DEMOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY AND ECONOMIC CHANGE IN APPALACHIA

by 

Diane K. McLaughlin 

Daniel T. Lichter 

Stephen A. Matthews 

with the assistance of Glynis Daniels and James Cameron 

Population Research Institute 

601 Oswald Tower 

Pennsylvania State University 

University Park, PA 16802 

814-865-0486 

Final Draft 

July 31, 1999 
Table of Contents 

List of Tables ............................................................................................................................ ii 

List of Maps ............................................................................................................................. vi 

List of Figures......................................................................................................................... vii 

Chapter 1. Appalachia: Past Is Prologue?.................................................................................1 

Chapter 2. Population Distribution and Composition.............................................................31 

Chapter 3. Population Change and Net Migration in Appalachia ..........................................83 

Chapter 4. Social and Economic Well-Being in Appalachia................................................133 

Chapter 5. Jobs and Workers in Appalachia.........................................................................187 

Chapter 6. Appalachia: Challenges for the Future................................................................252 
ii 

List of Tables

Table 1.1 Beale Code Definitions and Number of Appalachian Counties, 1993 ....................17 

Table 1.2 Criteria for Classification of Counties by Economic Level (Distressed County 

Codes) for FY 1998 .................................................................................................22 

Table 1.3 Cross classification of Appalachian Counties by 1993 Beale Codes and 

1998 Distressed County Codes .................................................................................23 

Table 1.4 Cross-classification of Appalachian Region Counties by Sub-region 

and 1998 Distressed County Codes ..........................................................................24 

Table 2.1 Percentage of U.S. Population in Appalachia Region, 1980, 1990, 1996 ...............34 

Table 2.2 Population Density in Appalachia and the United States ........................................35 

Table 2.3 Percentage of Appalachia Population Across Beale Codes, 1980, 1990, 1996.......37 

Table 2.4 Percentage of Appalachia Population Across 1998 Distress Codes, 1980, 

1990, 1996.................................................................................................................39 

Table 2.5 Population Density in Appalachia by Beale Codes, 1980, 1990, 1996 ...................40 

Table 2.6 Population Density in Appalachia by 1998 Distress Codes, 1980, 1990, 1996 ......41 

Table 2.7 Ten Most and Least Populous Counties in Appalachia, 1996 .................................43 

Table 2.8 Age Distribution (%) in Appalachia, 1980, 1990, 1996 ..........................................47 

Table 2.9 Age Distribution in Appalachia and the United States, 1996..................................51 

Table 2.10 Age Distribution Across Distress Codes, 1996 .....................................................54 

Table 2.11 Dependency Ratios in Appalachia, 1980, 1990, 1996...........................................58 

Table 2.12 Dependency Ratios in Appalachia by 1998 Distress Codes, 1980, 1990, 1996....59 

Table 2.13 Ten Oldest and Least Old Counties in Appalachia, 1996......................................60 

Table 2.14 Ten Youngest and Least Young Counties in Appalachia, 1996............................61 

Table 2.15 White, Black and Hispanic Populations in Appalachia and the United 

States, 1980, 1990, 1996...........................................................................................64 

Table 2.16 Distribution of Black Population Across Appalachian Sub-regions, 

1980, 1990, 1996.......................................................................................................65 

Table 2.17 Distribution of Black Population Across Distress Codes, 1980, 1990, 1996 ........66 

Table 2.18 Ten Counties in Appalachia with Highest Percentage and Highest Number 

of Black Persons (non-Hispanic), 1996 ....................................................................69 

Table 2.19 Distribution of Hispanic Population Across 1998 Distress Codes, 

1980, 1990, 1996.......................................................................................................71 

Table 2.20 Ten Counties in Appalachia with Highest Percent and Number of 

Hispanic Persons (Any Race), 1996 .........................................................................74 

Table 2.21 Foreign Born Population in Appalachia and the United States, 1980 and 1990 ...75 

Table 2.22 Percentage of Foreign Born Across 1998 Distress Codes, 1990 ...........................76 

Table 2.23 Ten Counties in Appalachia with Highest Percentage and Number of 

Foreign Born, 1990 ...................................................................................................77 

Table 3.1 Components of Population Change in Appalachia, 1981-1996 (grouped)..............85 

Table 3.2 Components of Population Change in Appalachia, 1981-1996...............................87 

Table 3.3 Annual Population Growth Rate (%) and Net County Migration Rate (%) 

in Appalachia and the United States, 1981-1996......................................................89 
iii 

Table 3.4 Annual Population Growth Rate (%) and Net County Migration Rate (%) 

in Appalachia Sub-regions, 1981-1996.....................................................................91 

Table 3.5 Annual Population Growth Rate (%) and Net County Migration Rate (%) 

in Appalachia by State, 1980-1989 and 1990-1996..................................................95 

Table 3.6 Ten Counties with Most and Least Population Growth 

in Appalachia, 1990-1996........................................................................................................97 

Table 3.7 Ten Counties with Highest and Lowest Population Growth Rate in 

Appalachia, 1990-1996.............................................................................................98 

Table 3.8 Annual Population Growth Rate (%) across Distress Codes in Appalachia, 

1981-1996 ...............................................................................................................103 

Table 3.9 Annual Net Migration Rate (%) across Distress Codes 

in Appalachia, 1981-1996......................................................................................................104 

Table 3.10 Proportion of Counties Growing and Experiencing Net In-Migration, 

1980-1989 and 1990-1996 ......................................................................................106 

Table 3.11 Proportion of Counties Growing and Experiencing Net In-Migration by 

Distress Codes, 1980-1989 and 1990-1996 ............................................................107 

Table 3.12 Annual Population Growth Rate (%) across Beale Codes in Appalachia, 

1981-1996 ...............................................................................................................111 

Table 3.13 Annual Migration Rate (%) across Beale Codes in Appalachia, 1981-1996.......113 

Table 3.14 Proportion of Counties Growing and Experiencing Net In-Migration by 

Beale Codes, 1980-89 and 1990-96................................................................ 116-117 

Table 3.15 Five-year Age-Specific Net Migration Rates, 1985-1990...................................119 

Table 3.16 Five-year Education-Specific Net Migration Rates, 1985-1990 .........................120 

Table 3.17 Ten Counties with the Highest and Lowest Net Migration Rates for Young 

Adults Ages 25 to 39, 1985-1990 ...........................................................................123 

Table 3.18 Ten Counties with the Highest and Lowest Net Migration Rates for Persons 

Ages 65 and over, 1985-1990 .................................................................................126 

Table 3.19 Ten Counties with the Highest and Lowest Net Migration Rates for Collegeeducated Persons, 1985-1990..................................................................................127 

Table 3A.1 Fertility and Mortality Rates in Appalachia and the United States, 1996 ..........130 

Table 3A.2 Fertility and Mortality Rates by Distress Codes, 1996.......................................130 

Table 4.1 Educational Attainment in Appalachia and the United States, 1980 and 1990 .....136 

Table 4.2 Educational Attainment by Gender, Race, and Age, 1990 ............................138, 139 

Table 4.3 High School Drop-Out Rates by Race in Appalachian Sub-regions, 1990 ...........140 

Table 4.4 Educational Attainment in Appalachian Sub-regions, 1980 and 1990..................141 

Table 4.5 Ten Counties with Highest and Lowest Percent of Persons with Less Than 

a High School Education in Appalachia, 1990 .......................................................143 

Table 4.6 Ten Counties with Highest and Lowest Percent of Persons with a College 

Education in Appalachia, 1990...............................................................................145 

Table 4.7 Educational Attainment by Beale Codes, 1990 .....................................................146 

Table 4.8 Educational Attainment by Distress Codes, 1990 .................................................147 

Table 4.9 All Races - Household and Family Type by Presence of Children (%) for 

the Appalachian Region, 1980 and 1990 ................................................................149 

Table 410 Whites- Household and Family Type by Presence of Children (%) for 

the Appalachian Region, 1980 and 1990 ................................................................150 
List of Tables

iv 

Table 4.11 Blacks - Household and Family Type by Presence of Children (%) for 

the Appalachian Region, 1980 and 1990 ................................................................151 

Table 4.12 Hispanics - Household and Family Type by Presence of Children (%) for 

the Appalachian Region, 1980 and 1990 ................................................................153 

Table 4.13 Household and Family Type by Presence of Children (%) for Appalachia 

Sub-regions, 1980 and 1990 ...................................................................................154 

Table 4.14 Ten Counties with the Highest and Lowest Percent of Households that are 

Female Headed Families with Children in Appalachia, 1990 ................................156 

Table 4.15 Household and Family Type by Presence of Children (%) 

by Beale Codes, 1990 ............................................................................................................157 

Table 4.16 Household and Family Type by Presence of Children (%) 

by Distress Code, 1990 ..........................................................................................................159 

Table 4.17 Median Family Income and Percent of Families in Poverty in Appalachian 

Sub-regions, 1979-1989..........................................................................................161 

Table 4.18 Household Income Inequality in Appalachia and the United States, 

1980 and 1990.........................................................................................................162 

Table 4.19 Ten Counties with Highest and Lowest Median Family Income in 

Appalachia, 1989 ....................................................................................................165 

Table 4.20 Ten Counties with Highest and Lowest Family Poverty in Appalachia, 1989....166 

Table 4.21 Median Family Income and Percent of Families in Poverty by 

Beale Codes, 1989 ..................................................................................................167 

Table 2.22 Counties with Highest and Lowest Household Income Inequality in 1990— 

Gini Coefficient ......................................................................................................169 

Table 4.23 Counties with Largest Change in Household Income Inequality in 1990 ...........170 

Table 4.24 Median Family Income and Percent of Families in Poverty by 

1998 ARC Distress Codes, 1989 ............................................................................171 

Table 4.25 Household Income Inequality in Appalachia by Distressed Code, 

1980 and 1990.........................................................................................................172 

Table 4.26 Weighted Crime Rates in Appalachia, 1977-1981 and 1992-1996 .....................174 

Table 4.27 Weighted Crime Rates in Appalachia Sub-regions, 1977-1981..........................175 

Table 4.28 Weighted Crime Rates in Appalachia Sub-regions, 1992-1996..........................176 

Table 4.29 Mean Percent Change in Weighted Crime Rates in Appalachia Sub-regions, 

1977-1981 vs. 1992-1996 .......................................................................................177 

Table 4.30 Mean Weighted Crime Rates in Appalachia by Beale Codes, 1992-1996 ..........179 

Table 4.31 Mean Percent Change in Weighted Crime Rates in Appalachia by Beale 

Codes, 1977-1981 vs. 1992-1996 ...........................................................................181 

Table 4.32 Mean Weighted Crime Rates in Appalachia by Distress Codes, 1992-1996 ......182 

Table 4.33 Mean Percent Change in Weighted Crime Rates in Appalachia by Distress 

Codes, 1977-1981 vs. 1992-1996 ...........................................................................183 

Table 5.1 Labor Force Participation for Appalachia and the U.S. by Gender and Sub-region, 

1980 and 1990.........................................................................................................189 

Table 5.2 Labor Force Participation by Sex Across Beale Codes, 1990 ...............................192 

Table 5.3 Labor Force Participation by Sex Across Distress Codes, 1990 ...........................193 
List of Tables

v 

Table 5.4 Appalachian Counties with Lowest Labor Force Participation Rates for 

Men and Women, 1990...........................................................................................197 

Table 5.5 Appalachian Counties with Highest Labor Force Participation Rates for 

Men and Women, 1990...........................................................................................199 

Table 5.6 Labor Force Participation Rates by Gender and Race, 1980 and 1990 .................200 

Table 5.7 Unemployment for Appalachia and the U.S. by Gender and 

Sub-region, 1980 and 1990.....................................................................................202 

Table 5.8 Unemployment by Sex Across Beale Codes, 1990 ...............................................205 

Table 5.9 Unemployment by Sex Across Distress Codes, 1990............................................206 

Table 5.10 Appalachian Counties with Highest Unemployment Rates for 

Men and Women, 1990 

Table 5.11 Appalachian Counties with Lowest Unemployment Rates for Men and 

Women, 1990..........................................................................................................211 

Table 5.12 Unemployment Rates by Gender and Race, 1980 and 1990 ...............................212 

Table 5.13 Employment by Industry for the Appalachian Region ........................................214 

Table 5.14 Employment by Industry for the United States ...................................................216 

Table 5.15 Employment by Industry and Sub-region.................................................... 217-219 

Table 5.16 Employment by Industry and 1998 ARC Distressed County Codes........... 223-227 

Table 5.17 Occupational Structure of Appalachia.................................................................232 

Table 5.18 Occupation Structure of the United States...........................................................233 

Table 5.19 Occupation Structure of Appalachia by Sub-region.................................... 235-237 

Table 5.20 Occupation Structure of Appalachia 

by ARC 1998 Distressed County Code ......................................................................... 240-244 
vi 

List of Maps

Map 1.1 Appalachian Region Counties in State and National Context.....................................5 

Map 1.2 Appalachian Region Metro Counties in State and National Context ..........................6 

Map 1.3. Appalachian Sub-regions..........................................................................................16 

Map 1.4 Beale Codes for Metropolitan Counties ....................................................................19 

Map 1.5 Beale Codes for Non-metropolitan Counties.............................................................19 

Map 1.6 Distressed Counties ...................................................................................................21 

Map 2.1 Percent Under Age 18 (1996)....................................................................................50 

Map 2.2 Percent Age 65 and Over (1996) ...............................................................................50 

Map 2.3 Retirement Destination Counties...............................................................................56 

Map 2.4 Retirement Destinations and Percent Age 65 or Older..............................................56 

Map 2.5 Percent Black (1996) .................................................................................................68

Map 2.6 Percent Hispanic (1996) ............................................................................................72 

Map 2.7 Percent Foreign Born (1990) .....................................................................................78 

Map 3.1 Population Growth Rates (1990-1996)....................................................................100 

Map 3.2 Net Migration Rates (1985-1990)............................................................................100 

Map 3.3 Net Migration (1990-1996) .....................................................................................101 

Map 3.4 Counties with Population Decline (1980-89 and 1990-96).....................................109 

Map 5.1 Percentage in Civilian Labor Force, Men 1990.......................................................194 

Map 5.2 Percentage in Civilian Labor Force, Women 1990 .................................................196 

Map 5.3 Percentage of Civilian Labor Force Unemployed, Men 1990.................................207 

Map 5.4 Percentage of Civilian Labor Force Unemployed, Women 1990 ...........................208 
vii 

List of Figures

Figure 2.1 Age Distribution in Appalachia, 1980, 1990, 1996................................................45 

Figure 2.2 Age Distribution in Appalachia and the United States, 1996.................................48 

Figure 2.3 Age Distribution Across Appalachia Sub-regions, 1996 .......................................51 

Figure 2.4 Age Distribution Across Distress Rankings, 1996.................................................53 

Figure 2.5 Racial Composition of Appalachia and the U.S., 1980, 1990, 1996......................63 

Figure 3.1 Components of Population Change in Appalachia, 1980-1996 .............................86 

Figure 3.2 Annual Population Growth Rates for Appalachia and the U.S., 1980-1996..........90 

Figure 3.3 Annual Net Migration Rates for Appalachia and the U.S., 1980-1996..................94 

Figure 3.4 Annual Population Growth Rates by Distress Codes, 1980-1996........................102 

Figure 3.5 Annual Net Migration Rates by Distress Code, 1980-1996.................................105
This chapter was written by Daniel T. Lichter and Diane K. McLaughlin. 

1 

Executive Summary 

Demographic Diversity and Economic Change in Appalachia

By 

Diane McLaughlin, Dan Lichter and Stephan Matthews 

July, 1999 

This report provides a picture of demographic diversity and economic change in Appalachia 

from 1980 through 1996. The 399 largely rural counties of the Appalachian Region extend 

roughly 1,200 miles from southeastern New York to northeast Mississippi.1 In 1996, the 

Region included nearly 22 million people from 399 counties in 13 different states. Twohundred-and-ninety of Appalachia’s counties were classified as non-metropolitan in 1993, 

the remaining 109 were metropolitan. 

The analysis centers on spatial differences in several key dimensions of well-being: 

population distribution and composition; population change and migration; education, family 

structure, income and poverty; and employment and labor force characteristics and 

projections. To portray the spatial diversity in Appalachia the analysis uses three different 

classifications of counties: the three Appalachian Sub-regions; the distribution of counties 

along the Rural-Urban Continuum (the so-called Beale County Code); and the Appalachian 

Regional Commission’s 1998 Distressed County Code. 

Chapter 2 describes the changing spatial distribution of the population in Appalachia, 

focusing on age, race, ethnicity and whether persons are foreign born. While the population 

of Appalachia grew from 1980 to 1996, it did not keep pace with population growth nationwide, so Appalachia’s share of the U.S. population declined from 9.9 percent in 1980 to 8.2 

percent in 1996. The absolute numbers of people living in Appalachia increased over this 

sixteen year period, however, from 20,366,372 to 21,783,778, or an increase of 7.0 percent. 

Within the Appalachian Region in 1980, half of Appalachian residents lived in the Northern 

Sub-region which is made up of 144 counties, with 10.4 percent in the Central (85 counties) 

and 39.4 percent residing in the Southern Sub-region (170 counties). By 1996, just over 44 

percent of residents of Appalachia lived in the South, while the percentages in the North and 

Central Sub-regions declined to 46.2 and 9.6 percent, respectively. 

Only 10.2 percent of Appalachia’s population lived in the most economically distressed 

counties, while well over half lived in counties that are considered Transitional — counties 

that have a mixture of high and low values on key economic indicators. The remaining 

population, about 24 percent, live in the Competitive and Attainment Counties. Over the 

sixteen years examined, the population declined in Distressed Counties and Transitional-1 (or 

at-risk counties), and grew in the other three economic classifications. 

 

1 The report does not examine the changes that have occurred in the seven counties added to the Region in 1998. 
This chapter was written by Daniel T. Lichter and Diane K. McLaughlin. 

2 

Appalachia has shared in the “aging” of the population, both through elder’s aging in place, 

but also as a result of out-migration of younger persons. Some parts of Appalachia have 

become transformed through the in-migration of minority populations and immigration from 

abroad. 

Age Composition of the Appalachia Region Looking at the region as a whole, the youngest 

age groups are a declining share of the population and the older age groups are increasing. 

There also is a loss in the share of those of early working and middle age. This is especially 

true in the Northern and Central Sub-regions of Appalachia. Most notable is the decline in 

those at the youngest ages from 1980 to 1996 as a percentage of the population. The findings 

show that the Appalachian population is older than that of the U.S. as a whole. In every age 

group from 45-49 and up (with the exception of ages 80-84) the Appalachian population 

percentage is greater than that for the U.S. For every age group from 0-4 to 40-44 years 

(except 15-19 years) the Appalachian population percentage is smaller than the U.S. 

population percentage. 

Examining the percentages of the population in different age groups, the North Sub-region 

has the highest percentage age 65 and over, 16.2 percent, and the South Sub-region the 

lowest — 13.1 percent. Combined with overall population growth in the South Sub-region 

this suggests increasing school enrollments as the Sub-region continues to grow. At the subregional level, the Central Sub-region stands out with 25.2 percent of the population under 

age 18, and the highest percentage of people currently school age (5 to 17), 19.1 percent 

(higher than that US average of 18.74). 

High concentrations of elders resulting from retirement in-migration are identified as 

retirement destinations are in northeastern Pennsylvania, northeast West Virginia, and a 

concentrated block in southwest North Carolina, northeast Georgia, a string of counties 

through Tennessee and two in South Carolina. The dependency ratio (the number of persons 

under 18 and over 64 divided by the number of persons ages 18 to 64) for the entire region is 

comparable to the dependency ratio for the U.S. (0.63). 

Race and Ethnic Composition of Appalachia. The percentage of non-Hispanic Whites in 

Appalachia dropped to just above 90 percent, compared to the U.S. as a whole, which had 

dropped to 73.1 percent by 1996. Blacks comprised 7.7 percent of the Appalachian 

population in 1996, an increase from 6.95 percent in 1980, while Hispanics in the Region 

increased from 0.6 to 0.9 percent from 1980 to 1996. Over the same period, the percentage 

of Blacks in the U.S. increased from 11.54 to 12.04, while Hispanics comprised 10.67 

percent of the population in 1996, up from 6.45 percent in 1980. Appalachian Blacks are 

highly concentrated in the Southern Sub-region. In 1996, of the 1,675,990 Blacks in 

Appalachia, 75.65 percent of Blacks lived in counties in the Southern Sub-region, compared 

with 44.12 percent of the Appalachian population. Hispanics are a very small part of the 

Appalachian population. In 1980, there were only 122,016 Hispanics in Appalachia, by 1996 

this number had increased by 68 percent to 205,156. Hispanics were most concentrated in 

Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, the southern tier of New York, northwest 
This chapter was written by Daniel T. Lichter and Diane K. McLaughlin. 

