population 

lived in 21 of the region’s 410 counties. The greatest concentrations were in 

North Carolina. 

NOTE: The highest number in any county was 3,765. The data include persons of Hispanic origin.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census. 

23 
counties had 500 or more American Indians within their boundaries.) American Indians 

(using the single-race standard) were also the most rural of Appalachia’s racial and ethnic 

groups—nearly half lived outside metropolitan areas, and more than one-fourth lived 

outside either metropolitan or micropolitan areas. Under the multiple race definition, 

American Indians are slightly more urban—but not much: 57 percent lived in 

metropolitan areas in 2000. 

Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Other Pacific Islanders. Asian 

Americans arguably make up the most diverse racial and ethnic group, tracing their 

origins to nations such as China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, and Thailand—

each with its own linguistic and cultural traditions. Thanks largely to the immigration of 

many Asian groups, Asian Americans have recently been the fastest growing group in 

terms of population percentage change, nearly tripling their national numbers between 

1980 and 2000. 

Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (NHPIs) similarly trace their origins 

to places with diverse traditions—in their case, the islands of the Pacific, including 

Hawaii, Guam, and Samoa. Because Native Hawaiians, the largest single Pacific Islander 

group, is a native American group, the NHPI population in the United States grew 

relatively slowly in the 1980s and 1990s. 

Appalachia was home to 201,000 non-Hispanic Asian Americans and 4,700 nonHispanic Native Hawaiians/Other Pacific Islanders in 2000 (using the single-race 

definition). Including Hispanics bumps the Asian numbers up to 202,000, while 

increasing the NHPI population to nearly 6,400. The rate of intermarriage is quite high 

for both groups; nationally, 28 percent of Asian spouses and 61 percent of NHPI spouses 

24 
were married to persons outside their race in 2000.17 Because of intermarriage, 

Appalachian Asians and Pacific Islanders who also identified with another race boosted 

both groups’ regional 2000 population significantly—to 240,000 Asians and 14,000 

Pacific Islanders in the Appalachian region. The combined population of both Asians and 

Pacific Islanders (single race) in Appalachia was nearly double the region’s Asian and 

Pacific Islander population in 1990. 

About 58 percent of Appalachia’s single-race Asian American population

(including Hispanics) lives in southern Appalachia. Georgia alone had 27 percent of the 

region’s Asians, while Pennsylvania had another 23 percent (see Figure 9). The influence 

of metropolitan Atlanta and Pittsburgh accounts for the high number of Asians in their 

Figure 9 

Appalachian counties with a noticeable Asian American presence tended to 

be either in metro areas or home to major universities. 

NOTE: The highest number in any county was 42,360. The data include persons of Hispanic origin.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census. 

25 
respective states. Indeed, 84 percent of Asians in the Appalachian region live in 

metropolitan areas—the largest share of any racial or ethnic group. Forty-one percent live 

in large metros (areas with at least 1 million population). Many counties that have 

sizeable (2,500 or more) Asian American populations are home to major universities. 

These counties include many of those cited earlier—Tompkins County, N.Y. and Centre 

County, Pa., for example—as well as others such as Broome County, N.Y. (location of 

the State University of New York at Binghamton) and Greenville County, S.C. (Furman 

University).18 

Similarly, more than half of Appalachia’s single-race NHPIs live in southern 

Appalachia. Among the states, the largest number of NHPIs lived in Pennsylvania (about 

one-fifth). More than two-thirds lived in metropolitan areas, although the greatest number 

lived in mid-size metros (between 250,000 and 1 million population). 

Multiracial persons. In 2000, 6.8 million Americans (including Hispanics) 

identified with more than one race on their census forms; they constituted 3 percent of all 

Americans. In Appalachia, the multiracial population (again, including Hispanics) 

numbered 219,000—less than 1 percent of the region’s total population. 