3 

Pennsylvania and metropolitan counties. Only 286,381 Appalachian residents reported being 

foreign born on the 1990 Census, just 1.38 percent of the population. Counties with the 

highest concentrations of foreign born are largely in New York and Pennsylvania, with 

smaller areas on the South Carolina-North Carolina border near Asheville. 

Chapter 3 analyzes the demographic trends in population growth and decline in Appalachia, 

as well as the demographic components of population change — migration, fertility, and 

mortality. Population growth and annual net migration rates within the Appalachian Region 

has been mainly dominated by counties in the South Sub-region. Population growth 

throughout the Region has been highest, on average, in fringe metropolitan counties and nonmetropolitan counties adjacent to metropolitan areas and 137 metropolitan adjacent counties 

Similarly, during the 1990s, Competitive and Attainment Counties witnessed the highest 

growth rates and highest net migration rates. Taken together, population growth and net 

migration has been highest in counties in the South sub-region, especially those counties in 

northern Georgia surrounding Atlanta, and other large metropolitan areas in Alabama, 

Tennessee, North Carolina. 

The age- and education-specific net migration rates from 1985 to 1990 suggest that the 

region as a whole is gaining persons under age 75, but the gains are greatest among those 

nearing retirement age. Across Sub-regions and Distressed County Codes there is a great 

deal of variability with the more economically distressed areas losing young adults and those 

with college educations, and the economically more prosperous areas gaining people in every 

age group and educational group, but especially young adults and those with college 

educations. 

Chapter 4 describes recent trends and growing geographic diversity in the human and social 

capital of Appalachian residents and communities, as measured by changing levels of 

education and family structure. While the Region has experienced substantial increases in 

education over the past several decades, parts of the Region remain plagued by the outmigration of the youth they educate. 

Changes in Educational Attainment. The Region overall experienced a substantial increase 

during the 1980-90 period in the educational attainment of its population. Although nearly 

one-third of Appalachia residents aged 25 or older in 1990, were high school dropouts, this 

represents a significant decline from 1980, when 42 percent had not completed high school. 

Between 1980 and 1990, the percentage of the Appalachian population with some college or 

more increased from about 22 percent to over 33 percent, a gain of nearly 50 percent. Yet, 

gaps persist as over 20 percent of the U.S. population has a college degree, compared with 

only 14 percent in Appalachia. 

The rapid declines in the proportion of the population with less than a high school degree are 

due to replacement of older and least educated residents by younger, more educated 
This chapter was written by Daniel T. Lichter and Diane K. McLaughlin. 

4 

residents. Striking declines in the percentage of the low-educated persons (i.e., those lacking 

a high school degree) were observed in each of the three Appalachian Sub-regions. 

There is a high concentration of population with low education in Central Appalachia. 

Kentucky contains the top seven counties with low education, with percentages ranging from 

64.54 percent to 59.59 percent. Counties with high percentages of college graduates tended to 

be the locations of colleges or universities. The percentage of population with less than a 

high school degree was highest in the four most rural types. Not surprisingly, these rural 

counties also had the lowest percentages of their population with a college education. 

Educational attainment in Appalachian Counties are inextricably linked to county economic 

distress (Table 4.8). In the Region’s most economically distressed counties, 45 percent of the 

population had less than a high school education, compared with 21 percent in the 

Attainment Counties. Conversely, only 8.54 percent of the population was highly educated 

in the Distressed Counties. Nearly one-fourth were college graduates in the Attainment 

Counties.

Changes in Appalachian Families. While family households have declined as a percentage 

of all households, single-parent-headed families have increased. This pattern has also been 

observed for the United States as whole, where 24.6 percent of all households were 

represented by the traditional nuclear family in 1998. The story is different for Hispanics 

living in Appalachia as the percentage of Hispanic married couple households with children 

exceeded that of both whites and blacks in 1990. More significantly, the percentage of 

married couple families with children, unlike other racial/ethnic groups, increased rather 

than decreased from 1980 to 1990. The highest percentages of female-headed households 

with children in 1990 are found in the Deep South. In fact, 8 of the 10 Appalachian counties 

with the highest percentages of female-headed families with children were found in 

Mississippi. 

Perhaps the most significant difference in that a disproportionate share of households 

containing children are located in the most economically distressed counties. In 1990, 

roughly 38 percent of the households in the Distressed Counties included children. This 

compares with almost 32 percent among the Attainment Counties. While Distressed 

Counties contain a disproportionate share of married couple families with children, these 

counties also are home to a disproportionate share of single-parent households. 

Changes in Poverty, Family Income, and Income Inequality. Between 1979 and 1989, 

median family income (in 1989 dollars) in Appalachia declined slightly from $30,069 to 

$29,728. For the United States, median family income experienced only modest increases 

over the 1979 to 1989 period. In Appalachia, stagnation in real family income during the 

1980s occurred in concert with increasing income inequality, a conclusion indicated by the 

rise in the family poverty rate from 9.77 percent to 11.94 percent between 1979 and 1989. 

During this period, the U.S. poverty rate for families increased from 9.2 percent to 10.3 
This chapter was written by Daniel T. Lichter and Diane K. McLaughlin. 

5 

percent. The rise in measures of average household income inequality across counties within 

the Region was virtually identical to the United States. 

Central Appalachia has experienced significantly higher rates of poverty and lower median 

family income than North and South Appalachia. Poverty rates are roughly twice as high in 

Central Appalachia than in the rest of Appalachia and the nation. More troubling is the fact 

that Central Appalachia also experienced large absolute and relative declines in median 

family income during the 1980s. 

More significantly, the income gap between the least and most distressed counties thus 

widened between 1979 and 1989, from $11,523 to $17,237. The poverty gap, measured by 

the absolute difference in poverty rates between the least and most distressed counties, 

similarly increased from 10.22 in 1979 to 16.38 in 1989. 

Changes in Appalachian Crime Rates. Overall, crime in Appalachia is low compared to US 

averages, typically around 60-70 percent of the national levels. Like the nation, the general 

regional trend appears to be that crime rates have increased (with exceptions for individual 

crimes). Not all individual index crimes increased: murder rates dropped in the ARC by 32 

percent, and among property crimes, burglary dropped by 17 percent and auto theft by 4 

percent. While crime is low compared to the nation as a whole there are considerable 

variations within the region and between different types of crime. 

Chapter 5 analyzes the labor force participation and unemployment rates, and the size of the 

labor force, and the occupational distribution of men and women in 1980 and 1990 based on 

data from the U.S. Census of Population. The chapter also analyzes the industrial structure in 

1980, 1990 and 1996. 

Labor force participation is measured by the number of persons who are employed and 

unemployed divided by the number of persons ages 16 and over. In 1980, 74.7 percent of 

men in the U.S. participated in the labor force, compared with 71.4 percent of men in 

Appalachia— a 3.3 percentage point gap. By 1990, this difference had widened to a 6.3 

point difference. Appalachian women’s labor force participation rose by 6.8 points to 50.8 

from 1980 to 1990, but Appalachian women’s labor force participation remained 5.9 

percentage points below that for U.S. women which stood at 56.7 percent. 

There is a general pattern of declining labor force participation for men and women from the 

most metropolitan to the most rural counties. Without question, the highest participation is 

found among men and women in the top three metro classifications. As expected, the lowest 

participation is found in the Distressed Counties where 60.3 percent of men and 38.8 percent 

of women are in the labor force. The highest participation rates are in the Competitive 

Counties, rather than in the Attainment Counties. 

Unemployment. In both 1980 and 1990, Appalachia’s total unemployment rate exceeded that 

of the U.S. In 1990, the U.S. unemployment rate was 6.3 percent, compared to 6.8 percent 
This chapter was written by Daniel T. Lichter and Diane K. McLaughlin. 

6 

for Appalachia. The unemployment rate was down in 1990 compared to 1980, and the 

decline was larger for the Appalachia than for the U.S. Trends in unemployment are 

inversely related to population size and metropolitan adjacency, although the pattern is less 

clear for men than women. 

Consistent with this overall pattern of decline, white and Hispanic men’s unemployment 

declined by 1.0 and 2.6 percentage points, respectively. Unemployment rose among Black 

men, however, from 12.5 to 12.9 percent. Among women, unemployment also declined for 

white and Hispanics, by 0.9 and 1.4 percentage points, respectively. Black women, like 

Black men, experienced a slight increase in unemployment over the decade, from 12.2 to 

12.4 percent. 

Industrial Composition of Employment. Compared to the U.S. the Appalachian Region has 

larger shares of jobs in mining, construction, manufacturing, retail trade, and state and local 

government employment. Most noteworthy, the Appalachian Region still had 17.65 percent 

of its jobs in manufacturing in 1996, while the U.S. had dropped to 12.63 percent of jobs in 

this industrial sector. The Region lags behind the U.S. in the percentage of jobs in services, 

which was responsible for 30.44 percent of jobs in the U.S. in 1996 but offered 25.96 percent 

of jobs in Appalachia in the same year. Appalachia was lower than the U.S. by two 

percentage points in the finance, insurance and real estate sector. In 1996, 828,368 jobs were 

located in Distressed Counties of Appalachia. Overall job growth in Distressed Counties was 

10.7 percent, well below Appalachia’s growth in jobs of 26.9 percent. 

Occupational Structure of Appalachia. In the 1980-90 period, the occupational structure of 

Appalachia shifted from a heavier reliance on occupations associated with the manufacturing 

sector to occupations related to the service sector. By 1990, most workers were employed in 

technical and sales occupations (14.33 percent), followed by administrative support (14.15 

percent), with precision production, craft and repair third with 13.45 percent of those 

employed in 1990. One of the most marked differences in occupations across counties in the 

Distressed County Codes is the concentration of technician and related support, 

administrative support, and professional specialty occupations in Attainment Counties. 

These counties exceed the U.S. share of employment in these occupations. Distressed 

Counties have their largest share of employment in precision production, craft and repair 

occupations. 

Chapter 6. What is clear from these data is that the Appalachian Region essentially faces 

several key challenges: how to close the gap between rural and urban counties; how to foster 

improvements in well-being in poor counties and help rapidly growing areas monitor and 

manage their growth: and how to work with counties as diverse as those from the Northern 

Rust Belt, the formerly mining-dependent region, and the now-booming urban Sun Belt. 

The variation in population size and density mean that counties across the Region face very 

different concerns related to leadership capacity, community development, growth, service 

provision, infrastructure needs, and the ability to finance services and meet the needs of 
This chapter was written by Daniel T. Lichter and Diane K. McLaughlin. 

7 

residents. In addition, age distributions can be an important indicator of different service 

needs and issues facing counties. 

CHAPTER 1 

APPALACHIA: PAST IS PROLOGUE? 

INTRODUCTION 

Appalachia — the name conjures up a mixture of images. In many areas 

Appalachia’s rugged natural beauty is its hallmark. Steep, forested mountains emptying into 

narrow valleys; the long line of the Blue Ridge Mountains snaking through low rolling hills 

covered with apple orchards, pasture, and cultivated fields; the ridge and valley system of the 

northern Appalachian Mountains, the red-clay fields and pine forests of the South are just 

some of the very diverse and beautiful natural landscapes found in Appalachia. Equally 

diverse is the human settlement. Isolated cabins, trailers and double-wides nestled deep in 

the shadows of the mountains, some still without electricity and indoor plumbing contrast 

with ‘country estates’ of lawyers, doctors and surburbanites; small towns with beautiful, 

well-maintained buildings constructed in the late 1700s counter main streets with boarded 

storefronts and abandoned schools and churches; old cotton and tobacco plantations and the 

legacy of slavery and racial discrimination yield to booming suburbs sprawling to the 

horizon; large industrial cities where smokestacks once dominated – but now are still, and 

small town textile mills have been replaced by huge paper mills and chemical plants, and the 

newer service- and technology-based industries that bustle with activity. Some are located in 

cities, others in small towns or open fields. 
8 

Appalachia’s rugged landscape and her rich natural resources led to a dependence 

on those natural resources. Farming was, and still is, difficult in many places, but extremely 

productive, if not lucrative, in others.i

 The discovery of coal in the core of Appalachia 

resulted in another image of Appalachia–one of deforested mountains with their tops gouged 

away, or new mountains built from tailings from the underground mines. Before divided 

highways and semi-tractor trailers roared through the Region, railroads hugged the relatively 

level creek banks in order to haul away the Region’s riches, both natural and human. In 

some areas, it is a legacy of company towns and absentee landlords removing the riches on 

and under the mountains, but giving little back to the communities whose natural resources 

and ability to farm were devastated, and in which the workers continued to live even after the 

decline of employment in coal or depletion of the resource.ii

 

The working conditions in early industry generated battles between owners and 

workers about working hours, safety and wages, often with outside intervention to quell the 

worker ‘uprisings’ and break the strikes against the steel workers in Homestead and the coal 

miners in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.iii These struggles to improve wages and working 

conditions are an important part of Appalachia’s history, but also of the history of the nation. 

Those of us who work forty hours a week owe much to these labor-movement pioneers. This 

image is in stark contrast to the portrayal of Appalachia’s residents as unwilling or unable to 

question the power and authority of the absentee owners and the local power structure under 

their control. But some areas of Appalachia fit the stereotype of people cowed by their 

history and dependence on the coal company and unable to make their own decisions and 

work towards a better future.iv It speaks to the history of a Region long at the mercy of boom 
9 

and bust cycles for timber, coal, agriculture and textiles. Even today this dependence on a 

few, often absentee, employers and the difficulty in breaking free of its consequences keeps 

some parts of Appalachia from attaining what most would consider acceptable standards of 

living for a significant part of the residents. 

Throughout its history, the image of Appalachia’s people has been one of a fiercely 

independent lot, who were strongly committed to family, and ultimately to the land they 

called home. Those who sought out the isolation of her mountains or the heat of her 

Southern lands and who survived, and in some cases prospered there, may have been unique 

in their willingness to settle an unforgiving land. This individual independence and 

commitment to family and working hard have been heralded as the greatest strengths of the 

Region. Others proclaim it to be an underlying factor in why some parts of the Region still 

lag far behind. The independence makes it difficult for people to work together to achieve 

broader, community goals; it causes people to resist programs that provide job training; and it 

makes understandable the resentment of government efforts to protect the natural beauty of 

the Region through national forest and park systems that take control of the resources out of 

local hands. Alternatively, many local residents resist changes that encourage economic 

growth if that growth comes at the expense of the lifestyle that they have known and any 

further destruction of the natural beauty and riches of their home. 

As some of Appalachia’s residents work hard to keep their declining communities 

alive, others strive to slow or stop the rapid economic and population growth that 

technological change, better highways, a desire to live in warmer climates, spatial industrial 

restructuring, and a global economy have wrought. In some places it is a case of “Be careful 
10 

what you wish for, you might get it.” This variability in topography, history and access to 

resources throughout the Region, in recent economic growth, and its causes and 

consequences are what creates the mixed images of Appalachia. It also is responsible for the 

great diversity in demographic and economic change experienced by the 399 counties 

designated as part of the Appalachian Region prior to October, 1998. 

An Overview of the Appalachian Region

As in the past, a single image does not suffice to describe Appalachia. The 

Appalachian Regional Commission defines the Region in geographic terms. Prior to 

October, 1998, the Region was defined by Congress to include 399 counties. Seven new 

counties were added in that year. Because this report concentrates on providing a picture of 

demographic diversity and economic change from 1980 through 1996, it does not examine 

the changes that have occurred in the seven counties added to the Region in 1998. The 399 

largely rural counties of the Appalachian Region extend roughly 1,200 miles from 

southeastern New York to northeast Mississippi (see Map 1.1). In 1996, it included roughly 

22 million people from counties in 13 different states. 

The counties in Appalachia range from metropolitan counties or counties that 

border the metropolitan areas of Atlanta, Birmingham, Knoxville, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh 

Greensboro, Chattanooga, and Roanoke (See Map 1.2) to isolated counties in the mountains 

of Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia. The metropolitan areas in and bordering 

Appalachia are highlighted in Map 1.2. Two-hundred-and-ninety of Appalachia’s counties 

were classified as non-metropolitan in 1993, the remaining 109 were metropolitan. 

11 
12 

Appalachian counties are unusually diverse along many different dimensions — 

demographic, cultural, economic, and political. Appalachia defies easy generalizations. The 

Region has experienced greater divergence in its economic and social characteristics over the 

past decade or so, as evidenced by the rapid growth in counties surrounding Atlanta, Georgia, 

but continued and increasing poverty in eastern Kentucky, West Virginia and other core areas 

of the region. Some parts of Appalachia no longer fit the stereotype of an economically 

underdeveloped region. Other areas, however, have failed to keep pace with national growth 

or even urban Appalachian growth because of too few jobs and too few workers whose 

education and skills match today’s new jobs. The result is a growing gap between the 

economic “winners” and “losers” — an increasing spatial inequality — borne of uneven 

development and intransigent demographic and social conditions. While the Region overall 

has converged with the rest of the nation on many indicators of well-being (e.g., poverty 

rates, education levels, etc.), such averages hide tremendous economic and demographic 

disparities within and among counties that comprise Appalachia. This report highlights these 

diverse patterns of economic and human resource development. 

Increasing diversity among Appalachian Counties requires a new and sustained 

effort to build capacity for the continuous monitoring of current trends. This is especially 

vital during the current period of rapid regional, national, and global economic and social 

change.v

 Perhaps more than ever before, “at risk” people and communities in Appalachia 

can easily be hidden by the statistics of optimism, which often work against the 

implementation of targeted policies aimed at benefitting those most in need of assistance in 

Appalachia. 
13 

GROWING SPATIAL INEQUALITY?

National Geographic Balkanization

The past decade or so has ushered in a new era of increasing spatial inequality in 

America. The social and economic differentiation of geographic space in the United States is 

at once unprecedented and multifaceted. It is reflected in the balkanization of population and 

employment growth (e.g., bi-coastal growth), in increasing functional specialization between 

first-tier and other cities, in new spatial patterns of economic and ethnic differentiation 

within metropolitan regions and cities,vi and in growing income and employment differences 

between thriving rural population growth centers (e.g., based on recreational development, 

other natural amenities or comparative advantages) and other persistently poor and 

economically depressed regions (e.g., the Mississippi Delta, the core of Appalachia, and the 

lower Rio Grande Valley).vii 

For some observers, current trends suggest a rather dim future of increasing spatial 

inequality and concentrated poverty and affluence. Douglas Masseyviii argues that “the 

advantages and disadvantages of one’s class position will be compounded and reinforced . . . 

by the geographic concentration of affluence and poverty” (p. 395), which will created a 

deeply divided social world. An increasing share of the poor in U.S. cities live in the very 

poorest neighborhoods. Moreover, the affluent became increasingly isolated from the nonpoor. For the 10 largest U.S. cities, the typical affluent person lived in a neighborhood where 

50 percent or more were also affluent in 1990, a figure up from 43 in 1980. The geographic 

isolation of the urban poor has raised concerns about growing social and cultural 

differentiation within the urban region (i.e., so-called “concentration” or “neighborhood” 
14 

effects). This new pattern of increasing economic inequality of urban space raises the 

question as to whether the poor and affluent in rural areas also are becoming increasingly 

spatially differentiated. 

Although most scholars focus on within-city or urban poverty, the new spatial 

inequality also is revealed at several other levels of geographic aggregation. For example, 

there is increasing functional specialization of major cities in the United States,ix which has 

exacerbated between-city inequalities.x Discussions are usually couched in terms of “rustbelt” cities and “sun-belt” cities, and the obvious differences in industrial structure and 

lifestyles these labels imply. But we also now hear of “command and control centers” and 

“world cities.”xi Such labels imply that economic standards of living may vary significantly 

across cities (of comparable size), and recent indications are that these economic differences 

may be particularly pronounced among minority populations.xii More generally, the average 

within-county income inequality has increased in the United States, as well as the economic 

inequality between counties.xiii

Growing spatial inequality also is apparent in Non-metropolitan and rural regions 

and communities. After decades of rural-urban convergence on many different social and 

economic dimensions (e.g., education, industrialization, median income), the 1980s brought a 

new divergence between Non-metropolitan and metropolitan areas.xiv There also is growing 

evidence of increasing spatial differentiation and inequality within and between rural regions. 

This is reflected in concerns about “rural ghetto communities,” “pockets of poverty,” and 

“persistent low-income areas.”xv Some rural communities, desperate for any kind of 

economic development, have become dumping grounds for urban refuse, prisons, and low-
15 

level radioactive materials.xvi Other rural areas, especially recreational and retirement 

settings, have continued to experience population and job growth.xvii In fact, income 

inequality is greater among the Non-metropolitan than metropolitan population,xviii and 

income inequality increased at a more rapid rate in Non-metropolitan than metropolitan areas 

during the past decade.xix

Appalachian Diversity

Recent research on the new spatial inequality provides an important lesson for 

current and future research on the changing distribution of material hardship, poverty, and 

other social problems (e.g., crime, family instability, and illiteracy) in Appalachia. It suggests 

that the acceleration of within- and between-place inequality has changed the distribution of 

resource-rich and resource-poor communities in Appalachia. One implication, which we 

examine here, is that the livelihood strategies and well-being of Appalachian families reflect 

the economic constraints and opportunities of place—which have become more unequal over 

time. Those who live and work in economically-declining communities are likely to face 

increased risk of poverty and unemployment independent of their individual characteristics 

(such as education or job skills). Perhaps unique in Appalachia is that the majority of 

minorities live in the most prosperous counties and they are under-represented in the most 

economically distressed counties. 

At the same time, a cautious interpretation is appropriate; most studies are based on 

data from 1990 and earlier. The 1990s have been a period of considerable change — a robust 

economy and low unemployment, changes in public policy (e.g., increases in the minimum 

wage, welfare reform, expansion of Medicaid eligibility), urban central city revitalization 
16 

(e.g., Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, etc.), and an end to rural economic stagnation in some areas, and 

rapid immigration of some national origin groups to specific destinations.xx It is unclear 

whether our current understanding of Appalachia – based largely on old data – accurately 

describes the conditions faced by families and children in the 1990s. It also is unclear 

whether the rising tide of economic optimism applies to all geographic parts of the 

Appalachian Region. 

Whether the Appalachian “winners” have lifted the economic fortunes of all of 

Appalachia’s residents — especially the most vulnerable — is open to debate. The past 

decade or so has witnessed an unprecedented increase in inequality across different segments 

of the U.S. population. Declines in poverty among the elderly have been counterbalanced by 

increases in poverty among children. The well-being of married couple families contrasts 

markedly with female-headed families, especially those with minor children, where poverty 

rates have remained at nearly 50 percent for at least three decades. The poor have fallen 

farther behind the nonpoor, a result of the downward slide in the ratio of the minimum wage 

to average wages, retrenchment in welfare eligibility and state benefit levels, and rising rates 

of “at risk” female-headed families in Non-metropolitan countiesxxi resulting from an 

increasing nonmarital fertility ratio, high divorce rates, and declining marriage. 

The significant progress toward racial economic equality has slowed or even 

retreated during the past decade.xxii The implication is clear: The prosperity in some 

Appalachian Sub-regions and communities may hide growing inequalities across different 

population subgroups, including those most vulnerable to economic globalization and 

industrial restructuring (e.g., the least skilled and least mobile). All groups have not 
17 

benefitted equally from the economic progress observed in the Appalachian Region. Just as 

recent national economic prosperity has not been felt in all communities, a vibrant local 

economy provides no assurance that the most vulnerable segments of the population have 

shared equally. Our report sheds light on changing conditions in the Appalachian Region.

FINDING THE SOLUTIONS

The seeds of Lyndon B. Johnson’s declaration of a “War on Poverty” in 1964 were 

sown by the abject poverty and human misery in Central Appalachia’s mining region 

extending from the Southern West Virginia coal fields to the Peidmont Plateau in Tennessee. 

Unfortunately, the isolation of rural Appalachia — geographically, economically, and 

culturally — from the rest of American society now often excludes the Region from much of 

the current national debate about the causes of economic and social deprivation, as well as its 

possible solutions. Through the 1980s and most of the 1990s, public policy debates 

increasingly shifted to large urban areas, where most of the nation’s poor people live and 

where a highly visible and spatially concentrated poor population corresponds with other 

highly visible social problems (e.g., crime, poor schools, and inadequate health care delivery 

systems). 

Unfortunately, interest in Appalachia and other rural regions waned at precisely the 

time when divergent economic and social trends called for new and creative approaches for 

the Region. President Clinton recently visited persistently poor rural communities in the 

coal-fields of Kentucky as part of his program to increase private investment in untapped 

markets. This visit may help to refocus broader attention toward, and raise awareness of, the 

poverty that remains in rural America and the potential for helping these communities 
18 

through investments that not only provide returns to investors but benefit the communities 

and their residents, as well. 

Public policy solutions to the Region’s poverty often depend on whether it is 

regarded as a problem of “too few good workers” or a problem of “too few good jobs.” One 

perspective emphasizes the lack of education, poor (or out-of-date) job skills, and low 

aspirations (e.g., a “culture of poverty”) among Appalachia’s residents. The other 

perspective emphasizes the absence of employment opportunities that pay a living family 

wage. Whereas one perspective emphasizes human resource development, the other 

emphasizes regional and community economic development. One emphasizes individual 

deficiencies and individual solutions; the other stresses structural conditions that require 

systematic or political solutions. 

A balanced approach to the problem is needed, one recognizing the 

interdependency between good jobs and good workers. The reality is that the absence of a 

skilled workforce is a disincentive for economic development and capital investment in the 

region, while the lack of employment opportunities exacerbates out-migration of the mostly 

highly educated and younger residents and reduces the incentives for communities and 

people to make investments in education and training. Projects that develop job 

opportunities while helping local workers obtain the skills necessary to do the new jobs 

address both issues. 

The problems facing Appalachia are heterogenous in their distribution across 

different population groups and geographic areas. They also are heterogenous in their causes 

and consequences. As such, the solutions to Appalachia’s problems must necessarily be 
19 

multifaceted and appropriately directed to areas by the types of resources needed. This is 

true for Appalachia, just as it is for the nation as a whole. 

One difficulty is that Appalachian problems (e.g. poverty, underemployment, 

unemployment, low education) are less spatially concentrated — hidden away in the isolated 

hollows of numerous mountains and in forgotten small towns across the Region — and 

therefore easier to ignore. Finding the right solutions therefore requires a redoubling of 

efforts to better understand current social, economic, and demographic conditions that 

prevent parts of the Region and its people from sharing fully in the nation’s resurgent 

economy, improved health and longevity, and unprecedented high standards of living. It also 

requires a new sensitivity to existing — or perhaps growing — spatial disparity in economic 

well-being and its causes among Appalachian communities and people. 

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This report provides a descriptive, statistical portrait of the recent and changing 

material hardship and social and demographic conditions in the Appalachian Region. We 

place the spotlight on spatial diversity — on the large and often growing differences in the 

characteristics of residents and the well-being within and between counties and Sub-regions 

of Appalachia. While many communities emerged as “winners,” others have fallen farther 

behind over the recent past. Our analysis centers on spatial inequality along several key 

dimensions of well-being: population distribution and composition; population change and 

migration; education, family structure, income and poverty; and employment and labor force 

characteristics and projections. To portray the spatial diversity in Appalachia we utilize three 

different classifications of counties, each based on a different criteria. The three 
20 

classifications are the Appalachian Sub-regions—a geographic typology; Beale County 

Codes which are based on metropolitan designation, population size and adjacency to 

metropolitan counties; and the ARC’s 1998 Distressed County Codes—developed from 

information on poverty, unemployment and per capita income. 

The Appalachian Sub-regions are geographic regions (See Map 1.3). The North 

Sub-region includes 144 Appalachian counties that span southern New York, 3/4 of 

Pennsylvania, southeastern Ohio, the Maryland counties between Pennsylvania and West 

Virginia, and much of West Virginia. The Central Sub-region contains 85 counties located in 

the parts of Appalachia often considered the core, or those counties most responsible for the 

initial interest in poverty in Appalachia. These are largely counties in the mountains and coal 

regions of eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, southwestern Virginia and parts of 

Tennessee. The Southern Sub-region captures 170 counties that extend from Virginia 

through North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, to the outskirts of Atlanta, and through 

northern Alabama, and northeastern Mississippi. Examining these Sub-regions will enable 

us to describe the geographic distinctions in Appalachia’s demographic and economic 

characteristics. This is particularly relevant given the emphases during the seventies on 

economic change in the “rust-belt” and “sun-belt” regions, the boom and bust cycles and 

technological change in the coal industry, and the regional consequences of capital mobility 

and NAFTA, and diversity within regions as well.xxiii
21 
22 

 The second classification of counties that we feel is appropriate for comparing 

Appalachian Counties is the Beale Code Classifications of counties by metropolitan status, 

population size, and adjacency to metropolitan areas (See Table 1.1). Calvin Beale of the 

Economic Research Service at the USDA identified ten types of counties ranging from the 

Table 1.1. Beale Code Definitions and Number of Appalachian Counties, 1993. 

Code Definition # of Counties 

Metropolitan Counties

0 Central counties of metropolitan areas of 1 million population or 

more 

7 

1 Fringe counties of metropolitan areas of 1 million population or 

more 

12 

2 Counties in metropolitan areas of 250,000 - 1,000,000 population 59 

3 Counties in metropolitan areas of less than 250,000 population 31 

Non-metropolitan Counties

4 Urban population of 20,000 or more, adjacent to a metropolitan 

area 

19 

5 Urban population of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to a 

metropolitan area 

11 

6 Urban population of 2,500 to 19,999, adjacent to a metropolitan 

area 

78 

7 Urban population of 2,500 to 19,999, not adjacent to a 

metropolitan area 

77 

8 Completely rural (no places with a population of 2,500 or more), 

adjacent to a metropolitan area 

40 

9 Completely rural (no places with a population of 2,500 or more), 

not adjacent to a metropolitan area 

65 

 
23 

most metropolitan to the most rural. The Beale Codes were initially created in 1983 using 

1980 data from the U.S. Census of Population and Housing. They were updated in 1993 

using 1990 Census data. We use the 1993 Beale Codes so the information reflects the 

current county status. Beale Codes are an important categorization of counties because they 

allow a comparison of the characteristics of metropolitan and Non-metropolitan counties and 

also Non-metropolitan counties that are adjacent to metropolitan areas and those that are not. 

Discussion of new metropolitan growth areas in population redistributionxxiv and of the 

importance of adjacency to metropolitan areas for growth in Non-metropolitan counties, 

combined with the historical decline of rural counties not adjacent to metropolitan counties, 

suggest that this typology will enable us to highlight these special types of counties. 

The counties with the four metropolitan codes distinguished are shown on Map 1.4. 

The six Non-metropolitan codes are shown for Appalachian Counties in Map 1.5. The 

adjacent and nonadjacent counties in the same urban population size group are combined in 

one category, with adjacency obvious as those counties that border metropolitan counties (the 

white areas on the map). 

The final classification of counties we use is the ARC 1998 Distressed County 

Codes. This classification is prepared every year by the ARC and distinguishes counties 

based on average unemployment rates, per capita market income, and poverty rates. There 

are five county types identified: Distressed, Transitional 1, Transitional 2, Competitive, and 

Attainment Counties. The criteria used and the number of Appalachian Counties in each 

category are shown in Table 1.2. We use the 1998 classification, so we expect a strong 

relationship between these codes and the economic and employment characteristics of the 
24 
25 

counties. The comparison is useful, however, in revealing the educational and demographic 

differentials across counties in this classification and in further documenting the extent of 

variation in poverty and unemployment across the region. The spatial distribution of 

Appalachian counties by 1998 Distress Code is given in Map 1.6. Note the concentration of 

the Distressed Counties in the central, mountainous coal-regions of eastern Kentucky, 

southern and central West Virginia, southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee. A 

small block of Distressed Counties also appears in Mississippi. 

The relationship between the 1993 Beale Codes and the 1998 Distressed County 

Codes is shown in Table 1.3. The table shows, not surprisingly, that only two of the 97 

Distressed Counties were metropolitan counties, and that the largest number of Distressed 

Counties (32) are completely rural counties not adjacent to metropolitan areas. Looked at 

from the perspective of Beale Codes, almost fifty percent of the completely rural counties, 

not adjacent to metropolitan areas were defined as Distressed. Only one of these counties is 

classified as high as the Competitive category. Nine of the eleven Attainment Counties are 

metropolitan. 
26 
Table 1.2. Criteria for Classification of Counties by Economic Level 

(Distressed County Codes) for FY 1998 (from Appalachian Regional Commission)

FY 1998 Economic Distress Code Level 

No. of 

US 

Counties 

No. of 

Appalachia

n Counties 

Appalachi

a as % of 

U.S. 

1993-95, 

3-year ave. 

Unemploym

ent rate 

1994 per 

capita 

“market” 

income 

19CPoR

Distressed (1) 405 97 24.0 9.3% or 

more 

(150% of 

U.S. 6.2%) 

and $12,074 or 

less (67% of 

US 

$18,201) 

and 

m

Transitional-1 (2) 33 Transitional (3) 2,035 233 

All counties not in other classes. Individual 

vary. 

Competitive (4) 408 25 6.1 6.2% or less 

(100% of 

US) 

and $14,417 - 

18,020 

(80% of 

US=14,417 

and 

Attainment (5) 255 11 4.0 6.2% or less 

(100% of 

US) 

and $18,021 or 

more (100% 

of US) 

and 

le

Total 3,103 399 12.9 
28 

Table 1.3. Cross classification of Appalachian Counties 

by 1993 Beale Codes and 1998 Distressed County Codes. 

Distressed Transitional- 1 Transitional Competitive Attainment Total

Beale 

Metropolitan Counties 

0 3 2 2 7

1 1 6 3 2 12

2 1 3 43 7 5 59

3 2 27 2 31

Subtotal 2 5 79 14 9 109

Non-metropolitan Counties

4 2 1 15 1 19

5 1 2 8 11

6 18 7 46 6 1 78

7 28 9 38 2 77

8 14 2 22 1 1 40

9 32 7 25 1 65

Subtotal 95 28 154 11 2 290

 

Total 97 33 233 25 11 399

The relationship between the Sub-regions and the Distressed County Codes is 

identified in Table 1.4. As expected, none of the counties from the Central Sub-region fall in 

the Competitive or Attainment categories, and over sixty percent are Distressed. The counties 

in the North Sub-region are predominately in the Transitional Category, but a fairly high 

percentage are Distressed, 21.5 percent. Counties in the South Sub-region are more likely to 

be classified as Competitive or Attainment, but the majority fall in the Transitional category. 

Only 8.2 percent of these counties are Distressed. 
29 

Table 1.4. Cross-classification of Appalachian Region Counties by 

Sub-region and 1998 Distressed County Codes.

Sub-region 

Distress Code North Central South Total 

Distressed (1) 31 52 14 97 

Transitional-1 (2) 13 9 11 33 

Transitional (3) 93 24 116 233 

Competitive (4) 5 20 25 

Attainment (5) 2 9 11 

Total 144 85 170 399 

Throughout this report the unit of analysis is the county. The discussion of each 

topical area in Chapters 2 to 5 is arranged according to various geographical units or 

typologies of counties. First, our introduction to a topic includes aggregate data for the 

Appalachian Region, followed by Sub-regional breakdowns using the North, Central and 

South designations. The majority of the descriptive analysis presented here is organized 

around the 1998 Distressed County Code typology with some data also presented by 1993 

Beale Codes. 

In examining the demographic and economic differences across Appalachian 

Counties, we begin by describing the changing spatial distribution of the population in 

Appalachia, focusing on age, race, ethnicity and whether persons are foreign born (Chapter 2). 

Appalachia has shared in the “aging” of the population, both through elder’s aging in place, 

but also as a result of out-migration of younger persons. Some parts of Appalachia have 

become transformed through the in-migration of minority populations and immigration from 

abroad. The recent influx of new population groups into the Region and their full 
30 

incorporation into local job markets, schools, and community politics may increase interethnic and inter-racial tensions now and in the future. 

A basic overview of demographic trends in population growth and decline in 

Appalachia, as well as the demographic components of population change — migration, 

fertility, and mortality, are provided in Chapter 3. It is clear that many areas of Appalachia 

continue to have population growth, others have experienced a resurgence of population 

growth after decades of decline. Still other areas continue to lose their “best and brightest” to 

out-migration, which erodes the human resource base necessary for local leadership in 

community development and locally generating or attracting good jobs to their communities. 

Chapter 4 centers on the human resource base — the “social capital” of Appalachian 

communities. While the Region has experienced substantial increases in education over the 

past several decades, parts of the Region remain plagued by the out-migration of the youth 

they educate. Those who remain behind are deeply committed to their families and homes or 

lack the resources, skills or confidence to strike out for uncertain economic opportunity 

elsewhere. A small group of others leave to complete educations and return to build a life in 

the communities in which they were raised. In any case, areas that have experienced a steady 

stream of out-migration of their more advantaged youth often are faced with a shortage of 

young people who can and are willing to step into community leadership roles. Over a 

number of years this results in a small core of people who have the interests and capability to 

lead the community, to work as volunteers, and to provide role models for the next generation 

of youth. This is the core of the loss of social capital that can occur in communities. 

Related to this is the decline in the two-parent family. Appalachia has not been 

immune to sweeping changes in the family, especially the rise in single-parent families, which 
31 

have increased the proportion of women and children “at risk” of poverty. Single parents face 

the especially difficult task of supporting their families economically while meeting all of the 

other demands of family life. With the decline in ‘good jobs’ many two-parent families send 

both parents into the work force which decreases the time available for parents to become 

involved in community activities and to socialize their children into those roles. At the same 

time, more education and “strong families,” in the absence of good jobs, will not provide a 

solution to the Region’s social and economic problems. 

Much of the Region has not escaped the continuing sectoral transformation of the 

national and global economy. The differing experiences of parts of Appalachia are described 

in Chapter 5. Many parts of Appalachia continue to rely heavily on low-wage, low-skill jobs 

in forestry, forestry products, and agriculture. While mining jobs are considered good jobs, 

technological change has enabled coal companies to maintain or increase levels of production 

while hiring fewer workers. This change, coupled with depletion of the resource and changes 

in global energy markets, have resulted in significant declines in employment in the coal 

industry in Appalachia. 

Other areas have been adversely affected by international competition for 

manufacturing jobs, textiles, and for new product markets. For much of Appalachia, 

unemployment rates remain unacceptably high and persistent. The short-term picture, 

however, provides some reasons for optimism. The future demand for workers may, in the 

absence of changes in migration rates to and from the Region, exceed the supply of available 

workers. Many communities that have been dependent on extractive industries, especially 

coal and timber, are now moving towards diversifying their economies, with varying levels 
32 

of success. These diversification efforts, which tend to include an emphasis on helping local 

entrepreneurs, will leave the communities less reliant on a single industry and therefore less 

devastated when global forces and decisions of international corporations result in the loss of 

some local jobs. 

If the past is prologue, our portrait of Appalachia provides a mixed view of the 

future. Improved standards of living in one part of Appalachia have been offset by 

continuing high poverty, unemployment, and low education in other parts. As a result, the 

political and economic interests of one part of the region may increasingly diverge from the 

concerns of other parts, if the momentum of recent demographic, social, and economic trends 

carries forward into the next century and becomes manifested in unprecedented spatial 

inequality in Appalachia. 
This chapter is by Diane K. McLaughlin. 

ENDNOTES TO CHAPTER 1. 

1. Caudill, Harry M. 1963. Night Comes to the Cumberlands. Boston: Little, Brown, and 

Durwood Dunn. 1988. Cades Cove: The Life and Death of a Southern Appalachian Community, 

1818-1937. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press. 

2. See Caudill (1963) above. Also see Eller, Ron. 1982. Miners, Millhands and 

Mountaineers. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press; Billings, Dwight, and Ann 

Tickamyer. 1993. “Uneven Development in Appalachia.” Pp. 7-29 in Thomas A. Lyson and 

William W. Falk (eds.) Forgotten Places: Uneven Development in Rural America. Lawrence, 

KS: University of Kansas Press; Lewis, Helen Matthews, Linda Johnson, and Donald 

Askins. 1978. Colonialism in Modern America: The Appalachian Case. Boone, NC: 

Appalachian Consortium Press. 

3. Edwards, Richard. 1979. Contested Terrain: The Transformation of the Workplace in the 

Twentieth Century. New York: Basic Books, and David M. Gordon, Richard Edwards and 

Michael Reich. 1982. Segmented Work, Divided Workers: The Historical Transformation of 

Labor in the United States. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. 