As was the case nationally, most of the Appalachia’s multiracial population came 

from four interracial combinations (see Table 3, page 27). Persons of mixed white and 

American Indian heritage were the most common in Appalachia, numbering 69,000 (32 

percent) of the multiracial population. More than 48,000 Appalachians (22 percent of the 

region’s multiracial population) were both white and African American, and more than 

24,000 (11 percent of multiracial persons) identified themselves as both white and Asian 

American. The fourth combination concerned persons listing themselves as both white 

26 
Table 3 

The 2000 census counted 219,000 Appalachian residents who identified with more than 

one race. More than two-fifths of these persons were under age 18. 

Multiracial population in Appalachian region, 2000 

RACIAL COMBINATION ALL AGES 

(in thousands) 

CHILDREN 

UNDER AGE 18

(in thousands) 

PERCENT 

CHILDREN 

UNDER AGE 18

TOTAL 219 94 42.8

White, American Indian 69 17 24.1 

White, African American 48 38 78.4 

White, Some other race 36 12 34.1 

White, Asian American 24 12 47.8 

All other multiracial combinations 41 15 36.7

NOTE: All figures include persons of Hispanic origin. Subtotals do not necessarily sum to total due to rounding.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census. 

and of “some other race” (the latter an option in the census form that actually is “race, not 

explicitly classified”). Nearly 36,000 Appalachian residents were of that combination. 

Most Americans listing themselves as “some other race” in the census form tend 

to be of Hispanic origin; they often use this designation to express their nationalities 

(such as Mexican or Salvadoran). Indeed, 52 percent of Appalachian residents listing a 

“white-other race” combination (19,000 in all) were Hispanic. (In the rest of the country, 

where the white-other race combination was the largest chosen on the 2000 census by 

multiracial people, Hispanics made up 67 percent of the white-other group.) 

Thanks to the surge in interracial marriages and births since 1970, the multiracial 

population is especially young, as Table 3 shows. Children under 18 were 43 percent of 

Appalachia’s multiracial population in 2000; children under 5 were almost 16 percent. By 

comparison, just 24 percent of the region’s overall population was under 18, and a mere 6 

percent was of preschool age. Children made up nearly half of Appalachia’s white-Asian 

27 
population, and more than three-fourths of its residents who listed themselves as both 

white and African American. (Among persons identifying with more than one racial 

group, the relative proportions were similar outside the region—42 percent of multiracial 

persons were under 18, and 14 percent were under age 5.) 

For the most part, the same distributional patterns in the multiracial population 

held throughout the region, although there were some exceptions. In northern Appalachia, 

for example, persons identifying themselves as white and black made up the largest 

multiracial combination—26,000, versus 25,000 for persons of white-American Indian 

heritage. The white-black combination also was the most populous multiracial group in 

the region’s large metropolitan areas. Nearly half of the multiracial persons in 

Appalachia’s Distressed counties (and in counties that did not border a metropolitan area) 

considered themselves white and American Indian. However, the white-American Indian 

combination was only the third largest interracial group in the more urban Attainment 

counties (behind both the white-other race and white-African American combinations). 

Despite their small numbers, recent trends in interracial relationships, the high 

share of children in the multiracial population, and even the very existence of a “more 

than one race” option in the 2000 census form all presage a significant change in the way 

Appalachians—indeed, all Americans—think about race. Indeed, the above data suggest 

that persons identifying with more than one race will become a greater part of the 

Appalachian (and the total U.S.) population in future decades. 

28 
Racial and Ethnic Patterns within Appalachia 

Northern, Central, and Southern Appalachia. As has been the case historically, 

Appalachia’s minority population remained concentrated in the region’s southern areas as 

the 21st century began. Southern Appalachia, in fact, was home to 2 million of the 

region’s 2.8 million residents who were members of minority groups; minorities made up 

19 percent of the subregion’s 10.7 million residents in 2000. In contrast, just 7 percent of 

northern Appalachia’s population of 10 million (673,000) was minority, as was only 4

percent of central Appalachia’s (92,000 out of 2.2 million). 