4. Gaventa, John. 1980. Power and Powerlessness: Quiescence and Rebellion in an Appalachian 

Valley. Urbana: University of Illinois Press; Erickson, Kai T. 1976. Everything In It’s Path: 

Destruction of Community in the Buffalo Creek Flood. New York: Simon& Schuster; Also see 

Seitz, Virginia Rinaldo. 1995. Women, Development, and Communities for Empowerment in 

Appalachia. Albany: State University of New York Press, and Byerly, Victoria. 1986. Hard 

times Cotton Mill Girls: Personal Histories of Womanhood and Poverty in the South. Ithaca, 

NY: ILR Press. 

5. See the various readings in D. Stanley Eitzen and Maxine Baca Zinn. 1989. The Reshaping of 

America: Social Consequences of the Changing Economy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall; 

Gaventa, John, Barbara Ellen Smith, and Alex Willingham (eds.) 1990. Communities in 

Economic Crisis: Appalachia and the South. Philadelphia, Temple University Press. 

6. Liaw, Kao-Lee, and William H. Frey. 1998. “Destination Choices of the 1985-90 Young 

Adult Immigrants to the United States: Importance of Race, Educational Attainment, and Labour 

Market Forces.” International Journal of Population Geography 4:49-61; Massey, Douglas S. 

1995. “The New Immigration and Ethnicity in the United States.” Population and Development 

Review 21:631-652; Smith, James P., and Barry Edmonston (eds.). 1998. The Immigration 

Debate: Studies on the Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration. 

Washington, DC: National Academy Press. 

7. Falk, William W., Clarence R. Talley, and Bruce H. Rankin, with the assistance of Kathleen 

Little. 1993. “Life in the Forgotten South: The Black Belt.” Pp. 53-75 in Thomas A. Lyson and 

William W. Falk (eds.) Forgotten Places: Uneven Development in Rural America. Lawrence, 

KS: University of Kansas Press; Lyson, Thomas A. and William W. Falk. (eds.) 1993. 
This chapter is by Diane K. McLaughlin. 

Forgotten Places: Uneven Development in Rural America. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas 

Press. 

8. Massey, Douglas S. 1996. “The Age of Extremes: Concentrated Affluence and Poverty in the 

Twenty-First Century.” Demography 33:395-412. 

9. Frey, William H. 1995. “The New Geography of Population Shifts: Trends Toward 

Balkanization.” In State of the Union (ed. R. Farley). New York: Russell Sage Foundation; 

Zelinsky, Wilbur. 1990. “Is the Rural-Urban Dichotomy Withering Away? The American 

Case.” Presented at the 14th Congress of Rural Sociology, Giessen, West Germany. 

10. Farley, Reynolds. 1988. “After the Starting Line: Blacks and Women in an Uphill Race.” 

Demography 25:477-497. 

11. Frey, William H. 1990. “Metropolitan America: Beyond the Transition.” Population 

Bulletin 45(No. 2): 1-51. 

12. Farley, Reynolds. 1988. “After the Starting Line: Blacks and Women in an Uphill Race.” 

Demography 25:477-497; Fossett, Mark, and Gray Swicegood. 1982. “Rediscovering City 

Differences in Racial Occupational Inequality.” American Sociological Review 47:681-689. 

13. Nielsen, Francois, and Arthur S. Alderson. 1997. “Income Inequality in U.S. Counties, 

1970 to 1990.” American Sociological Review 62:12-33. 

14. Mencken, F. Carson, and Joachim Singelmann. 1998. “Socioeconomic Performance in 

Metropolitan and Non-metropolitan Areas During the 1980s.” Sociological Quarterly 39:215-

238. 

15. Brown, David L., and Mildred E. Warner. 1991. “Persistent low-Income Non-metropolitan 

Areas in the United State: Some Conceptual Challenges for Development Policy.” Policy 

Studies Journal 19;22-41; Davidson, Osha Gray. 1996. Broken Heartland: The Rise of 

America’s Rural Ghetto. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press. 

16. Duncan, Cynthia M., and Nita Lamborghini. 1994. “Poverty and Social Context in Remote 

Rural Communities.” Rural Sociology 59:437-461; Fitchen, Janet M. 1991. Endangered 

Spaces, Enduring Places. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 

17. Beale, Calvin L., and Kenneth Johnson. 1988. “The Identification of Recreational Counties 

in Non-metropolitan Areas in the United States.” Population Research and Policy Review

17:35-53. 

18. Fuguitt, Glenn V., David L. Brown, and Calvin L. Beale. 1989. Rural and Small Town 

America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 
This chapter is by Diane K. McLaughlin. 

19. Tolbert, Charles, and Thomas A. Lyson. 1992. “Earnings Inequality in the Nonmetropolitan U.S.”: 1967-1990.” Rural Sociology 57:494-511. 

20. Aponte, Robert. 1996. “Urban Employment and the Mismatch Dilemma: Accounting for 

The Immigration Exception.” Social Problems 43:268-283; Smith, James P., and Barry 

Edmonston (eds.). 1998. The Immigration Debate: Studies on the Economic, Demographic, and 

Fiscal Effects of Immigration. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. 

21. McLaughlin, Diane K., Erica L. Gardner, and Daniel T. Lichter. Forthcoming. “Economic 

Restructuring and Changing Prevalence of Female-headed Households in America.” Rural 

Sociology. 

22. Fossett, Mark A. and M. Therese Seibert. 1997. Long Time Coming. Boulder, CO: Westview 

Press. 

23. Bluestone, Barry, and Bennett Harrison. 1982. The Deindustrialization of America. New 

York: Basic Books; Lyson, Thomas A. 1989. Two Sides to the Sunbelt: the Growing 

Divergence Between the Rural and Urban South. New York: Praeger; Harrison, Bennett and 

Barry Bluestone. 1988. The Great U-Turn: Corporate Restructuring and the Polarizing of 

America. New York: Basic Books. 

24. Elliot, James R. and Marc J. Perry. 1996. “Metropolitanizing Nonmetro Space: Population 

Redistribution and Emergent Metropolitan Areas, 1965-90.” Rural Sociology 61(3):497-512.
This chapter is by Diane K. McLaughlin. 

CHAPTER 2 

POPULATION DISTRIBUTION AND COMPOSITION 

INTRODUCTION 

Population distribution and composition have important implications for Appalachia 

from two perspectives. First, the distribution of population across Appalachian counties 

suggests important priorities about the allocation of resources. Typically, resources are 

targeted to particular areas either because of very high need (poverty, lack of infrastructure, 

unemployment) or because the area contains a lot of people. When these two reasons apply 

to the same areas, then resource allocation is simple. When areas of very high need contain a 

small part of the population base, then decisions to allocate scarce resources to these areas 

may be challenged because so few people would be helped. Because of this tension in 

targeting resources, and simply to increase understanding of how people are distributed 

across the Region, it is critical to examine the distribution of people across space, and across 

various types of counties, and to understand how that distribution is changing. 

Population composition changes as a result of several demographic factors. Foremost 

among these are fertility, mortality, and migration. If fertility of the residents of an area 

exceeds mortality, then the population increases due to ‘natural’ increase. Migration is 

usually measured in the United States as the movement of people across county lines. A 

county gains population if the number of persons moving into the county exceeds the 

number who move out of the county over a given time-frame. In most counties, migration, 

which is discussed in detail in Chapter 3 is the main force behind changes in population 

composition. People move to and from particular counties in response to changes in 

economic opportunities, to meet family needs, or to attain a desired quality of life. Multiple 
35 

factors tend to influence migration decisions — and the decision to stay in a given place. 

People and families tend to weight these factors differently depending on their goals and the 

value they place on each potential contributor to the migration decision. Thus, some people 

remain in places that others find untenable. But overall patterns tend to result in those who 

are younger and have higher educational levels moving towards areas with better economic 

opportunities, while older, retired persons gravitate toward areas with natural amenities and 

lower living costs, or toward family. Both the numbers and characteristics of people in each 

county are influenced by these processes. 

Population composition provides information that can be very useful to policy 

makers. People with different characteristics often have very different needs and 

expectations regarding the types of jobs they would like to have, the type of place they would 

like to live, the services and infrastructure they expect to be offered by local governments, 

and the types of consumer services they would like to have within a reasonable distance. 

Knowing the age distribution of a county and what the expectations are for how that age 

distribution is changing can provide important information for planning. 

High and increasing concentrations of elderly residents suggest quite different service 

needs (recreation, health care, transportation, in-home services) and ability to pay for those 

services, either through taxes or outright purchase. Communities with a high percentage of 

school age children face a different set of demands for services — for schooling, recreation 

and child care to meet the needs of parents and children. Having a high concentration of 

children may not expose a community to new problems if the percentage and numbers of 

children have not changed rapidly. Areas like Cherokee County, Georgia, however, face a 
36 

rapid increase in the absolute numbers of children which may or may not be reflected in 

changing percentages of children in the county since the entire population is growing as well. 

Overall growth (or decline) in the number of people in a county, combined with the 

percentage of people of different ages in the population, should provide a good indicator of 

potential areas that will need attention from policy makers at the local level. 

The sections that follow begin by documenting population distribution across 

Appalachia and by Sub-region, Beale Codes and 1998 Distressed County Codes. We then 

turn to an examination of the age, race and ethnic composition of the Region, and to the 

distribution of particular race and ethnic groups, and the foreign born, across counties. 

POPULATION DISTRIBUTION

We examine population distribution within the Appalachian Region by documenting 

population size and share shifts in the Region compared to the U.S. overall, and by 

documenting distributions across the Sub-regions in Appalachia, and by Beale Codes and 

1998 ARC Distressed County Codes. Total population counts for 1980, 1990 and 1996 form 

the basis for the comparisons. 

Population Distribution--U.S. and Sub-regions of Appalachia

The Appalachian Region covers 195.6 thousand square miles or 5.5 percent of the 

land area of the United States. Despite covering only 5.5 percent of the United States land 

area, almost ten percent of the U.S. population calls the Appalachian Region home (See 

Table 2.1). That percentage declined between 1980 and 1996 from 8.94 to 8.21 percent. The 

absolute numbers of people living in Appalachia increased over this sixteen year period, 
37 

however, from 20,366,372 to 21,783,778, or an increase of 7.0 percent. Appalachia simply 

did not grow as fast as other parts of the U.S. and so its share of the total population declined. 

Within the Appalachian Region in 1980, half of Appalachian residents lived in the 

Northern Sub-region which is made up of 144 counties, with 10.4 percent in the Central (85 

Table 2.1 Percentage of U.S. Population in Appalachia Region, 

 1980, 1990, 1996

Sub-region Population % of Region % of U.S. 

1980 

North 10,236,294 50.26 4.50 

Central 2,115,118 10.39 0.93 

South 8,014,960 39.35 3.52 

Total 20,366,372 100.00 8.94 

1990 

North 9,917,942 47.91 3.97 

Central 2,015,406 9.74 0.81 

South 8,768,533 42.36 3.51 

Total 20,701,881 100.00 8.28 

1996 

North 10,075,104 46.25 3.80 

Central 2,097,899 9.63 0.79 

South 9,610,775 44.12 3.62 

Total 21,783,778 100.00 8.21 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.
38 

counties) and 39.4 percent residing in the Southern Sub-region (170 counties). By 1996, the 

shifting of population within the Appalachian Region is obvious. Just over 44 percent of 

residents of Appalachia lived in the South, while the percentages in the North and Central 

Sub-regions declined to 46.2 and 9.6 percent, respectively. The Northern Sub-region of 

Appalachia may still be home to the largest number of people, but it is likely to be surpassed 

by the South within the next decade if current patterns of population change persist. 

Because of this growth in population, the population density (number of people per 

square mile) in Appalachia increased from 104.1 in 1980 to 111.4 in 1996 (Table 2.2). 

Population density for the U.S. overall increased from 64.1 to 75.0 over the same period. 

Population density figures for the Region and for the U.S. overall, clearly hide the variability 

in population density in local areas. 

Population density suggests the relationship between the distribution of population 

Table 2.2 Population Density in Appalachia and the United States, 

1980, 1990, 1996

Land Area 

(sq. miles) 

Population 

Density 1980 

Population 

Density 1990 

Population 

Density 1996 

North Appalachia 83,874 122.04 118.25 120.12 

Central Appalachia 31,951 66.2 63.08 65.66 

South Appalachia 79,777 100.47 109.91 120.47 

Total Appalachia 195,601 104.12 105.84 111.37 

United States 3,536,278 64.06 70.33 75.02 
39 

and land area within Appalachia. North Appalachia, with just over half of Appalachian 

residents in 1980, experienced a decline in population density from 1980 to 1996 from 122.0 

to 120.1 persons per square mile. Population density in Central Appalachia dropped from 

66.2 to 65.7. South Appalachia, on the other hand, experienced increasing population density 

from 100.5 in 1980 to 120.5 in 1996, consistent with increasing population. The factors 

underlying these changes in population distribution will be addressed in Chapter 3. 

Population Distribution Across Beale Codes

In 1980, almost 58 percent of Appalachian residents lived in the 109 metropolitan 

counties (Beale Codes 0-3).xxv By 1996, that percentage had increased only slightly to 58.45 

percent (See Table 2.3). Over half of the metropolitan residents (or 28.9 percent of 

Appalachian residents) lived in metropolitan counties with metro areas in the 250,000 to 

1,000,000 range in 1980. This share grew by 1996 to 29.45 percent. In 1996, 12.85 percent 

of Appalachian residents lived in metropolitan counties that were central counties of metro 

areas of 1 million or more population, essentially no change since 1980. An additional 12 

percent of Appalachia’s population resided in metro counties with less than 250,000 

population, a small decline since 1980. Thus, there is little evidence of metropolitanization 

of the population in Appalachia from 1980 to 1996. 

Just over 40 percent of Appalachia’s population resides in Non-metropolitan counties 

(Beale Codes 4-9). In 1990, 13.8 percent lived in Non-metropolitan counties having urban 

places with populations of 2,500 to 19,999 and adjacent to a metro county. Another 11 

percent lived in nonmetro counties with similar sized urban places (2,500 to 19,999) but not
40 

Table 2.3 Percentage of Appalachia Population Across Beale Codes, 1980, 1990, 1996

1980 1990 

Beale Region Population Percent Population Percent PopuMetropolitan Areas: 0 - Central counties, metro area 1 million + pop. 2,613,853 12.83 2,671,664 12.91 2,791 - Fringe counties, metro area 1 million + pop. 623,701 3.06 743,606 3.59 882 - Counties in metro areas 250,000 - 1,000,000 5,886,237 28.90 6,087,955 29.41 6,43 - Counties in metro areas of less than 250,000 pop. 2,614,008 12.83 2,572,755 12.43 2,63Non-Metropolitan Areas: 4 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, adjacent to a metro area 

1,530,119 7.51 1,518,392 7.33 1,56

5 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to a metro area 

681,286 3.35 677,002 3.27 70

6 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, adjacent to a metro area 

2,761,791 13.56 2,834,343 13.69 3,0

7 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, not adjacent to a metro area 

2,350,873 11.54 2,301,557 11.12 2,40

8 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or more) adjacent to a metro area 

513,293 2.52 531,092 2.57 57

9 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or more) not adjacent to a metro area 

791,211 3.88 763,515 3.69 79

Total 20,366,372 100.00 20,701,881 100.00 21,78

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.
41 

adjacent to metro areas. The smallest concentration of Appalachian population in 1996, 2.6 

percent, was found in the 40 counties that were completely rural (no places with populations 

over 2,500) and adjacent to metropolitan counties. The 65 completely rural counties that are 

not adjacent to metropolitan areas contained 3.6 percent of Appalachia’s population in 1996. 

Thus, almost 60 percent of Appalachia’s population lives in the 27 percent of counties that 

are metropolitan, while only 6.2 percent of residents live in the 26 percent of counties that are 

completely rural. 

Population Distribution Across ARC 1998 Distressed County Codes

The majority of Appalachia’s population lives in counties in the middle of the 1998 

Distressed County Classification Codes. Roughly 62 percent of the population, or 

13,622,337 people, lived in Transitional-2 counties in 1996 (See Table 2.4). This is a slight 

decline from 1980 when 12,979,259, or 63.7 percent of people, called these 233 counties 

home. At the extremes of the Distressed County Codes, 10.2 percent lived in the Distressed 

Counties (97 counties) in 1996, a decline from 11.4 percent in 1980. The percentage of the 

population living in the Attainment Counties (11 counties) increased between 1980 and 1996 

from 12.5 to 13.8 percent, respectively. 

Thus, we see some shifting of the population towards the more economically 

prosperous counties, and there actually were population losses from 1980 to 1996 in the 

counties with the poorest economic conditions, as measured by the Distressed County 

Classification— a 3.9 percent loss of population from Distressed Counties. These shifts are 

consistent with expected patterns of migration, in particular the out-migration from more 
42 

rural and economically stressed counties as the young and some middle-aged displaced 

workers leave in search of better employment opportunities elsewhere. 

Population Density Across Beale Codes

The population density of counties classified by Beale Codes decreases as the 

counties become less urban and not adjacent to metropolitan counties. Population density 

values for 1980, 1990 and 1996 for counties by Beale Codes are shown in Table 2.5. The 

highest population density, 677.6 persons per square mile, occurred in central counties of 

metro areas in 1996 (Beale Code = 0). Counties in metro areas of 250,000 to 1,000,000 

population had the next largest population density of 220.6. The lowest were in the 

completely rural counties, which had population densities in 1996 of 37.9 for rural counties 

adjacent to metro counties (Code=8), and 31.2 for nonadjacent rural counties (Code=9). 

Table 2.4 Percentage of Appalachia Population Across 1998 Distress Codes*

, 

 1980, 1990, 1996

1980 1990 1996 

Distress Code Population Percent Population Percent Population Percent 

1 Distressed 2,318,406 11.38 2,171,466 10.49 2,227,161 10.22 

2 Transitional-1 903,221 4.43 872,161 4.21 902,194 4.14 

3 Transitional 12,979,259 63.73 13,058,514 63.08 13,622,337 62.53 

4 Competitive 1,619,896 7.95 1,826,400 8.82 2,022,858 9.29 

5 Attainment 2,545,590 12.50 2,773,340 13.40 3,009,228 13.81 

Total 20,366,372 100.00 20,701,881 100.00 21,783,778 100.00 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

* Distress codes created by the ARC using measures of unemployment, poverty, and per 

capita income. 
43 

Table 2.5 Population Density in Appalachia by Beale Codes, 1980, 1990, 1996

Beale Code

Land Area 

(sq. miles) 

Population 

Density 1980 

Population 

Density 1990 

Metropolitan Areas: 0 - Central counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 4,129 632.98 646.98 1 - Fringe counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 5,144 121.25 144.56 2 - Counties in metro areas of 250,000 - 1,000,000 pop. 29,083 202.40 209.33 3 - Counties in metro areas of less than 250,000 pop. 17,782 147.01 144.69 Non-Metropolitan Areas: 4 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, adjacent to a metro area 12,329 124.11 123.16 5 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to a metro area 4,710 144.64 143.73 6 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, adjacent to a metro area 44,089 62.64 64.29 7 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, not adjacent to a metro area 37,821 62.16 60.86 8 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or more) adjacent to a metro area 

15,122 33.94 35.12 

9 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or more) not adjacent to a metro area 

25,393 31.16 30.07 
44 

Population Density and ARC 1998 Distressed County Codes

The more interesting linkage is that between population density and 1998 Distressed 

County Codes for Appalachia. The Distressed Counties have the lowest population density, 

53.2 people per square mile in 1996, while the Attainment Counties have by far the highest 

population density, 602. Population densities among the counties in the bottom three 

Distressed County Codes remained relatively stable from 1980 to 1996. The most well-off 

counties in Appalachia, the Competitive and Attainment Counties, had large increases in 

population density over the same period. From 1980 to 1996, population density for 

Competitive Counties increased from 145.4 to 181.6, while population density rose from 

509.3 to 602 persons per square mile among Attainment Counties -- an 18.3 percent increase. 

These patterns further support the increasing concentration of population in the more 

economically prosperous counties in the Appalachian Region. It also suggests that low 

population density may hinder the ability of some counties to move out of distress. 

Table 2.6 Population Density in Appalachia by 1998 Distress Codes, 

1980, 1990, 1996

Distress Code

Land Area 

(sq. miles) 

Population 

Density 1980 

Population 

Density 1990 

Population 

Density 1996 

1 Distressed 41,867 55.38 51.87 53.20 

2 Transitional-1 15,332 58.91 56.89 58.85 

3 Transitional 122,262 106.16 106.81 111.42 

4 Competitive 11,142 145.39 163.92 181.55 

5 Attainment 4,998 509.27 554.84 602.03 
45 

Ten Largest and Smallest Appalachian Counties by Population Size

The distribution of people across Appalachian Counties varies tremendously. 

Appalachian Counties were ranked by population size and the top ten and bottom ten counties 

are listed in Table 2.7. These top ten counties in population size in the region held 21.6 

percent of the Region’s population, or about 4.7 million people in 1996. Four of the ten 

largest counties are associated with the Pennsylvania cities of Pittsburgh, Wilkes-Barre and 

Erie. The others are home to other cities or metropolitan areas scattered throughout the 

Region. The smallest ten counties are home to only 49,260 people or about 0.2 percent of the 

Appalachian population. These small population size counties also are distributed across the 

Region with three in Virginia, two each in Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Kentucky, and one in 

West Virginia. 

The variation in population size and density mean that counties across the Region face 

very different concerns related to leadership capacity, community development, growth, 

service provision, infrastructure needs, and the ability to finance services and meet the needs 

of residents. This diversity in the size and density of the populations in counties in the 

Appalachian Region is only the beginning of a story that is replete with such variability in 

almost every characteristic examined. The diversity is especially problematic for those 

interested in understanding the dynamics of demographic, economic and social change with 

an eye toward developing policy and programs to help build the region as a whole, including 

those areas with the greatest need. 
46 

Table 2.7 Ten Most and Least Populous Counties in Appalachia, 1996

FIPS Code County State Population 

 Most Populous: 

42003 Allegheny (Pittsburgh) PA 1,296,037 

01073 Jefferson (Birmingham) AL 661,927 

13135 Gwinnett (Atlanta) GA 478,001 

42129 Westmoreland (Pittsburgh) PA 376,297 

47093 Knox (Knoxville) TN 364,566 

45045 Greenville (Greenville) SC 345,173 

42079 Luzerne (Wilkes-Barre) PA 321,309 

47065 Hamilton (Chattanooga) TN 295,373 

37067 Forsyth (Winston-Salem) NC 284,207 

42049 Erie (Erie) PA 280,570 

Least Populous: 

51091 Highland VA 2,543 

47137 Pickett TN 4,633 

51045 Craig VA 4,839 

42053 Forest PA 4,942 

51017 Bath VA 4,959 

47175 VanBuren TN 5,046 

21189 Owsley KY 5,481 

21165 Menifee KY 5,483 

54105 Wirt WV 5,589 

42023 Cameron PA 5,745 
47 

POPULATION COMPOSITION

In this section on population composition of Appalachia, we concentrate on the age 

structure, race and ethnicity, and the percentage of the population that is foreign born. The 

age structure of a county is an important indicator of the types of service needs and demands 

facing counties, as well as the ability of residents and local businesses to support dependents 

and to pay for such services through taxes. Just knowing the age structure may not be enough, 

however, other characteristics of the residents also influence expectations. For example, 

counties that have high concentrations of elders who have ‘aged-in-place’ versus counties 

with retirement in-migrants often experience quite different expectations on the part of 

residents, as well as differences in ability to pay for services. Counties adjacent to 

metropolitan areas also may serve as ‘bedroom’ communities with a large proportion of 

residents commuting to other counties to work but demanding services in the county in which 

they live. 

Despite the potential complexity, heavy concentrations of children or elderly suggest 

quite different needs of the population, while a shortage of working age people indicates 

potential problems in financing services locally, in fostering locally-owned businesses or 

attracting employers to help build local economies, or in ensuring long-term viability of the 

community. Availability of working age persons compared with the concentrations of elderly 

and children is used in calculating dependency ratios. These ratios show the portion of the 

population typically considered to be supporting those less able to care for themselves or not 

able to participate in the labor force. We will examine dependency ratios in a later section. 

Except in the South, Appalachia is perceived as being fairly homogeneous with respect 

to race and ethnicity. Examining the distribution of Blacks, Hispanics, and foreign born 
48 

populations enables us to assess the extent of diversity in the populations of Appalachian 

Counties, and how the diversity has changed since 1980. 

Age Composition of the Appalachia Region

The age distribution for Appalachia in 1980, 1990 and 1996 is shown in Figure 2.1. 

Most notable is the decline in those at the youngest ages from 1980 to 1996 as a percentage of 

the population. For every age group from 0-4 to 25-29 years, the 1996 bar is below the 1980 

bar, and at the young adult ages (mid- to late-teens and early twenties) the gap is the greatest, 

almost a two percent drop. This type of shift contributes to the view that the population of 

Appalachia is aging, and that younger persons have been lost due to out-migration from the 

Region. 

Another pattern of interest is aging of the birth cohorts that were ages 15-19 and 20-24 

in 1980. Birth cohorts are people born in the same years, in this case, five-year periods. These 

cohorts, which comprised 19.2 percent of the Appalachian population in 1980, dropped to 

roughly 15.5 percent of the Appalachian population in 1996 when they were roughly ages 30-



























































































































































































































































































F ig u re 2 .1 A g e D is trib u tio n in A p p a la c h ia ,

 1 9 8 0 , 1 9 9 0 , 1 9 9 6

0

2

4

6

8

1 0

1 2

1 4

1 6

1 8

0-45-9

10-1415-1920-2425-2930-3435-4445-5455-5960-6465-7475-84

85+

Age

Percent

 1980

 1990

1996
49 

34 and 35-39, suggesting out-migration of this cohort, or in-migration of persons of other 

ages. The idea of an aging population in Appalachia is further supported in the oldest age 

groups, where the 1996 line crosses above the 1980 bars at about ages 65 to 69 and remains 

higher through ages 85 plus. These older age groups are a larger percentage of the 

Appalachian population in 1996 than they were in 1990. Actual numbers of people and 

percentage of the population in each age group for these three years are shown in Table 2.8. 

The next logical question is how does the Appalachian population distribution compare 

to that for the United States? The age distribution for the United States and Appalachia in 

1996 is shown in Figure 2.2. The figure provides strong evidence that the Appalachian 

population is older than that of the U.S. as a whole. In every age group from 45-49 and up 

(with the exception of ages 80-84) the Appalachian population percentage is greater than that 

for the U.S. For every age group from 0-4 to 40-44 years (except 15-19 years) the Appalachian 

population percentage is smaller than the U.S. population percentage. Both distributions show 

the baby-boom (people in their late thirties and forties in 1996), the baby-bust and then the 

boomlet of baby-boomers’ child-bearing (children and teens in 1996), but these trends are not 

as obvious in Appalachia. Appalachia’s lower percentage of younger people is especially 

noticeable in the 0-4 and 5-9 year age groups. 
50 

Table 2.8 Age Distribution (%) in Appalachia, 1980, 1990, 1996

1980 1990 1996 

Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

0-4 1,409,196 6.92 1,346,745 6.51 1,376,401 6.32 

5-9 1,527,812 7.50 1,406,681 6.79 1,456,975 6.69 

10-14 1,669,037 8.20 1,433,718 6.93 1,507,109 6.92 

15-19 1,894,282 9.30 1,565,777 7.56 1,563,782 7.18 

20-24 1,807,588 8.88 1,493,632 7.22 1,413,596 6.49 

25-29 1,618,883 7.95 1,557,101 7.52 1,452,450 6.67 

30-34 1,507,319 7.40 1,696,259 8.19 1,612,395 7.40 

35-39a 1,181,250 5.80 1,591,738 7.69 1,771,059 8.13 

40-44a 1,085,528 5.33 1,463,059 7.07 1,692,787 7.77 

45-49a 1,132,370 5.56 1,190,605 5.75 1,572,107 7.22 

50-54a 979,622 4.81 1,029,246 4.97 1,229,011 5.64 

55-59 1,104,469 5.42 964,949 4.66 1,028,206 4.72 

60-64 987,535 4.85 1,006,436 4.86 932,554 4.28 

65-69a 851,314 4.18 962,054 4.65 925,465 4.25 

70-74a 684,310 3.36 772,840 3.73 830,908 3.81 

75-79a 450,097 2.21 588,886 2.84 652,951 3.00 

80-84a 279,019 1.37 364,645 1.76 428,159 1.97 

85 and 

over 

195,074 0.96 267,510 1.29 337,863 1.55 

Total 20,364,706 100.00 20,701,881 100.00 21,783,778 100.00 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

a For 1980, the Census Bureau used age categories 35-44, 45-54, 65-74, and 75-84 instead of 5 

year age groups. Data presented here are estimated breakdowns of these categories. 
51 

Spatial Distribution of Dependents in Appalachia

Persons considered dependent, or not of working age, are those under eighteen and 

over sixty-five. The percentage of the population in each county under 18 and age 65 and 

over are shown in Maps 2.1 and 2.2, respectively. Counties with the highest percentages of 

persons under 18 are located in southern New York and a few counties in northeastern 

Pennsylvania; along the West Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky borders; in the suburbs of 

Atlanta; and in Alabama. Aging populations, or counties with high percentages of persons 

age 65 and over span much of western Pennsylvania (see Map 2.2) and through the anthracite 

Figure 2.2 Age Distribution in Appalachia and the United States, 

1996

0 2 4 6 8 10

0-4

10-14

20-24

30-34

40-44

50-54

60-64

70-74

80-84

Age

Percent

United States

Appalachia
52 

coal mining region and older industrial cities of Pennsylvania, along the West VirginiaVirginia border, western North Carolina and northeastern Georgia. 

These high elderly population concentration counties essentially follow the 

Appalachian Mountains along and east of the Blue Ridge Parkway and down into western 

North Carolina. Most interesting is the high percentage elderly in western North Carolina that 

stops at the Tennessee state line. This particular concentration of elders in western North 

Carolina results from retirement in-migration. Other areas containing high proportions of 

elders are more likely to have resulted from people aging-in-place while youth migrated out of 

the area. 

Age Composition by ARC Sub-region 

To simplify the discussion of age composition by Sub-regions in Appalachia, we have 

aggregated the data into four age groups, as shown in Figure 2.3. We show the percentage of 

the population under age 5, ages 5 to 17, ages 18 to 64 and ages 65 and over in 1996. These 

breakdowns allow us to easily discuss school age populations (5 to 17), working age persons 

(18 to 64), and the elderly (65 and over). The figure also shows the median age for each of 

the three Appalachian Sub-regions, for Appalachia as a whole, and for the United States. The 

actual percentages are in Table 2.9. 
53 
54 

Beginning with the median age, which is the simplest indicator of overall age 

distribution, it is quite obvious that the U.S. has a lower median age than Appalachia, 35 years 

versus 36 years for Appalachia — a one year gap in median age. Looking at the Sub-regions 

within Appalachia, the North has the highest median age, 37 years, with the Central and South 

having median ages of 36 years. 

Examining the percentages of the population in different age groups, the North Subregion has the highest percentage age 65 and over, 16.2 percent, and the South Sub-region the 



 





















 





 























 



 



 





 



 



 













































 















 



 

Figure 2.3 

Age Distribution Across Appalachia Subregions

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

North

Appalachia

Central

Appalachia

South

Appalachia

Total

Appalachia

 United 

States

Percent (%)

Under 5  5 - 17  18 - 64  65 and Over

Table 2.9 Age Distribution in Appalachia and the United States, 1996

Percent Less 

Than 5 

Percent 

5-17 

Percent 

18-64 

Percent 

65 and Over 

Median 

Age 

North Appalachia 6.07 17.93 59.77 16.23 37 

Central 

Appalachia 6.13 19.10 61.24 13.53 35 

South Appalachia 6.62 17.68 62.63 13.07 35 

Total Appalachia 6.32 17.93 61.17 14.58 36 

United States 7.29 18.74 61.20 12.77 35 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.
55 

lowest — 13.1 percent. Interestingly, 25.2 percent of the population in the Central Sub-region 

is under age 18, the highest percentage among the Sub-regions. This Sub-region also has the 

highest percentage of people currently school age (5 to 17), 19.1 percent. This is higher than 

the 18.74 percent of people of school age in the U.S. overall. A larger number of school age 

children with relatively fewer adults suggests larger family sizes in the Central Sub-region of 

Appalachia and potential difficulty in funding elementary and secondary education. While the 

South Sub-region has 17.69 percent of its population of school age, it also has the highest 

percentage less than five (6.6 percent) suggesting potential growth in school age children over 

the next five years. Combined with overall population growth in the South Sub-region this 

suggests increasing school enrollments as the Sub-region continues to grow. Despite being 

highest of the Appalachian Sub-regions, the percentage under five in the South does not 

exceed that for the U.S. overall, where 7.29 percent of the population is under age five. 

Age Composition Across ARC 1998 Distressed County Codes

 The age distribution across 1998 Distressed County Codes is shown in Figure 2.4 and 

Table 2.10. Interestingly, the Distressed and Attainment Counties (codes 1 and 5) have the 

lowest median age, 35 years. The highest median age, 37 years, is found in Transitional-1 

Counties. In general, the age structure becomes ‘younger’ moving from Transitional-1 to 
56 

Attainment Counties. The exception is the Distressed Counties. The Transitional-1 Counties 

have the highest percentage age 65 and over, 15.59 percent, and the lowest percentage under 

age five, 6.1 percent. The Distressed Counties, which have 13.91 percent of the population 

age 65 and over have the largest percentage of school age children — 19.56. The smallest 

school age percentage occurs in the Attainment Counties, where 16.9 percent of the 

population is school age. These counties have the largest under five group — 6.84 percent of 

the population is under five, indicating a future need for school and child care facilities. 











































































































































































































































Figure 2.4 

Age Distribution Across Distress Rankings

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Distressed Transitional-1 Transitional Competitive Attainment

Percent (%)

Under 5



 5-17



 18-64



 65 and Over
57 

Spatial Concentration of Elders in Appalachia

As indicated earlier, age distributions can be an important indicator of different service 

needs and issues facing counties. Those with high elderly populations may be facing demands 

for increased health care, home health services, transportation, and other facilities needed by 

an aging population. This can vary greatly, however, with the types of elderly in the county. 

High concentrations of elders resulting from retirement in-migration suggest a much different 

scenario than high concentrations of elders due to long-time residents aging in place. We 

don’t have information on the reasons for the high concentrations of elders in these counties, 

but we can identify counties that have been designated as retirement destination counties by 

Charles Longinoxxvi or as retirement counties by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.xxvii The 

Longino retirement counties are shown in Map 2.3. The Longino classification of retirement 

counties is preferred to that developed by USDA because it includes both metropolitan and 

Non-metropolitan counties. The counties in Appalachia that Longino has identified as 

Table 2.10 Age Distribution by 1998 ARC Distress Codes, 1996

Distress Code

Percent 

Less Than 5 

Percent 

5-17 

Percent 

18-64 

Percent 65 

and Over 

Median Age 

1 Distressed 6.19 19.56 60.34 13.91 35 

2 Transitional-1 6.09 18.68 59.65 15.59 37 

3 Transitional 6.19 17.84 60.79 15.17 36 

4 Competitive 6.63 17.93 62.35 13.09 35 

5 Attainment 6.84 16.91 63.16 13.09 35 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.
58 

retirement destinations are in northeastern Pennsylvania, northeast West Virginia, and a 

concentrated block in southwest North Carolina, northeast Georgia, a string of counties 

through Tennessee and two in South Carolina. 

The counties in a four-way typology related to being retirement destination counties 

and in the top one-fifth of counties ranked by the percentage of the population age 65 and over 

are shown in Map 2.4. Distinguishing the counties in this way helps identify those counties 

that have concentrations of elders that may be the result of people aging in place or of retiree 

in-migration. As can be seen from the map, most Appalachian Counties are not retirement 

destination counties. Counties that are the lightest gray (Code 1) would be considered 

counties with aging-in-place elders. These counties are in the top 1/5 of counties on 

percentage age 65 and over but they are not retirement destination counties. The next darkest 

gray (code 2) counties are retirement destination counties but they are not in the top fifth of 

counties ranked by age 65 and over. These counties are most likely experiencing growth in 

population across the age range so the influx of elders for retirement is not obvious in the age 

composition. 

The final code of counties (code 3) are retirement destination counties that also are in 

the top one-fifth of counties on percentage age 65 and over. Two of these counties are in 

Pennsylvania, one each in West Virginia and Tennessee, three in Georgia along the North 

Carolina border, and the remainder in western North Carolina. These counties are likely to 

have recently arrived elderly residents, often from metro settings, who have quite different 

sets of expectations from long time elders, and possibly from all long-time residents in these 

communities. The potential for conflict on goals and priorities for service provision and 
59 
60 

economic growth activities among long-time residents and newcomers pose problems for all 

residents as they strive to build lifestyles they desire. Retirement in-migrants also contribute 

economically, and may contribute their skills and energy in a number of ways, to their new 

communities. 

High proportions of school age children suggest very high demands for educational 

services, and possibly for health care targeted to immunizations and child-health issues, 

obstetrics, and child care. Counties with a combination of high proportions of children and 

elderly face a particularly unique situation in having heavy demands for services and facilities 

to meet the needs of both children and elders. 

Dependency Ratios in Appalachia, Sub-regions and ARC 1998 Distressed County Codes

One question often asked is whether counties with large proportions of children or 

elderly dependents have the capability to support these ‘dependents.’ This includes the ability 

of the working age population to support those persons both in terms of family income but 

also the ability of the community to generate funds sufficient to meet their infrastructural and 

service needs. This can be assessed by comparing the size of the working age population with 

the number of dependents. We calculate the dependency ratio as the number of persons under 

18 and over 64 divided by the number of persons ages 18 to 64. 

The dependency ratio for Appalachia, and for the three Sub-regions for 1980, 1990, 

and 1996 are shown in Table 2.11. The dependency ratio is highest in North Appalachia in 

1996 and has remained fairly steady since 1980. Central Appalachian Counties have seen a 

sharp decline in the dependency ratio, from 0.73 in 1980 to 0.63 in 1996, suggesting an 

increased capability to support dependents in the Sub-region. The South Sub-region showed a
61 

decline from 1980 to 1990, but then the dependency ratio seemed to stabilize at 0.60. The 

dependency ratio for the entire region is 0.63, which is comparable to the dependency ratio for 

the U.S. (0.63). Dependency ratios also are examined by 1998 Distressed County Codes. 

The lowest dependency ratio occurs among the Attainment Counties, where the ratio of 

dependents to working age individuals is 0.58 (see Table 2.12). The most distressed 

Transitional Counties (category 2) have the highest dependency ratio — 0.68. With the 

exception of these Transitional Counties, the dependency ratios decline as counties become 

more economically advantaged. 

Spatial Distribution of the Population by Age

To give a sense of the variation in population distribution across counties in the 

Appalachian Region, Table 2.13 lists the ten counties with the population over 65 and the ten 

counties with the lowest percentage of the population over 65 — the ten oldest and least old 

counties in Appalachia in 1996. The ten counties with the highest percentage of the 

population under 18 and the ten counties with the lowest percentage under 18 — the ten 

youngest and least young counties in 1996 are in Table 2.14. These two tables do have some

Table 2.11 Dependency Ratiosa

 in Appalachia, 1980, 1990, 1996

Dependency 

Ratio 1980 

Dependency Ratio 

1990 

Dependency Ratio 

1996 

North Appalachia 0.67 0.66 0.67 

Central Appalachia 0.73 0.65 0.63 

South Appalachia 0.66 0.60 0.60 

Total Appalachia 0.67 0.63 0.63 

a

 Dependency ratio calculated as persons under 18 and over 65 divided by persons between 18 

and 64. 
62 

counties in common (least old counties and youngest counties should be similar, as would the 

oldest and least young), but there is not a one-to-one correspondence. Four of the ten oldest 

counties are in northeastern Pennsylvania and four are located in North Carolina. Of these 

oldest counties, four are identified by Longino and by the USDA as retirement destination 

counties. These are marked with three asterisks (***) in the tables. One county, Polk County, 

North Carolina, was identified as a retirement county only by the USDA. Five of the ten 

least-old counties are in Georgia near the Atlanta metropolitan area. 

Five of the ten youngest counties are found in Kentucky, and three are located in 

Mississippi (Table 2.14). Three of the least young counties are in North Carolina and three 

and USDA as retirement counties, while three others met the criteria for being designated as 

retirement counties by USDA. are found in West Virginia. Two of these least young counties 

were identified by Longino as retirement counties. 