In all three subregions, non-Hispanic African Americans were the largest single 

minority group, although blacks were barely half of central Appalachia’s minority 

population and less than three-fifths of northern Appalachia’s. (African Americans were 

71 percent of the minority population in southern Appalachia.) Hispanics were the second 

largest minority in all three subregions, yet persons of more than one race outnumbered 

non-Hispanic Asians in northern and central Appalachia. 

The rapid growth of Appalachia’s minority population was felt in all three 

subregions. The minority population in central and southern Appalachia grew slightly 

more than 50 percent in the 1990s; northern Appalachia’s increased 46 percent. As 

expected, the Hispanic population grew especially quickly during the decade, particularly 

in southern Appalachia, where the Hispanic population quintupled. (Of Appalachia’s 

328,000 additional Latino residents, 272,000 of them were in the region’s southern 

counties.) 

The states. Among the states in the Appalachian region, Alabama’s Appalachian 

counties had the largest number of minorities (719,000) as of 2000. Indeed, the 

29 
Yellowhammer State was the only one in the region where more minorities resided inside 

Appalachia than outside it. The Appalachian sections of Georgia and Pennsylvania—

buoyed by the Atlanta and Pittsburgh metro areas, respectively—also had more than 

400,000 minority residents each in 2000. (These three states alone accounted for 57 

percent of Appalachia’s minority residents.) There were more than 200,000 minorities in 

the western Carolinas, East Tennessee, and northeastern Mississippi. 

At 34 percent, Mississippi’s Appalachian counties had the highest percentage of 

minorities, with the Appalachian sections of Alabama (25 percent), South Carolina (22 

percent), and Georgia (20 percent) following. In the Appalachian sections of eight of the 

other nine states, minority residents were less than 10 percent of the total population. In 

every state with Appalachian and non-Appalachian sections—even in Mississippi and 

Alabama—minorities made up a smaller share in the Appalachian portion than in the rest 

of the state.19

Non-Hispanic African Americans were the largest single minority group in each 

state; they were less than half of the minority population in just Georgia and Kentucky. 

With 606,000 black Appalachian residents (nearly one-third of the region’s black 

population), Alabama had the largest number. Georgia had Appalachia’s largest number 

of Hispanics—159,000, slightly fewer than the 193,000 non-Hispanic blacks who resided 

the Peach State’s Appalachian counties. Half of Appalachia’s non-Hispanic Asian 

population lived in Georgia and Pennsylvania alone, while Alabama and North Carolina 

had the largest numbers of American Indians (single-race). (Alabama and Pennsylvania 

had the largest numbers of American Indians who also identified with another race in

2000.) One in five Appalachian residents who were of two or more races lived in 

30 
Pennsylvania, while more than one in 10 each called Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee 

home. 

Although every state increased its minority population, there was much variation 

among the states. In northern Georgia, for example, the minority population tripled, while 

the Hispanic population increased nearly seven-fold. By contrast, the minority 

populations in the Appalachian sections of Mississippi and Alabama increased less than 

30 percent—well under the regional average. Hispanic growth exceeded total minority 

growth in nearly every state; the number of additional Hispanics exceeded the number of 

additional non-Hispanic blacks in seven states (including Georgia, North Carolina, and 

West Virginia). 

Economic development categories. Nearly two-thirds of Appalachian residents 

(14.7 million of 22.9 million) and more than half the region’s minority population (1.5

million of 2.8 million) lived in the region’s Transitional counties. But another one-fourth 

of Appalachia’s minority population—704,000—lived in the region’s nine Attainment 

counties, which were 22 percent minority as a result—the greatest presence among the 

four groups. By contrast, racial and ethnic minorities made up just 10 percent of the 

populations in the both the region’s Transitional and Distressed counties. Fourteen 

percent of the Competitive county population was minority. That minorities were the 

greatest presence (proportionally) in the Attainment counties is likely not a coincidence; 

virtually all the counties in this group were in southern Appalachia or in metropolitan

areas. Among all four categories, most minority Appalachians were non-Hispanic black, 

with Hispanics the second-largest minority. 

31 
As with the region’s overall population growth, minority population growth in 

Appalachia during the 1990s was greatest in its Competitive and Attainment counties. 

Competitive counties collectively increased their minority populations 91 percent 

between 1990 and 2000, while Attainment counties added 69 percent. Minority growth 

was much slower in the Transitional and Distressed counties (42 percent and 22 percent, 

respectively). 

As elsewhere, Hispanic growth outpaced that of other minorities—more than 

quadrupling in the Competitive and Attainment counties, and more than doubling in the 

Transitional and Distressed counties. 

Metropolitan and nonmetropolitan Appalachia. In 2000, 2.1 million minority 

Appalachian residents (74 percent of the region’s minority population) lived in 

metropolitan areas. About 910,000—nearly one-third—lived in metros of at least 1 

million population (large metros). By contrast, just 60 percent of the region’s nonHispanic whites resided in metros, and just 21 percent called large metros home. As a 

result, minorities were nearly 15 percent of the region’s metropolitan population and 

close to 18 percent of the population of large metros. Non-Hispanic blacks made up about 

two-thirds of the minority residents in large and mid-size Appalachian metros, and about 

three-fifths of minorities in small metros (250,000 or fewer persons)—with Hispanics the 

second largest minority. 

About 430,000 members of minority groups called Appalachia’s micropolitan 

areas (the rough equivalent of small-town areas) home, while just 301,000 lived outside 

“core-based statistical areas” (CBSAs)—a term the U.S. Office of Management and 

Budget uses to describe both metropolitan and micropolitan areas.20 Minorities 

32 
constituted just 9 percent of the population in Appalachia’s micropolitan areas and 8 

percent of the region’s outside-CBSA population. And minorities made up an even 

smaller share of the more rural Appalachian counties—just 6 percent of the population of 

counties not bordering a metro area and with an urban population of less than 2,500. 21 

Between 1990 and 2000, Appalachia’s minority population increased about 50 

percent in metropolitan and micropolitan areas, but less than 40 percent outside CBSAs. 

The Hispanic Appalachian population more than tripled in most types of areas, and nearly 

quadrupled in large metros. In most types of metros, micros, and outside-CBSA areas, 

additional Latinos accounted for more of the increase than any other single minority 

group. Non-Hispanic blacks held that distinction in large metros such as Atlanta and 

Pittsburgh, however. 

Race, Ethnicity, and Selected Economic and Social Patterns 

Industrial structure. Both white and minority workers in Appalachia were most 

likely to be found in the rapidly growing—and diverse—service sector.22 In 2000, 

service-related jobs employed 50 percent of the region’s 9.2 million white workers and 

52 percent of its 1.1 million minority workers. Throughout the region, minority workers 

were more likely to be in the service industries than white ones. For example, about 65 

percent of minorities in northern Appalachia worked in the service sector, compared with 

53 percent of white workers in the subregion. In the 271 Appalachian counties with 

enough African Americans for data to be available, 55 percent of black workers were in 

the service sector (see Figure 10, page 34).23 Appalachia’s Hispanic workers, however, 

do not seem to be nearly as likely to work in the service industry. Service-sector jobs 

33 
employed just 38 percent of Hispanics in the 209 Appalachian counties for which data for 

Latinos are available. 

Figure 10 

The likelihood of Appalachian workers to be employed in the service, 

manufacturing, and agricultural sectors varied by race and ethnicity. 