Table 2.12 Dependency Ratiosa

 in Appalachia by 1998 Distress Codes*, 

1980, 1990, 1996

Distress Code

Dependency 

Ratio 1980 

Dependency 

Ratio 1990 

Dependency 

Ratio 1996 

1 Distressed 0.76 0.68 0.66 

2 Transitional-1 0.74 0.69 0.68 

3 Transitional 0.67 0.64 0.64 

4 Competitive 0.65 0.60 0.60 

5 Attainment 0.61 0.58 0.58 

* * Distress codes created by the ARC using measures of unemployment, poverty, and per 

capita income.

a

 Dependency ratio is persons under 18 and over 65 divided by persons between 18 and 64. 
63 

Table 2.13 Ten Oldest and Least Old Counties in Appalachia, 1996

FIPS Code County State Percent over 65 

Ten Oldest:

37149 Polk** NC 25.76 

13281 Towns*** GA 24.81 

37113 Macon*** NC 23.55 

37089 Henderson*** NC 22.79 

42113 Sullivan PA 21.68 

37043 Clay*** NC 21.35 

51091 Highland VA 21.31 

42069 Lackawanna PA 20.64 

42079 Luzerne PA 20.64 

42107 Schuylkill PA 20.59 

Least Old: 

13135 Gwinnett GA 4.90 

13097 Douglas GA 7.23 

13057 Cherokee GA 7.28 

13223 Paulding GA 7.72 

01117 Shelby AL 7.82 

13213 Murray GA 8.60 

21159 Martin KY 8.94 

28105 Oktibbeh MS 8.98 

39025 Clermont OH 8.99 

01089 Madison AL 9.09 

* Longino retirement county 

** Retirement destination county (USDA typology) 

***Both Longino and USDA retirement county 
64 

Table 2.14 Ten Youngest and Least Young Counties 

in Appalachia, 1996

FIPS Code County State Percent under 18 

Ten Youngest: 

39075 Holmes OH 35.22 

28103 Noxubee MS 32.62 

21159 Martin KY 30.55 

28025 Clay MS 29.77 

21153 Magoffin KY 29.68 

36107 Tioga NY 29.39 

21131 Leslie KY 29.33 

21051 Clay KY 29.32 

21147 McCreary KY 29.23 

28009 Benton MS 29.01 

Least Young: 

13281 Towns*** GA 16.87 

37189 Watauga** NC 18.20 

54061 Monongalia WV 18.67 

42027 Centre PA 18.94 

37149 Polk** NC 19.66 

21205 Rowan** KY 20.12 

37113 Macon*** NC 20.20 

54011 Cabell WV 20.31 

54069 Ohio WV 20.40 

39009 Athens OH 20.56 

* Longino retirement county 

** Retirement destination county (USDA typology) 

***both Longino and USDA retirement county 
65 

Once again the diversity of Appalachia is revealed in these tables. Polk County, in 

North Carolina’s western mountains had an elderly population that was 25.8 percent of the 

total county population, the highest in the Region. This compares to the county with the 

lowest percentage elderly, Gwinnett, Georgia, situated between Atlanta and Athens, which 

had only 4.9 percent of the population age 65 or over. In Holmes County, Ohio, which is 

midway between Cincinnati and Akron, 35.2 percent of the population was under age 18 in 

1996 (Table 2.14). Only 16.9 percent of the population of Towns County, Georgia fell in that 

age group, the lowest in the Region. Towns County is situated on the Georgia-North Carolina 

border by Lake Chatuge. 

This variation in age distribution provides additional evidence of the diversity of the 

counties in the Appalachian Region. Clearly, the needs and issues facing a county with 25 

percent elderly population are much different than those experienced by a county with 35 

percent of the population under eighteen. These demographic characteristics have important 

implications for future development and planning. 

Race and Ethnic Composition of Appalachia

As a region, Appalachia is less diverse racially and ethnically than the United States. 

Only by 1996 had the percentage of non-Hispanic Whites in Appalachia dropped to just above 

90 percent (see Figure 2.5; corresponding percentages are in Table 2.15). For the U.S. as a 

whole, the percentage of non-Hispanic Whites was just below 80 percent in 1980 and had 

dropped to 73.1 percent by 1996. Blacks comprised 7.7 percent of the Appalachian 

population in 1996, an increase from 6.95 percent in 1980, while Hispanics in the Region 
66 

increased from 0.6 to 0.9 percent from 1980 to 1996. Over the same period, the percentage of 

Blacks in the U.S. increased from 11.54 to 12.04, while Hispanics comprised 10.67 percent of 

the population in 1996, up from 6.45 percent in 1980. The Appalachian Region has a much 

less diverse population racially and ethnically than the U.S., but as with most other 

characteristics, the racial distribution of the population varies a great deal across counties in 

the region. 

Distribution of Blacks in Appalachia and by Sub-region. One way to evaluate the 

variation in the racial composition is to examine how the Black population in the Appalachian 

Region is distributed across various geographies (ARC Sub-regions, or ARC 1998 Distressed 

County Codes). To begin, however, Table 2.15 shows the percentage of the total population 

that is Black in counties classified by Appalachian Sub-regions. As might be expected, the 

percentage Black is highest in the South Sub-region, with 13.2 percent of the 



































 



































 



 











 



 

























Figure 2.5 Racial Composition of Appalachia and the 

U.S., 1980, 1990, 1996

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1980 1990 1996 1980 1990 1996

PERCENT

Hispanic Black  W hite

Appalachia United States
67 

population classified as Black. Both the Central and North Sub-regions have a very small 

representation of Blacks, with only 0.51 and 0.81 percent Black in the counties in these SubTable 2.15 White, Black, and Hispanic Populations in Appalachia and the United States, 

1980, 1990, 1996

1980 1990 1996 

Region Population Percent Population Percent Population Percent 

North Appalachia 

 White 9,819,332 95.93 9,460,174 95.38 9,541,761 94.71 

 Black 311,436 3.04 322,146 3.25 361,490 3.59 

 Hispanic 53,763 0.53 58,394 0.59 81,683 0.81 

Central Appalachia 

 White 2,041,734 96.53 1,956,095 97.06 2,031,128 96.82 

 Black 51,843 2.45 42,942 2.13 46,620 2.22 

 Hispanic 14,875 0.70 7,170 0.36 10,662 0.51 

South Appalachia 

 White 6,869,055 85.70 7,498,127 85.51 8,124,291 84.53 

 Black 1,052,803 13.14 1,129,934 12.89 1,267,880 13.19 

 Hispanic 53,378 0.67 60,261 0.69 112,811 1.17 

Total Appalachia 

 White 18,730,121 91.97 18,914,396 91.37 19,697,180 90.42 

 Black 1,416,082 6.95 1,495,022 7.22 1,675,990 7.69 

 Hispanic 122,016 0.60 125,825 0.61 205,156 0.94 

United Statesa

 White 180,906,000 79.87 188,306,000 75.60 193,978,000 73.11 

 Black 26,142,000 11.54 29,275,000 11.79 31,912,000 12.04 

 Hispanic 14,609,000 6.45 22,354,000 9.05 28,269,000 10.67

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

a

 U.S. figures rounded to the nearest thousand.
68 

regions, respectively. Over time, from 1980 to 1996, there was little change in the percentage 

of the population Black across these Sub-regions. Only the North Sub-region had as much as 

a half percentage point increase in the county population that is Black. 

The percentage of the Black population found in Appalachian Sub-regions for 1980, 

1990 and 1996 is contained in Table 2.17. This is not the percentage of the population in a 

county type that is Black, but rather the percentage of Appalachian Blacks found in each 

county type -- how Blacks are distributed. There were 1,675,990 Blacks in Appalachia in 

1996, an increase of 18.3 percent over the 1980 figure. This compares with a seven percent 

growth in population for the region as a whole from 1980 to 1996 (data from Table 2.15). 

Table 2.16 Distribution of Black Population Across Appalachian Sub-regions, 

1980, 1990 and 1996

1980 1990 1996 

Sub-region Population Percent Population Percent Population Percent 

Northern 311,436 21.99 322,146 21.55 361,490 21.57 

Central 51,843 3.66 42,942 2.87 46,620 2.78 

Southern 1,052,803 74.35 1,129,934 75.58 1,267,880 75.65 

Total 1,416,082 100.00 1,495,022 100.00 1,675,990 100.00 

Appalachian Blacks are highly concentrated in the Southern Sub-region. In 1996, 

75.65 percent of Blacks lived in counties in the Southern Sub-region, compared with 44.12 

percent of the Appalachian population (from Table 2.1). Blacks were least likely to live in the 

Central Sub-region. In 1996, only 2.78 percent of Blacks in Appalachia lived in this county 

type. By comparison, 9.63 percent of the total Appalachian population lived in the counties in 
69 

this Sub-region. The distribution of Blacks across Appalachia’s Sub-regions changed very 

little from 1980 to 1990. 

Distribution of Blacks by ARC 1998 Distressed County Codes. Examining the 

distribution of Blacks across the 1998 Distressed County Codes (Table 2.17), we see that just 

over half of Blacks live in Transitional Counties (Distressed County Code 3), 53.54 percent. 

The numbers of Blacks increased in each of the Distressed County Code categories, even 

though the percentage of Blacks in some categories (the more economically disadvantaged) 

declined. As Table 2.17 shows the share of Blacks in the Distressed Counties declined from 

8.27 percent in 1980 to 7.03 percent in 1996, while the percentage of Blacks in Attainment 

Counties increased from 22.43 percent in 1980 to 23.45 percent in 1996. Compared with the 

total Appalachian population, Blacks are more likely to reside in the counties that are 

economically better off. For example, only 13.8 percent of the 1996 Appalachian population 

lived in Attainment Counties, compared to 23.45 percent of Appalachian Blacks. 

Table 2.17 Distribution of Black Population Across Distress Codes*, 

1980, 1990, 1996

1980 1990 1996 

Distress Code Population Percent Population Percent Population Percent 

Distressed 117,155 8.27 111,270 7.44 117,759 7.03 

Transitional-1 70,746 5.00 69,906 4.68 75,359 4.50 

Transitional 764,373 53.98 800,698 53.56 897,285 53.54 

Competitive 146,201 10.32 165,753 11.09 192,542 11.49 

Attainment 317,607 22.43 347,395 23.24 393,045 23.45 

Total 1,416,082 100.00 1,495,022 100.00 1,675,990 100.00 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

* * Distress codes created by the ARC using measures of unemployment, poverty, and per capita 

 income.
70 

Spatial Distribution of Blacks Across Appalachia. The percentage that Blacks 

comprise of total county populations in 1996 is shown for each county in Map 2.5. As in the 

other maps, the categories include equal numbers of counties and so each contains twenty 

percent of the counties in the Region. This map shows the relatively limited spatial 

distribution of Blacks in the Appalachian Region, and the large number of counties with a 

very small percentage of the population Black. The counties with the highest percentages 

Black are concentrated in Mississippi and Alabama with some in northeast Georgia, northwest 

South Carolina, and a few in Virginia. The concentration of Blacks in counties that are 

adjacent to metropolitan areas can be observed in this map -- counties around Atlanta, 

Charlotte, and Roanoke, as can the concentrations in metropolitan counties in the region, such 

as Pittsburgh and Winston-Salem. The low percentages of Blacks are obvious through the 

central part of the Appalachian Region, and up into central Pennsylvania and the southern tier 

of New York. 

To highlight the diversity in the distribution of Blacks across Appalachia, Panel A of 

Table 2.18 lists the ten counties in Appalachia with the highest percentage Black. Not 

surprisingly, eight of these counties are in Mississippi and the other two are in Alabama. 

Noxubee County, Mississippi has the highest concentration of Blacks in Appalachia with 

69.43 percent of the county Black in 1996. As can be seen in Table 2.18, several of these 

counties have relatively small numbers of Blacks. As a group, these ten counties with the 

highest concentrations of Blacks are home to only 6.5 percent of the Blacks in Appalachia. 

Only three counties in Appalachia report no Blacks in 1996. 
71 

Because the percentage of Blacks may be quite high even when the number of Blacks 

in a county is relatively small, Panel B of Table 2.18 shows the ten counties in Appalachia 

with the largest number of Blacks. These counties clearly are the large urban counties or are 

adjacent to large cities. As a group, these ten counties contain 48.3 percent of Appalachia’s 

Blacks. Jefferson County Birmingham), Alabama is home to 241,378 Blacks, ( followed by 

Allegheny County (Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania with 160,760 Blacks. The spatial distribution of 

Blacks in Appalachia and the variability of the percentage Black in Appalachian Counties 

reveal the diversity of the counties within the Region with respect to race. 
72 
73 

Table 2.18 Ten Counties in Appalachia with Highest 

 Percentage and Highest Number of Black Persons (non-Hispanic), 1996

FIPS Code County State Number Black Percent Black 

Highest Percent Black:

28103 Noxubee MS 8,619 69.43 

28069 Kemper MS 5,904 56.89 

28025 Clay MS 11,940 54.91 

28093 Marshall MS 16,809 52.15 

28159 Winston MS 8,385 43.13 

01107 Pickens AL 8,927 42.79 

28009 Benton MS 3,290 41.00 

28017 Chickasaw MS 7,370 40.23 

28087 Lowndes MS 23,808 38.90 

01017 Chambers AL 13,651 37.15 

Highest Number Black: 

01073 Jefferson AL 241,378 36.47 

42003 Allegheny PA 160,760 12.40 

37067 Forsyth NC 71,540 25.17 

45045 Greenville SC 63,829 18.49 

47065 Hamilton TN 59,476 20.14 

01089 Madison AL 56,706 20.98 

45083 Spartanburg SC 51,528 21.21 

01125 Tuscaloosa AL 43,616 27.47 

47093 Knox TN 34,091 9.35 

13135 Gwinnett GA 27,053 5.66 
74 

Distribution of Hispanics in Appalachia. Hispanics are a very small part of the 

Appalachian population. In 1980, there were only 122,016 Hispanics in Appalachia, by 1996 

this number had increased by 68 percent to 205,156 (Table 2.19). Despite this increase, 

Hispanics still were only 0.94 percent of the Appalachian population in 1996. Hispanics show 

the most change in their distribution across the county types in the 1998 Distressed Counties 

Codes, compared with either Blacks or Whites. In 1980, 12.9 percent of Hispanics lived in 

the Distressed Counties. The number of Hispanics in these counties dropped by 36 percent 

from 15,722 in 1980 to 10,005 in 1996. By 1996, only 4.88 percent of Hispanics lived in the 

Distressed Counties. The Hispanic population in Transitional-1 Counties (code 2) also 

declined from 1980 to 1996. Most interesting is the influx of Hispanics to the Transitional, 

Competitive and Attainment Counties — the more economically prosperous counties. The 

number of Hispanics in these counties increased by 47.7, 245.9, and 178.1 percent, 

respectively, from 1980 to 1996. By 1996, 53.42 percent of Hispanics lived in the 233 

Transitional Counties (code of 3); 16.65 percent and 22.78 percent resided in the Competitive 

and Attainment Counties, respectively. 
75 

Spatial Distribution of Hispanics in Appalachia. The percentage of a county’s population 

that is Hispanic in 1996 is shown in Map 2.6, with each category containing twenty percent of 

Appalachian Counties. The fairly limited spatial distribution of Hispanics in the region, and 

the large number of counties with few Hispanic residents can be seen. Surprisingly, there 

were no Appalachian Counties that had no Hispanic residents. Hispanics were most 

concentrated in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, the southern tier of New York, 

northwest Pennsylvania and metropolitan counties. As with Blacks, there are few Hispanics 

in the central parts of Appalachia through eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, and much 

of central Pennsylvania. 

Table 2.19 Distribution of Hispanic Population Across 1998 Distress Codes*, 

1980, 1990, 1996

1980 1990 1996 

Distress Code Population Percent Population Percent Population Percent 

1 Distressed 15,722 12.89 6,329 5.03 10,005 4.88 

2 Transitional1 5,428 4.45 3,113 2.47 4,658 2.27 

3 Transitional 74,184 60.80 73,406 58.34 109,589 53.42 

4 Competitive 9,877 8.09 18,121 14.40 34,163 16.65 

5 Attainment 16,805 13.77 24,856 19.75 46,741 22.78 

Total 122,016 100.00 125,825 100.00 205,156 100.00 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

* * Distress codes created by the ARC using measures of unemployment, poverty, and per 

ome income.
76 

To supplement the maps, the ten counties in Appalachia with the highest percentage of 

Hispanic population are given in Table 2.20 Panel A. Five of these counties are in Georgia, 

three in Pennsylvania, and two are located in New York. Hall County, Georgia, which 

contains part of Lake Sydney Lanier and the city of Gainesville, Georgia, has the highest 

percentage Hispanic at 7.3 percent. Overall, these top ten counties contain 23 percent of the 

Hispanic population in the Region. Panel B shows the ten counties with the largest number of 

Hispanics in the region. Gwinnett County, Georgia is home to 18,915 Hispanics, and 

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania has the second highest number of Hispanics, 10,907. Just 

over 33 percent of Appalachian Hispanics live in the ten counties with the largest number of 

Hispanics. The percentage growth in Hispanics in Appalachia has been very fast from 1980 
77 

to 1996, but the growth is from a very small base. In numbers, Hispanics are still a very small 

part of the Appalachian population. They are concentrated in metropolitan areas and the 

fastest growth in Hispanics occurred in these counties, as well. 

The Foreign Born in Appalachia. Only 286,381 Appalachian residents reported 

being foreign born on the 1990 Census, just 1.38 percent of the population. The distribution 

of these foreign born residents for the United States, Appalachia and across Sub-regions in 

Appalachia is reported in Table 2.24. Most notable is the very small percentage of foreign 

born residents in Appalachia compared with the U.S. overall. Almost eight percent of the 

U.S. population is foreign born. Across Appalachian Sub-regions, foreign born are 1.7 

percent of the population in North Appalachia and 1.24 percent of the South Appalachian 

population. The lowest percentage of foreign born is found in Central Appalachia. Since 

1980, the number and percentage of foreign born in Appalachia have declined, while both the 

number and percentage of foreign born have risen in the U.S. overall. 

Foreign Born by ARC 1998 Distressed County Codes. Like Hispanics, the foreign 

born are more likely to live in Appalachian Counties that are the least distressed. Almost 98 

percent of foreign born live in counties with 1998 Distress Codes of 3 or higher, with 29.05 

percent in Attainment Counties (Table 2.22). The majority of foreign born in Appalachia 

(58.36 percent) live in Transitional Counties.
78 

Table 2.20 Ten Counties in Appalachia with Highest 

 Percent and Number of Hispanic Persons (Any Race), 1996

FIPS Code County State Number Hispanic Percent Hispanic 

Highest Percent Hispanic: 

13139 Hall GA 8,246 7.30 

13313 Whitfield GA 4,092 5.10 

13135 Gwinnett GA 18,915 3.96 

42119 Union PA 1,558 3.82 

36013 Chautauqua NY 5,215 3.70 

42103 Pike PA 1,165 3.05 

42089 Monroe PA 3,358 2.81 

36109 Tompkins NY 2,595 2.70 

13187 Lumpkin GA 411 2.38 

13117 Forsyth GA 1,576 2.28 

Highest Number Hispanic: 

13135 Gwinnett GA 18,915 3.96 

42003 Allegheny PA 10,907 0.84 

13139 Hall GA 8,246 7.30 

36013 Chautauqua NY 5,215 3.70 

01089 Madison AL 4,668 1.73 

42049 Erie PA 4,458 1.59 

45045 Greenville SC 4,440 1.29 

13313 Whitfield GA 4,092 5.10 

01073 Jefferson AL 3,749 0.57 

37067 Forsyth NC 3,717 1.31 
79 

Table 2.21 Foreign Born Population in Appalachia and the United States, 

 1980 and 1990

1980 1990 

Region Population Percent Population Percent 

 North Appalachia 221,253 2.16 168,416 1.70 

 Central Appalachia 11,903 0.56 9,446 0.47 

South Appalachia 73,433 0.92 108,519 1.24 

 Total Appalachia 306,589 1.51 286,381 1.38 

United Statesa 14,080,000 6.20 19,767,000 7.90 a

 U.S. figures rounded to the nearest thousand. 

Spatial Distribution of Foreign Born in Appalachia. The top ten counties by 

percentage foreign born are shown in Table 2.23 Panel A. Tompkins County, New York, 

home of Cornell University, has the highest percentage foreign born, 8.5 percent. Three of the 

top ten counties are located in Pennsylvania, with two each in New York and Georgia. 

Several of these counties contain colleges or universities: Centre County, PA (Penn State 

University); Monongalia, WV (University of West Virginia); Madison, AL (University of 

Alabama-Huntsville); Athens, OH (Ohio University), suggesting that the high percentage of 

foreign born may result from graduate students attending the universities or faculty hired by 

the institutions. 