Percent of Appalachian workers in service, manufacturing, & agriculture, 

by race and ethnicity, 2000 

Service industries: Information services, finance, insurance, real estate, education & health services,

entertainment & recreation, public administration, & other professional services) 

50.0

18.8

1.5

54.7

22.6

0.6

37.9

29.1

3.0

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Percent

Non-Hispanic

White

African

American *

(271 of 410

counties)

Hispanic

(209 of 410

counties)

Services Manufacturing Agriculture, forestry, fishing, & hunting

*Includes persons of Hispanic origin.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census. 

Appalachian minorities were also more likely than their white counterparts to be 

working in the manufacturing sector, although the share of persons in manufacturing 

(durable and nondurable goods) was much lower than the service sector for both whites 

and minorities. Manufacturing employed about 23 percent of Appalachia’s minority 

workers in 2000, compared with 19 percent of the region’s white workers. Twenty-nine 

percent of the region’s Latinos worked in manufacturing (see Figure 10). White-minority 

patterns of manufacturing employment varied within Appalachia. In northern Appalachia, 

34 
for example, whites were more likely than minorities to be in manufacturing (17 percent 

to 13 percent), while in the region’s Distressed counties, the gap between whites and 

minorities was much larger: 29 percent of minorities in these counties worked in 

manufacturing, compared to 16 percent of whites. 

Whites were more likely than minorities to work in Appalachia’s extractive 

industries (agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, and mining), although only 2 percent of 

whites were employed in these sectors. Not surprisingly, the larger percentages of 

workers in these sectors were in the more rural parts of the region; in central Appalachia, 

for example, 6 percent of whites and nearly 5 percent of minorities were in extractive 

industries. 

More than three-fourths of Appalachia’s white and minority workers (76 percent 

and 80 percent, respectively) were employees in private businesses (either for-profit or

non-profit). Government—federal, state, and local—employed another 14 percent of 

whites and minorities. As in rest of the country, whites in Appalachia were more likely 

than minorities to be self-employed; about 10 percent of white workers in the regions had 

their own businesses, compared with nearly 6 percent of minority workers. 

Data for counties with available data for Hispanics suggest that Appalachia’s 

Latino workers were even more likely to be in the private sector; nearly 88 percent were 

employed by private businesses. By contrast, only 6 percent were employed by the 

federal, state, or local government—less than half the share for whites and other 

minorities. Citizenship requirements for government jobs provide one possible 

explanation for this discrepancy. Nationally, only 71 percent of Latinos were U.S. 

35 
citizens in 2000, compared with 98 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 97 percent of 

blacks. 

Poverty status. Poor people in Appalachia made up 13.6 percent of the region’s 

total population, just over one percentage point higher than the percentage of poor people 

in the rest of the United States. But the gap between the two sections widens when 

considering both whites and minority residents. About 12 percent of Appalachian whites 

and 25 percent of minority Appalachian residents were in poverty in 1999—somewhat 

higher than the 8 percent for non-Hispanic whites and 22 percent for minorities 

nationally. Indeed, the 2000 census figures show significant racial and ethnic poverty 

gaps in Appalachia (see Table 4, page 37). The rates for most minority groups exceeded 

20 percent—and reached 27 percent for African Americans (including Hispanics). For 

every group except American Indians, poverty levels were higher in Appalachia than in 

the rest of the country. Poverty rates for Appalachian minorities as a whole (and for 

blacks and Hispanics) exceeded the rates for the region’s whites for all states, subregions, 

economic development categories, and metropolitan/micropolitan levels. Of course, the 

gaps are wider in some areas than in others. In northwestern South Carolina, 9 percent of 

non-Hispanic whites lived in poverty, compared with 24 percent of African Americans 

and Latinos. By contrast, the racial-ethnic gap in eastern Kentucky was proportionally 

narrower—24 percent for whites, 31 percent for blacks, and 37 percent for Hispanics. 

The greater poverty rates among minority groups have yielded interesting patterns 

in the region’s poverty population. For example, racial and ethnic minorities make up 12 

percent of Appalachian residents, but in 1999, they were 22 percent (659,000) of the 

region’s 3 million persons living in poverty. In some Appalachian areas with higher 

36 
minority concentrations, minorities made up even greater percentages of the poor. For 

example, African Americans made up almost three-fifths of the poor population in 

northeastern Mississippi and more than two-fifths of the poor in northern Alabama and 

northwestern South Carolina. Hispanics were one-sixth (and blacks, one-seventh) of 

northern Georgia’s poverty population. By contrast, even though eastern Kentucky’s 

10,000 poor minority residents were 30 percent of the area’s minority population, they 

constituted just 4 percent of the area’s total poverty population. 

Table 4 

While 12 percent of white Appalachian residents lived in poverty in 1999, the 

rate for most minority groups in the region exceeded 20 percent. 

Number and percent of Appalachian residents in poverty, by race and ethnicity, 1999 

RACE / ETHNICITY NUMBER 

(1000s) 

PERCENT OF 

TOTAL 

POPULATION 

TOTAL APPALACHIAN POPULATION 3,031 13.6 

Non-Hispanic White 2,372 12.1 

African American * 470 27.1 

Hispanic 105 24.3

American Indian * 14 21.6 

Asian American * 27 14.3 

Two or More Races * 53 22.7 

*Includes persons of Hispanic origin.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census. 

Education. The educational attainment of the adult population provides the key to 

economic development and reflects an area’s potential human capital. While record 

percentages of Appalachian adults completed high school and college in 2000 (77 percent 

and 18 percent, respectively), a gap remains between whites and minorities in the region. 

While 78 percent of non-Hispanic white Appalachian adults had completed high school 

37 
and 18 percent had finished college, only 69 percent of the region’s minorities had 

finished high school, and 16 percent had finished college. Educational attainment rates 

also vary among some of Appalachia’s minority groups (see Figure 11). Almost 70 

percent of the region’s African Americans had at least a high school diploma in 2000, but 

only 12 percent possessed a college degree. Among Appalachia’s Hispanic population, 

just 51 percent of adults had finished high school, but 13 percent had a college degree—

better than the national average of 10 percent. And of the region’s small Asian American 

population, 83 percent had graduated from high school, while 51 percent had finished 

college. 

Figure 11 

Educational attainment for Appalachian adults reached record levels in 

2000. However, high school and college completion rates varied by race 

and ethnicity. 

Percent of Appalachian persons age 25 and older completing high school and college, 

by race and ethnicity, 2000 

77.7

18.0

69.9

12.2

51.4

13.0

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Percent

Non-Hispanic

White 

African

American *

Hispanic 

High school College

*Includes persons of Hispanic origin.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census. 

38 
As with other measures discussed earlier, differences between white and minority 

education levels in Appalachia varied within the region. In southern Appalachia, for 

example, 77 percent of whites had completed high school and 20 percent had a college 

degree. The corresponding rates for southern Appalachian blacks were 69 percent and 13 

percent, respectively; among Latinos, 46 percent had high school diplomas and 11 

percent had college degrees. Hispanic adults in northern Appalachia compared more 

favorably; 69 percent had finished high school in 2000, while 19 percent had a college 

degree. (That BA/BS attainment rate actually was greater than the 18 percent rate for 

northern Appalachia’s white population.) 

Dealing with the New Diversity 

During the 1990s, the growing racial and ethnic diversity in the United States also 

manifested itself in the Appalachian region. The share of minorities in Appalachia 

increased from 9 percent in 1990 to 12 percent in 2000, and nearly half of the residents 

added to the Appalachian population were minority. Moreover, the tripling of the 

region’s Hispanic population in the 1990s shows the increasing diversity of Appalachia’s 

minority population, although African Americans still constituted two-thirds of the 

region’s minorities. 