The ten counties with the largest number of foreign born are given in Panel B of Table 

2.23. Allegheny, County, Pennsylvania, which contains the City of Pittsburgh, has the largest 

number of foreign born in Appalachia, 42,005. The second highest is Gwinnett County, 

Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta) with 17,803. The tenth largest county, Luzerne County, PA, is 
80 

home to only 5,637 foreign born, so the numbers drop off quickly, even among the top 

counties. These foreign born may be a combination of persons who immigrated to the United 

States during the 1920s and 1930s, and recent immigrants from Mexico or Asia. 

The distribution of percentage foreign born across all Appalachian Counties is shown 

in Map 2.7. Counties with the highest concentrations of foreign born are largely in New York 

and Pennsylvania, with smaller areas on the South Carolina-North Carolina border near 

Asheville. These foreign born could be long time U.S. residents who emigrated to the United 

States and have retired near the Asheville area or recent immigrants who moved to these areas 

in search of employment. Foreign born tend to concentrate near metro areas and in counties 

that are home to universities. 

Table 2.22 Percentage of Foreign Born Across 1998 Distress Codes, 1990

Distress Code Population Percent 

1 Distressed 2,138 0.77 

2 Transitional-1 4,458 1.61 

3 Transitional 162,017 58.36 

4 Competitive 28,338 10.21 

5 Attainment 80,648 29.05 

Total 277,599 100.00 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

 * Distress codes created by the ARC using measures of unemployment, poverty, 

 and per capita income. 
81 

Table 2.23 Ten Counties in Appalachia with Highest 

 Percentage and Number Foreign Born, 1990

FIPS Code County State Number 

Foreign Born 

Percent 

Foreign Born 

Highest Percent Foreign Born: 

36109 Tompkins NY 8,000 8.50 

13135 Gwinnett GA 17,803 5.04 

42103 Pike PA 1,289 4.61 

13139 Hall GA 4,386 4.60 

42027 Centre PA 5,477 4.42 

36007 Broome NY 9,105 4.29 

42089 Monroe PA 4,015 4.20 

39009 Athens OH 2,138 3.59 

01089 Madison AL 7,691 3.22 

54061 Monongalia WV 2,404 3.18 

Highest Number Foreign Born: 

42003 Allegheny PA 42,005 3.14 

13135 Gwinnett GA 17,803 5.04 

36007 Broome NY 9,105 4.29 

36109 Tompkins NY 8,000 8.50 

01089 Madison AL 7,691 3.22 

01073 Jefferson AL 7,525 1.15 

47093 Knox TN 5,898 1.76 

45045 Greenville SC 5,879 1.84 

42129 Westmoreland PA 5,643 1.52 

42079 Luzerne PA 5,637 1.72 
82 

CONCLUSIONS

This chapter has focused on the population distribution and composition of 

Appalachia, with a special emphasis on the diversity across the Appalachian Region. We 

have observed large differences in the patterns of growth and decline in population and in age 

structure, and we have identified vast differences in the racial, ethnic, and foreign born 

composition of counties. While the population of Appalachia grew from 1980 to 1996, it did 

not keep pace with population growth nation-wide, so Appalachia’s share of the U.S. 

population declined to 8.2 percent. 
83 

Examining the population distribution within Appalachia, we found that the majority 

of Appalachia’s residents live in her metropolitan areas or the surrounding counties, and that 

very few lived in the completely rural counties. Only 10.2 percent of Appalachia’s population 

lived in the most economically distressed counties, while well over half lived in counties that 

are considered Transitional — counties that have a mixture of high and low values on key 

economic indicators. The remaining population, about 24 percent, live in the Competitive and 

Attainment Counties. Over the sixteen years examined, the population declined in Distressed 

and Transitional-1 Counties, and grew in the other three Distressed County Code categories 

— the more economically prosperous counties. Examining Appalachian Sub-regions, the 

population declined from 1980 to 1996 in the Northern and Central Sub-regions, but grew in 

the Southern Sub-region. If these trends continue, the 170 counties of the Southern Subregion will soon contain the majority of the Appalachian Region’s population. 

The combination of regions and counties within Appalachia that are growing and 

declining in population reveal the complexity facing local, state and federal governments as 

they attempt to develop policy to meet the needs of these very diverse settings. Clearly the 

issues and problems facing areas with population decline are much different from those 

experienced by counties with rapid population growth. But just knowing that population 

growth or decline is occurring is not enough information on which to base decision-making. 

It also is critical to know the age distribution of the population and how that is changing. 

Looking at the region as a whole, the youngest age groups are a declining share of the 

population and the older age groups are increasing. There also is a loss (as a percentage of the 

total) of those of early working and middle age. This is especially true in the Northern and 
84 

Central Sub-regions of Appalachia. Such patterns are consistent with the out-migration of 

younger and better-educated persons from the Region, and with in-migration of elders to some 

attractive, amenity-rich areas. Such migration patterns, which will be examined further in 

Chapter 3, indicate that the loss of working age persons and the aging of the Appalachian 

population may result in reduced competitiveness in attracting and retaining jobs in some 

parts of the Region. Programs to facilitate upgrading of job skills and to identify and promote 

regional products with the potential to become exports could aid in keeping some of the 

struggling areas of Appalachia viable, while enhancing the strength of those counties already 

doing well. Strategies to retain young and better-educated persons in the Region, especially in 

those counties that have experienced loss of their youth, are very important to the long-run 

viability of these counties. 

As with the other characteristics we examine, the variability in the age composition of 

counties across the Region is immense. Counties range from having high concentrations of 

school age children to being home to a large share of elders. Among those with large 

percentages of elders, some have faced out-migration of youth and the aging-in-place of longtime residents, while others experienced in-migration of retirees. Some counties not only 

have large shares of either elders or youth, but they also are experiencing rapid gains in elders 

or youth. Others are facing rapid growth in youth or elders, but their share of the population 

is not large. Counties with large concentrations of elders aging-in-place are likely to face 

increased demands for formal and informal health care services, and in-home services, 

coupled with reduced ability to pay for such services. The decline in the working age portion 

of the population suggests that the ability of local government to provide such resources 
85 

through local taxation will be limited. This would be especially true in those counties that 

have experienced increases in the dependency ratio (ratio of those under 18 and 65 and over to 

those ages 19 to 64), although the general decline in the dependency ratio suggests that this 

may not be a problem throughout the region. 

In examining population change, it is important to consider not only the percentage of 

the population with different characteristics, but also how the various segments of the 

population are changing in absolute numbers. These changes in numbers and concentrations 

of various age groups place stress on existing services and facilities. This stress may result 

from under- or over-utilization, depending on the changes in population. Investments in 

infrastructure can help to alleviate the demands placed on local facilities (schools, water, 

sewer, roads) due to population growth, and they can aid in making areas with distressed 

economies and population decline more attractive for industrial or residential development. 

Again, this diversity makes it difficult to develop regional or even state policies that would 

benefit all parts of the Region. Flexibility needs to be included in regional and state programs 

to enable local areas to adapt the programs to meet local needs. 

Finally, the Appalachian Region is not very diverse, racially or ethnically. Blacks are 

a small percentage of the total population (about eight percent) and they are concentrated in 

relatively few counties in the Region, many of which are metropolitan counties, or counties in 

the Southern Sub-region. Hispanics are a very small segment of the population, and while 

their percentage growth has been great over the past sixteen years, they remain few in number 

and a small percentage of the population. Hispanics, like Blacks, are found in or near 
86 

metropolitan areas, and a few counties are home to a large share of the Hispanic population in 

the Region. 
This chapter was written by Stephen A. Matthews. 

Endnotes for Chapter 2

 

1. Beale Codes are based on classifications of counties by metropolitan status, 

population size, and for Non-metropolitan counties whether or not they are adjacent 

to metropolitan counties. Beale Codes were first developed by Calvin Beale at the 

Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and are updated 

as new population data become available. These are 1993 Beale Code 

classifications. 

2. Charles Longino developed a classification of all U.S. counties based on retirement 

in-migration. The details can be found in Longino, Charles F. 1995. Retirement 

Migration in America. Houston: Vacation Publications. 

3. The Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture developed 

typologies of Non-metropolitan counties in 1983 and again in 1995. One of the 

county types identified was retirement destination counties. These were counties 

that had the population in the county age 60 and over increase by 15 percent or more 

from 1970 to 1980 (or from 1980 to 1990). The 1983 Policy Impact Codes are 

described in Peggy J. Ross and Bernal L. Green. 1985. Procedures for Developing a 

Policy-Oriented Classification of Non-metropolitan Counties. Staff Report No. 

AGES850308. Economic Research Service, USDA, September 1985.
This chapter was written by Stephen A. Matthews. 

CHAPTER 3

POPULATION CHANGE AND NET MIGRATION IN APPALACHIA 

INTRODUCTION

The population of the Appalachian Region had grown from 17.8 million in 1960 

to approximately 21.7 million by 1996. However, population growth has not been 

constant within Appalachia and such aggregate analysis masks considerable spatial and 

temporal variation. For example, the rates of population increase for the Appalachian 

Region as a whole have waxed and waned since the Appalachian Regional Commission 

was formed. The 399 counties that make up the Appalachian Region (in Fiscal Year 

1998) experienced a small percentage increase (2.8 percent) in population for the tenyear period 1960-1970, followed by a decade of rapid growth with an 11.1 percent 

increase for 1970-1980.xxviii Between 1980 and 1996, temporal variability has again been 

the “pattern” with small increases (1.6 percent) during the 1980s contrasting with a five 

percent increase over the six years 1990-1996. 

This chapter focuses on population dynamics during the period 1980-1996. The 

aggregate population change data for Appalachia is presented first. This is followed by 

population change data that has been decomposed into two main components: natural 

increase (births minus deaths) and net migration (in-migrants minus out-migrants). 

Furthermore, the overall natural increase and net migration figures are summarized 

based on annual and multi-year breakdowns for each of the Appalachian states and the 
85 

Northern, Central and Southern Sub-regions. In addition, population change and net 

migration data are presented by the 1998 ARC Distressed County Codes (Appendix A to 

this chapter contains population change and net migration data by U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Beale Codes - see Chapter 1). 

In summary, 

• Population growth and annual net migration rates within the Appalachian Region 

have been mainly dominated by counties in the South Sub-region. This reflects 

national trends which between 1980-1996 resulted in significant population 

growth in and movement to Southern and Western states. 

• During the 1990s, the ARC designated Competitive and Attainment Counties 

(found predominantly in Georgia and the Carolinas) witnessed the highest 

growth rates and highest net in-migration rates. 

• Population growth throughout the Region has been highest in fringe metropolitan 

counties (though note there are only 12 fringe counties in the ARC - see Table 

1.1) and Non-metropolitan counties adjacent to metropolitan areas. 

Taken together, population growth and net migration have been highest in 

counties in the South Sub-region, and especially in those counties that are fringe or 

adjacent metropolitan counties, and that are Competitive or Attainment Counties - that is, 

those counties in northern Georgia surrounding Atlanta, and other large and mid-sized 

metropolitan areas in Alabama (Birmingham, Huntsville), Tennessee (Chattanooga), 

North Carolina (Asheville and Winston-Salem) and South Carolina (Spartanburg). 
86 

AGGREGATE TRENDS IN APPALACHIA

During the ten year period 1980-1990 the population of the Appalachian Region 

increased by 371,838 (See Table 3.1). The natural increase in population (i.e. the excess 

of births over deaths) of 782,279 during the 1980s offset the large net out-migration from 

the Region of over 410,000 people. In more recent years (1990-1996), the Appalachian 

Region has seen a migration turnaround with approximately two-thirds of the Region’s 

population growth driven by net in-migration. 

Table 3.1. Components of Population Change in Appalachia, 1981-1996

Natural Increase Net Migration Total Change 

1980-1990 

782,279 (410,441) 371,838 

1990-1996 350,826 668,895 1,019,721 

1980-1996 1,133,105 258,454 1,391,559 

*Numbers are based on U.S. Census estimates of fertility, mortality and migration. 

The annual net population change (total change) for the region as a whole for each 

year between 1980 and 1996 is shown in Table 3.2. With the exception of the first year of 

the data series, annual total population change within the Appalachian Region during the 

early and mid 1980s was fairly modest, and for two years 1984-1985 and 1985-1986 

population size actually decreased. Between 1986-1987 and 1992-1993 annual total 

population change increased each year to a high of just over 200,000 per year in 1992-

1993. By the end of the study period, total population increase was approximately 

150,000 per year (in 1995-1996). Overall, the Appalachian Region grew by over one 
87 

million residents in the six years 1990-1996 (see aggregations in Table 3.1), with most of 

this increase due to natural increase or the excess of births over deaths. 

The annual total population changes was decomposed into natural increase 

(births minus deaths) and net migration totals (see Figure 3.1 and Table 3.2). Annual 

absolute population growth as a result of natural increase fell gradually during the 1980s 

from a high of 118,895 persons in 1980-1981 to the lowest recorded increase of 21,427 

persons in the year 1990-1991. During the 1990s the absolute natural increase per year 

within the Appalachian Region has fallen from 82,178 (1991-92) to 54,481 (1995-1996). 

Fertility and mortality rates for 1996 are presented in Appendix B at the end of the 

chapter. 

Figure 3.1 

Components of Population Change in Appalachia, 

1980-1996

-100,000

-50,000

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

1980-811981-821982-831983-841984-851985-861986-871987-881988-891989-901990-911991-921992-931993-941994-951995-96

Population Change

Natural Increase

Net Migration

Total Change
88 

The Appalachian Region experienced net migration losses every year between 

1980-1981 and 1988-89. Absolute annual net migration losses increased during the early 

1980s, reaching their peak between 1984-1986 at over 82,000 per year. Absolute net 

migration losses decreased rapidly between 1986-1989 with the first reported net 

migration gain (of 38,493) in over a decade reported in the year 1989-1990. Since that 

date, six successive years of absolute net migration in excess of 95,000 per year have 

Table 3.2 Components of Population Change in Appalachia, 1981-1996

Natural Increase Net Migration Total Change

1980-81 118,895 -33,663 85,232 

1981-82 92,180 -56,961 35,219 

1982-83 85,526 -59,505 26,021 

1983-84 76,897 -70,043 6,854 

1984-85 74,668 -85,114 -10,446 

1985-86 70,681 -82,110 -11,429 

1986-87 66,472 -28,434 38,038 

1987-88 66,550 -15,960 50,590 

1988-89 72,192 -17,144 55,048 

1989-90 58,218 38,493 96,711 

1990-91 21,427 95,015 116,442 

1991-92 82,178 117,972 200,150 

1992-93 72,396 129,315 201,711 

1993-94 65,531 113,411 178,942 

1994-95 54,813 115,802 170,615 

1995-96 54,481 97,380 151,861 
89 

been observed. There was an absolute net in-migration of 129,315 people to the 

Appalachian Region in the peak year of 1992-1993. 

The annual population growth rates (this is total population change or the 

combination of natural increase and net migration) and county net migration rates for the 

Appalachian Region and for the United States over the same time period, 1980-1996 are 

reported in Table 3.3. The Appalachian Region annual population growth rates were very 

low (less than 0.5 percent) throughout the 1980s (including the two years of small 

negative growth between 1984-1986). During the 1990s, annual population growth rates 

for the region as a whole have been higher (between 0.67 percent and 0.93 percent). 

However, in all years the Appalachian Region growth rates have lagged those of the U.S. 

Between 1990-1994, Appalachian rates averaged between 80-90 percent of the U.S. rates. 

Throughout the 1980s the county net migration rates for the Appalachian Region 

were negative while the U.S. average hovered around 0.20 percent. The out-migration 

from many parts of Appalachia is largely attributable to the deindustrialization that took 

place in Northern Appalachia during the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the decline in coal 

prices and change to more capital intensive technology to extract coal which severely 

affected employment and income in the mining areas of the Central Sub-region (see 

Chapter 1). More refined Sub-regional breakdowns confirming these broad geographical 

patterns are presented in the next section. Within the Appalachian Region, the lowest 

county net migration rates (-0.41 per year) were reported between 1984-1986, the only
90 

years during the study period when the Appalachian Region’s total population fell. Since 

1989-90, the first year of this study in which Appalachia reported net in-migration, U.S. 

county net migration rates have risen to an average of 0.35 percent. The Appalachian 

Region has seen not just positive county net migration rates, but rates as high as 0.61 

Table 3.3 Annual Population Growth Rate (%) and Net County Migration Rate 

(%) in Appalachia and the United States, 1981-1996

Appalachia United States 

Growth Rate Migration Rate Growth Rate Migration Rate

1980-81 0.42 -0.17 1.29 0.39 

1981-82 0.17 -0.28 0.96 0.23 

1982-83 0.13 -0.29 0.92 0.20 

1983-84 0.03 -0.34 0.87 0.17 

1984-85 -0.05 -0.41 0.89 0.19 

1985-86 -0.06 -0.40 0.93 0.23 

1986-87 0.19 -0.14 0.90 0.20 

1987-88 0.25 -0.08 0.91 0.20 

1988-89 0.27 -0.08 0.95 0.21 

1989-90 0.47 0.19 1.04 0.47 

1990-91 0.84 0.46 1.09 0.29 

1991-92 0.91 0.56 1.15 0.39 

1992-93 0.93 0.61 1.09 0.39 

1993-94 0.82 0.53 1.00 0.34 

1994-95 0.76 0.54 0.97 0.34 

1995-96 0.67 0.45 0.91 0.32 
91 

percent (1992-1993) and the lowest rate of 0.45 percent (1995-1996), both of which are 

significantly higher than the U.S. average for those years. 

Population Growth Rates for Appalachian Sub-regions 

But how do these population growth and county net migration rates vary by Subregion within the Appalachian Region? This breakdown is provided by Sub-regions in 

Table 3.4 and Figure 3.2. 

Figure 3.2 

Annual Population Growth Rates 

for Appalachia, Subregions, and US, 1980-1996

-1.5

-1

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

1980-811981-821982-831983-841984-851985-861986-871987-881988-891989-901990-911991-921992-931993-941994-951995-96

Population Growth (%)

North

Central

South

Appalachia

United States
92 

The North Sub-region - still suffering from the disruptive economic effects of 

deindustrialization - experienced negative population growth for the nine years from 

1980 to 1989, and had a short period of modest growth (0.42-0.52 percent) in the early 

1990s. This is consistent with the beginning of the economic recovery experienced by 

the nation overall and suggested some recovery within the Sub-region as the shift was 

Table 3.4 Annual Population Growth Rate (%) and Net County Migration Rate 

(%) in Appalachia Sub-regions, 1981-1996

Growth Rate Migration Rate 

North Central South North Central South

1980-81 -0.19 0.43 1.19 -0.62 -0.34 0.46 

1981-82 -0.17 0.07 0.63 -0.53 -0.50 0.09 

1982-83 -0.23 0.20 0.56 -0.56 -0.32 0.05 

1983-84 -0.59 -0.49 0.95 -0.87 -0.93 0.46 

1984-85 -0.80 -0.61 1.00 -1.06 -1.00 0.52 

1985-86 -0.62 -0.95 0.85 -0.86 -1.28 0.38 

1986-87 -0.38 -1.05 1.16 -0.59 -1.34 0.70 

1987-88 -0.20 -1.05 1.08 -0.39 -1.31 0.59 

1988-89 -0.03 -0.98 0.91 -0.25 -1.26 0.39 

1989-90 0.15 -0.31 1.01 -0.03 -0.55 0.60 

1990-91 0.46 0.68 1.31 0.22 0.32 0.76 

1991-92 0.52 0.79 1.37 0.31 0.48 0.86 

1992-93 0.42 0.85 1.51 0.23 0.57 1.05 

1993-94 0.13 0.57 1.64 0.04 0.37 1.10 

1994-95 0.02 0.65 1.59 -0.05 0.46 1.19 

1995-96 -0.08 0.43 1.51 -0.14 0.24 1.12 
93 

made to greater reliance on high-tech, services and retail trade industries. The North Subregion closed out the study period with negative growth or population decline, however. 

In all years, population growth rates in the North Sub-region lagged the Appalachian 

Region average (compare with Table 3.3.). 

The Central Sub-region experienced slightly above average Appalachian Region 

population growth rates in 1980-81 and 1982-1983 but otherwise has been below 

average. The Central Sub-region witnessed widely fluctuating growth rates. During the 

mid-to-late 1980s growth was the lowest in Central Appalachia at around -1.0 percent per 

year, but during the 1990s this Sub-region reported positive growth rates as high as 0.85 

percent per year (1992-1993) which are closer to the overall average for the Appalachian 

Region. Again, these patterns are consistent with the severe economic disruption 

experienced in this Sub-region during the 1980s because of the reliance on extractive 

industries such as mining and logging. 