Census Bureau estimates from 2002 suggest that the racial and ethnic trends of 

the 1990s in Appalachia are continuing.24 Nearly half of Appalachia’s additional 321,000 

residents since 2000 have been minority; Latinos alone made up one-fourth of the 

additional population. As a result, racial and ethnic minorities—increasingly diverse but 

still mostly African American—now account for 13 percent of Appalachia’s population. 

39 
What are the implications of Appalachia’s growing racial and ethnic diversity?

For starters, the combination of increased migration of minority residents and the higher 

fertility of minorities (the latter a result of the younger age structure of many minorities) 

will fuel further increases in Appalachia’s minority populations. This greater presence 

will in turn challenge decision makers in both the public and private sector to address

integrating minorities into existing communities. As the numbers of blacks, Latinos, and 

other minorities continue to grow in Appalachia’s public school system and its work 

force, the region’s decision makers will have to address the region’s racial and ethnic 

disparities as expressed in social indicators such as poverty and education. As with the 

rest of the United States, how Appalachia deals with the new realities of its diversity 

ultimately will shape the region’s future for decades to come. 

40 
REFERENCES

1

 John Alexander Williams, Appalachia: A History (Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina 

Press, 2002): 111, table 2.1.

2

 The decennial U.S. census asks separate questions for race and Hispanic origin. As a result, persons of 

Hispanic origin can be of any racial group. (For example, a person of Puerto Rican ancestry can be both 

black and Hispanic.) 

3

 Donald J. Bogue and Calvin L. Beale, Economic Areas of the United States (New York: The Free Press of 

Glencoe, Inc, 1961): 214-215; Calvin L. Beale, “A Characterization of Types of Metropolitan Areas,” in A 

Taste of the Country: A Collection of Calvin Beale’s Writings, ed. Peter A. Morrison (University Park, Pa., 

and London: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1990): 59-75; and Faqir S. Bagi, Richard J. Reeder, 

and Samuel D. Calhoun, “Federal Funding’s Unique Role in Appalachia, Rural Development Perspectives

14, no. 1 (May 1999): 14-21.

4

 In addition to the 410 counties, the Appalachian region contains eight Virginia cities that are independent

of any county authority (that is, they function like counties). For analytical purposes, the Appalachian 

Regional Commission—following the practice of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)—

incorporates each independent city within an adjacent county, and this report follows that practice. 

5

 Appalachian Regional Commission, unpublished data not available on their website. The ARC created the 

current subregions in 1974 as a result of an analysis of several geographic, economic, and demographic 

factors. For a detailed analysis of the criteria used to define the three subregions, see Appalachian Regional

Commission, “The New Appalachian Subregions and their Development Strategies,” Appalachia, a 

Journal of the Appalachian Regional Commission 8, no. 1 (September 1974): 11-27. An earlier

classification of Appalachia into four subregions is available in Appalachian Regional Commission, 

“Experiment in Appalachia,” Appalachia, a Journal of the Appalachian Regional Commission 1, no. 1 

(September 1967): 3-5. 

6

 This report uses the ARC’s economic status classifications as of Fiscal Year 2003. 

7 Appalachia’s 21Competitive and nine Attainment counties are mostly in southern Appalachia. All but one

of the Attainment counties are in metropolitan areas. For more information about the four economic 

development categories, see Kelvin M. Pollard, “Appalachia at the Millennium: An Overview of Results 

from Census 2000,” Demographic and Socioeconomic Change in Appalachia (June 2003), accessed online 

at www.arc.gov/images/reports/census2000/overview/appalachia_census2000.pdf, on June 9, 2004, and at

www.prb.org/Template.cfm?Section=PRB&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentI

D=8826, on June 9, 2004. 

8

 Kelvin M. Pollard and William P. O’Hare, “America’s Racial and Ethnic Minorities,” Population Bulletin

54, no. 3 (September 1999): 8-9, box 1. 

9

 U.S. Census Bureau, “Census 2000 PHC-T-19. Hispanic Origin and Race of Coupled Households: 2000,” 

accessed online at www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t19/tab01.pdf, on Sept. 5, 2003; and “Table 1: 

Race of Wife by Race of Husband: 1960, 1970, 1980, 1991, and 1992,” accessed online at

www.census.gov/population/socdemo/race/interractab1.txt, on Sept. 5, 2003. 

10 The minority population in 2000 includes all “multiracial” persons—including those non-Hispanic whites 

who identified with another racial group. 

11 Unless otherwise indicated in this report, references to the 2000 population for blacks, American Indians, 

Asians, and Native Hawaiians/Other Pacific Islanders are for the persons who identified themselves only

with their individual racial group. 

41 
12 Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Health Statistics, “Revised Birth and Fertility Rates for 

the 1990s and New Rates for Hispanic Populations, 2000 and 2001: United States,” by Brady E. Hamilton,

Paul D. Sutton, and Stephanie J. Ventura, National Vital Statistics Report 51, no.12 (Aug. 4, 2003). 

13 Pollard and O’Hare, “America’s Racial and Ethnic Minorities”: 3.

14 Metropolitan areas were newly classified by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in June 2003, 

following the release of 2000 census data. All discussion of population change and distribution in

metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, and of their various types, will be based on their 2003

classification status. 

15 The July 1, 2003 estimates show that the nation’s Hispanic population was 39.9 million, compared with

35.6 million non-Hispanic blacks (single race) and 37.0 million non-Hispanic blacks (single or multiple 

race). For more information, see U.S. Census Bureau, “Annual Estimates of the Population by Sex, Race

and Hispanic or Latino Origin for the United States: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2003,” accessed online at 

eire.census.gov/popest/data/national/tables/NC-EST2003-03.pdf, on June 26, 2004. 

16 Census Bureau, “Census 2000 PHC-T-19.” 

17 Census Bureau, “Census 2000 PHC-T-19.” 

18 Many of these counties also are part of metropolitan areas—often mid-size (between 250,000 and

999,999 population) or smaller. 

19 In Maryland, New York, Tennessee, and Virginia, minorities were less than 10 percent of the population

within Appalachia and at least 30 percent of the residents in the rest of the state. 

20 Micropolitan areas, as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), contain urban 

clusters of between 10,000 and 49,999 population, the county where the urban cluster is located, and any 

other county with strong economic ties to the main county, as measured by commuting patterns. This report

uses all such designations as of June 2003. 

21 According to the Census Bureau, the term “urban” refers to the presence of a settlement of at least 2,500

persons. The terms “metropolitan” and “nonmetropolitan,” by contrast, concerns the commuting ties 

between two counties. Therefore, a county can have an urban population and still be considered

nonmetropolitan.

22 This report defines “the service sector” to include information services, finance, insurance, real estate, 

education, health and social services, entertainment and recreation, food service, public administration, and 

a host of other services. Persons employed in the service sector work in a variety of occupations—from

those requiring college and advanced degrees (such as attorneys, bank managers, and teachers) to jobs 

requiring relatively few skills and no more than a high school diploma (for example, convenience store 

clerks, office couriers, and restaurant servers). 

23 Public-use, county-level data on industry and class of worker by race are only available from the census’ 

Summary File 4, which is subject to a population threshold for data. Population, social, economic, and 

housing characteristics are only available for areas (states, counties, neighborhoods, etc.) with at least 100

persons of a certain population group (such as race, ethnicity, or ancestry) and at least 50 unweighted cases 

(for the tabulation of sample, or long form, data). In Appalachia, 271 of the region’s 410 counties had data

for African Americans; 209 had available statistics for Hispanics. 

24 U.S. Census Bureau, “County Population Estimates by Race Alone and Hispanic or Latino Origin: July 

1, 2002,” various state files accessed at eire.census.gov/popest/data/counties/CO-EST2002-ASRO-02.php, 

on Dec. 2, 2003. 

42