The positive growth in the mid-1990s suggests that the growth of smaller 

metropolitan areas and small cities in Non-metropolitan counties observed nationally,xxix 

may also be occurring in some parts of the Central Sub-region. The completion of major 

highway upgrades through southwest Virginia and West Virginia have made some of the 

more isolated counties more accessible, possibly increasing their attractiveness to small 

manufacturing or high technology plants, as well as to families seeking a small-town 

lifestyle. These patterns reflect a national trend during the 1990s of net in-migration to 

Non-metropolitan areas as jobs become available and lifestyle preferences play-out.xxx
94 

Population growth in the Southern Sub-region has exceeded the Appalachian 

Region average in each of the sixteen years. Moreover, the growth rates for the South 

compare favorably with the U.S. averages. While population growth rates in the South 

Sub-region lagged U.S. averages in the early 1980s by 1986-1987 (especially bad years 

for Central Appalachia) they exceeded the national average, and throughout the 1990s 

have been in excess of 1.5 times the national average. The growth of the Sunbelt and of 

the Atlanta area, in particular, tend to drive this population increase in the Southern Subregion. Research on employment in the Sunbelt suggests that not all parts of the 

Southern Sub-region are taking part in the rapid growth experienced near metropolitan 

areas.xxxi

Net Migration Rates by Appalachian Sub-region

Regional fortunes, as measured in the county net migration rate (Table 3.4 and 

Figure 3.3), parallel the findings for population growth rates. Out-migration during the 

1980s was a phenomenon found in both the North and Central Sub-regions of the 

Appalachian Region, but not the South Sub-region. The North and Central Sub-regions 

experienced negative county net migration throughout the 1980s, with annual rates as low 

as -1.06 percent in the North and -1.34 percent in the Central Sub-regions. During the 

1990s the Central Sub-region saw county net migration rates higher than the national 

average (in 1992-1993 68 percent higher) but below the Appalachian Region average. 

Appalachian Region county net migration average is driven upwards by the South Subregion which recorded a positive rate in all sixteen years, and since 1983-1984, at rates in 

excess of the U.S. average (3.5 times the average in 1994-95 and 1995-1996). 
95 

State Level Population Growth and Net Migration Rates

State level summaries (based on counties in the ARC Region) for population 

growth and county net migration rates for the periods 1980-1989 and 1990-1996 are 

shown in Table 3.5. Regarding population growth, one cannot help being drawn to 

figures reported for Georgia: very high during the 1980s and sustained growth during the 

1990s (34 percent and 21.44 percent respectively). Population growth in the Carolinas 

also was high and sustained. Again, the North-Central-South Sub-region pattern is 

striking, with negative growth during the 1980s found only in North and Central States 

Five states show negative growth, with West Virginia reporting a -7.36 population 

growth rate. During the 1990s, population growth rates have generally increased with 

Figure 3.3 

Annual Net Migration Rates 

for Appalachia, Subregions and US, 1980-1996

-1.5

-1

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

1980-811981-821982-831983-841984-851985-861986-871987-881988-891989-901990-911991-921992-931993-941994-951995-96

Migration Rate (%)

North

Central

South

Appalachia

United States
96 

only the New York counties within the Appalachian Region reporting negative 

population growth or decline. 

States in the Southern Sub-region have higher population growth rates. The top 

five in rank order are Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama. 

Georgia’s annual growth rate during the 1980s of 34 percent reflects phenomenal growth 

that stresses infrastructure, and this growth continued at roughly 21 percent annually from 

Table 3.5 Annual Population Growth Rate (%) and Net County Migration Rate 

(%) in Appalachia by State, 1980-1989 and 1990-1996

1980-1989 1990-1996 

Growth Rate Migration Rate Growth Rate Migration Rate

Alabama 3.70 -1.12 6.01 3.16 

Georgia 34.00 25.28 21.44 17.82 

Kentucky -2.80 -7.44 4.72 2.09 

Maryland 1.23 -0.80 2.13 1.74 

Mississippi 2.20 -3.96 4.36 1.09 

North Carolina 6.84 3.76 7.72 6.53 

New York 0.06 -3.92 -0.72 -2.31 

Ohio -0.32 -4.79 4.92 2.92 

Pennsylvania -3.86 -5.63 0.81 0.40 

South Carolina 10.80 5.20 7.63 5.69 

Tennessee 3.19 -0.25 8.02 6.49 

Virginia -5.39 -7.40 1.47 0.81 

West Virginia -7.36 -9.96 1.86 0.40 
97 

1990 to 1996. Those states that grew fastest during the 1980s slowed down during the 

1990s, while those that had slower growth or decline during the 1980s recovered 

somewhat during the 1990s. New York was the exception, it had approximately zero 

annual growth during the 1980s and this turned into annual decline in the 1990s. 

Not surprisingly, the county net migration rate data tell a similar story. Georgia 

and the Carolinas are the only states where the county net migration rate for counties in 

the Appalachian Region was positive during the 1980s. Other Southern states witnessed 

small negative growth (especially Tennessee and Alabama) but Central Appalachia was 

hardest hit with the highest net out-migration reported in West Virginia, Kentucky and 

Virginia. During the 1990s, New York was the only state to report a negative net 

migration rate 

(-2.31) or net out-migration, and the top five states with positive county net migration 

rates or net in-migration in rank order were Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, South 

Carolina, and Alabama. 

Some of the general trends at the state level are also revealed in Table 3.6 which 

reports, for the period 1990-1996, the ten Appalachian Region counties with the highest 

and lowest absolute population growth and the ten Appalachian Region counties with the 

high in-migration adjacent to metropolitan areas both inside and outside the Appalachian 

highest and lowest population growth rates. With regard to the absolute growth, the top 

seven counties can be found in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee, while those 

experiencing least growth, actually population loss, are from Pennsylvania, New York, 

West Virginia and Ohio. 
98 

All but one of the least growth counties in Table 3.6 contain an old industrial city. These 

cities are listed in the table in parentheses after the county name. These patterns are 

consistent with the decline of older industrialized cities in the Northern
99 

Table 3.6 Ten Counties with Most and Least Population Growth in 

Appalachia, 1990-1996

FIPS Code County State Growth 

Most Growth: 

13135 Gwinnett GA 121,405 

01089 Madison AL 30,165 

13057 Cherokee GA 30,106 

01117 Shelby AL 30,037 

47093 Knox TN 27,957 

13117 Forsyth GA 24,361 

45045 Greenville SC 23,637 

42089 Monroe PA 22,789 

13223 Paulding GA 22,044 

39025 Clermont OH 18,615 

Least Growth:

42003 Allegheny (Pittsburgh) PA -39,827 

36007 Broome (Binghamton) NY -10,583 

42079 Luzerne (Wilkes-Barre) PA -7,201 

42069 Lackawanna (Scranton) PA -5,720 

42021 Cambria (Johnstown) PA -4,434 

54047 McDowell WV -3,460 

39081 Jefferson (SteubenvilleWierton) OH -3,053 

01015 Kanawha (Charleston) WV -2,369 

36015 Chemung (Elmira) NY -2,011 
100 

Table 3.7 Ten Counties with Highest and Lowest Population Growth 

Rate in Appalachia, 1990-1996

FIPS Code County State Growth Rate (%) 

Highest Growth Rate: 

13117 Forsyth GA 54.42 

13223 Paulding GA 52.45 

13085 Dawson GA 36.39 

13135 Gwinnett GA 34.05 

42103 Pike PA 33.19 

13057 Cherokee GA 32.94 

01117 Shelby AL 30.00 

13123 Gilmer GA 25.44 

13013 Barrow GA 24.47 

13291 Union GA 23.62 

Lowest Growth Rate: 

54047 McDowell WV -9.89 

54021 Gilmer WV -5.73 

36007 Broome NY -4.99 

21013 Bell KY -4.05 

51027 Buchanan VA -3.90 

51005 Alleghany VA -3.83 

39081 Jefferson OH -3.81 

51091 Highland VA -3.45 

54109 Wyoming WV -3.33 

21095 Harlan KY -3.06 
101 

and Central Sub-regions, the decline in coal employment, and the rapid growth near Atlanta 

and other Southern metropolitan areas. Retirement in-migration also boosts the net 

migration of some Southern states. 

When looking at population growth rates (see Table 3.7), the dominance of 

Georgia, and the growth of counties near Atlanta, is evident. Eight of the top ten counties 

with the highest population growth rates are found in Georgia, and all but one of these are 

close to Atlanta and in the Atlanta metropolitan areas. Forsyth County and Paulding 

County grew by over 50 percent between 1990 and 1996. These counties grew by over 

20,000 persons in those six years, so they were not especially small counties to begin with. 

North and Central Sub-region counties dominate the list of those counties that grew least, 

with McDowell County, West Virginia reporting a negative growth rate of -9.89 percent 

over the 1990-1996 period. Those counties with negative growth rates tend to be either in 

coal producing areas of West Virginia, Virginia or Kentucky or home to cities (e.g. 

Broome, Jefferson and Highlander Counties). 

Population growth rates between 1990-1996 at the county level for the 

Appalachian Region are illustrated in Map 3.1. Similarly, annual net migration rates for 

Appalachian Region counties between 1985-1990 are shown in Map 3.2, with more recent 

years (1990-96) shown in Map 3.3. These maps confirm spatial patterns consistent with 

both the higher population growth rates in the South Sub-region and the high in-migration 

to counties in the South Sub-region. The maps reveal pockets of Regional growth in and 

near metropolitan areas (e.g., Cincinnati, Lexington, Huntsville, Birmingham, Atlanta, 

Chattanooga, Knoxville, Asheville, Greensboro, Hagerstown, Albany). 
102 
103 

Annual Population Growth by 1998 Distressed County Codes

The population growth rates by 1998 ARC Distress Code (based on 1998 

Distressed County Codes) for the period 1980-1996 are reported in Table 3.8 and Figure 

3.4. Broadly speaking population growth rates were lowest (and often negative) 

throughout the 1980s among the Distressed and Transitional-1 Counties, and highest (and 

always positive) among the Competitive and Attainment Counties. While all Distress 

Code groupings experienced growth, especially during the early 1990s, only Competitive 

and Attainment Counties exceeded the U.S. average. Interestingly, the Competitive 

Counties experienced the highest annual population growth rates in all but one year, 1986-

1987, with rates hovering between 1.2 percent and 1.5 percent through the 1980s and early 
104 

1990s. Between 1992-1996, the average annual population growth rate in Competitive 

Counties exceeded 1.7 percent (or 70 percent higher than the U.S. average). 

Annual Net Migration Rates by 1998 Distressed County Codes

The most distressed counties (Distressed and Transitional) tend to report the lowest 

net migration rates, while the group of counties that are least distressed (Competitive and 

Attainment) report the highest net migration rates (see Table 3.9 and Figure 3.5). 

Moreover, not only did the group of counties that are most distressed report the lowest net 

migration rates they also reported net out-migration in each year during the decade of the 

1980s, with a lowest reported rate of -1.64 in 1986-1987. While Transitional counties 

(Distress Codes 2 and 3) fair little better during the 1980s, by the early 1990s they 

experience net migration rates above the U.S. national average (though below 

Appalachian Region averages). Competitive and Attainment Counties reported net in 

migration throughout the period 1980-1996, with annual net migration rates for 

Competitive Counties during the mid-1990s exceeding 1.3 percent (or four times the U.S. 

average). 

Figure 3.4 

Annual Population Growth Rates by Distress Codes 1980-1996

-2

-1.5

-1

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

1980-811981-821982-831983-841984-851985-861986-871987-881988-891989-901990-911991-92

1992-931993-94

1994-951995-96

Population Growth (%)

Distressed

Transitional-1

Transitional

Competitive

Attainment
105 

Table 3.8 Annual Population Growth Rate (%) across Distress Codes* in 

Appalachia, 1981-1996

Distressed Transitional-1 Transitional Competitive Attainment

1980-81 0.18 0.10 0.31 1.45 0.65 

1981-82 0.14 0.05 0.04 0.96 0.43 

1982-83 0.19 0.01 -0.04 0.71 0.59 

1983-84 -0.65 -0.54 -0.11 1.26 0.77 

1984-85 -0.77 -0.68 -0.19 1.28 0.66 

1985-86 -1.08 -0.76 -0.20 1.14 1.03 

1986-87 -1.34 -0.58 0.09 1.35 1.48 

1987-88 -1.35 -0.60 0.19 1.51 1.29 

1988-89 -1.25 -0.21 0.26 1.28 1.00 

1989-90 -0.60 -0.22 0.45 1.46 0.99 

1990-91 0.49 0.59 0.75 1.45 1.21 

1991-92 0.50 0.78 0.81 1.42 1.39 

1992-93 0.62 0.72 0.78 1.71 1.41 

1993-94 0.38 0.23 0.60 1.83 1.73 

1994-95 0.48 0.58 0.61 1.74 1.08 

1995-96 0.11 0.43 0.51 1.74 1.12 

* Distress codes created by the ARC using measures of unemployment, poverty, and per 

capita income. 
106 

Table 3.9 Annual Net Migration Rate (%) across Distress Codes* in 

Appalachia, 1981-1996

Distressed Transitional1

Transitiona

l

Competitiv

e

Attainment

1980-81 -0.59 -0.51 -0.23 0.65 0.17 

1981-82 -0.42 -0.39 -0.38 0.35 0.01 

1982-83 -0.34 -0.39 -0.42 0.14 0.17 

1983-84 -1.10 -0.87 -0.45 0.73 0.35 

1984-85 -1.18 -0.94 -0.52 0.74 0.21 

1985-86 -1.43 -1.00 -0.50 0.60 0.56 

1986-87 -1.64 -0.79 -0.19 0.79 0.99 

1987-88 -1.62 -0.79 -0.08 0.93 0.78 

1988-89 -1.52 -0.43 -0.03 0.68 0.45 

1989-90 -0.82 -0.41 0.20 0.99 0.56 

1990-91 0.14 0.37 0.43 0.81 0.63 

1991-92 0.23 0.56 0.52 0.86 0.83 

1992-93 0.36 0.51 0.52 1.18 0.92 

1993-94 0.23 0.28 0.41 1.38 0.85 

1994-95 0.33 0.48 0.44 1.32 0.64 

1995-96 -0.04 0.35 0.66 1.32 0.68 

* Distress codes created by the ARC using measures of unemployment, poverty, and per 

capita income. 
107 

Summary of Growth and Net In-migration in Appalachia

The proportion of counties within the Appalachian Region that are growing and 

the proportion of counties that report net in-migration are listed in Table 3.10. The data are 

broken down into two time periods: 1980-1989 and 1990-1996. During the 1980s, 204 

Appalachian Region counties (51 percent) reported a total population increase, while 138 

counties (34.6 percent) reported net in-migration. Between 1990 and 1996, total 

population grew in eighty five percent of counties within the Appalachian Region and 

over 300 counties (or 77 percent) witnessed net in-migration. While the origin of these inmigrants is unknown, it does suggest that either the Appalachian Counties that 

experienced net out-migration contributed greatly to the growth in population in other 

Figure 3.5 

Annual Net Migration Rates by Distress Codes, 1980-1996

-2

-1.5

-1

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

1980-81

1981-82

1982-83

1983-84

1984-85

1985-86

1986-87

1987-88

1988-89

1989-90

1990-91

1991-92

1992-93

1993-94

1994-95

1995-96

Migration Rates (%)

Distressed

Transitional-1

Transitional

Competitive

Attainment
108 

counties in the Region, or that Appalachia is attracting residents from outside of the 

Region. This pattern is particularly pronounced in the 1990s. 

Summary of Growth and Net In-migration by 1998 Distressed County Codes

The proportion of counties growing and experiencing net in-migration by ARC 

Distressed County Code classifications for two time periods, 1980-1989 and 1990-1996, 

are shown in Table 3.11. During the 1980s there was considerable variation in the 

proportions of counties growing by distressed county status. For example, only 23 percent 

of Distressed Counties experienced population growth compared with 92 percent of 

Competitive and 82 percent of Attainment Counties. The percentage of counties 

experiencing population growth within each Distress Code classification increased by the 

1990-1996 period. The most marked change was among Distressed and Transitional 

Counties, such that by the period 1990-1996 approximately eighty percent of Distressed 

Counties experienced population growth. 

Table 3.10 Proportion of Counties Growing and Experiencing Net In-Migration, 

 1980-1989 and 1990-1996

1980-1989 1990-1996 

Percent Number Percent Number

Percent Growing 51.1 204 85.5 341 

Percent Net In-migration 34.6 138 77.4 309 
109 

The variation in the proportion of counties experiencing net in-migration was even 

greater than that of the proportion of counties growing across Distress Codes. During the 

1980s less than ten percent of all Distressed Counties experienced net in-migration, as did 

less than 20 percent of all Transitional-1 Counties. For the same period, almost 90 percent 

of Competitive Counties had experienced net in-migration. Over the period 1990-1996 

many additional Distressed and Transitional-1 Counties experienced net in-migration: 62 

Table 3.11 Proportion of Counties Growing and Experiencing Net In-Migration 

by Distress Codes*, 1980-1989 and 1990-1996

1980-1989 1990-1996 

% N % N

Distressed Percent Growing 22.7 22 79.4 77 

Percent Net Inmigration 

8.3 8 61.9 60 

Transitional-1 Percent Growing 48.5 16 87.9 29 

Percent Net Inmigration 

18.2 6 81.8 27 

Transitional Percent Growing 57.5 134 86.3 201 

Percent Net Inmigration 

39.9 93 81.1 189 

Competitive Percent Growing 92.0 23 96.0 24 

Percent Net Inmigration 

88.0 22 92.0 23 

Attainment Percent Growing 81.8 9 90.9 10 

Percent Net Inmigration 

81.8 9 90.9 10 

* Distress codes created by the ARC using measures of unemployment, poverty, and per 

capita income. 
110 

percent Distressed and 82 percent Transitional-1 Counties. The middle Distress Code 

category, Transitional Counties, also showed a marked increase with about 40 percent of 

these counties reporting net in-migration, in the early period compared with over 80 

percent for the years 1990-1996. 

These patterns of overall population growth and net in-migration by Distressed 

County Code are consistent with out-migration from economically stressed counties 

during the 1980s. This was a period during which many rural counties experienced severe 

economic hardship, coal producing counties were especially hard-hit, and people moved 

out of these counties. The 1990s brought some improvement in economic conditions as 

local economies attempted to diversity and take advantage of broader economic strength 

in the U.S. Clearly, not all counties were able to rebound as quickly as others, or at all, 

thus some still had net out-migration from 1990 to 1996. 

There were 58 counties that had experienced population decline during both the 

1980 and 1990 time periods (Map 3.4). As can be seen from the map these tend to be 

counties in the old industrial Rustbelt, a block of counties in the coal-producing regions of 

West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky, and a few scattered counties in Mississippi and 

Alabama. None of the Appalachian Region counties in Tennessee, North Carolina, South 

Carolina or Georgia experienced decline throughout the 1980 to 1996 period. 
111 

Spatial Variation in Population Growth and Net Migration Rates Across Beale Codes

A useful way to analyze population change and migration is to look at how such 

changes are distributed geographically along an urban to rural continuum, from central 

cities to the most isolated, rural areas. One framework for performing such analysis was 

first introduced by Calvin Beale of the Economic Research Service at the U.S. Department 

of Agriculture. He developed a classification scheme for counties based on a geographic 
112 

continuum of settlement patterns, adjacency to metropolitan areas and population density. 

Today, this classification scheme has taken on the name of its creator and is better known 

as the Beale codes (See Chapter 1). 

Population Growth. Annual population growth rates across Beale Codes within 

the ARC are presented in Table 3.12. Beale Codes 0-3 are metropolitan counties while 

Beale Codes 4-9 are Non-metropolitan codes (see Chapter 1 and especially Table 1.1 for a 

breakdown of the number of ARC counties in each Beale Code classification). As shown 

in the table the fringe counties of metropolitan areas with one million or more people 

(Beale Code 1) within the Appalachian Region had the highest growth rates. Fringe 

county population growth rates after 1984-1985 were at least twice the US average and 

four times the average for the Appalachian Region. Within the metropolitan codes, 

counties in metropolitan areas of 250,000 -1,000,000 (Beale Code 2) were above the 

Appalachian Region average for all years (except 1982-1983). Counties within 

metropolitan areas with less than 250,000 people (Beale Code 3) had negative growth 

between 1980-1988 and below average Appalachian Region growth thereafter. The 

central counties of the region’s largest metropolitan areas grew at rates at or above the 

Appalachian Region average in ten of the sixteen years covered, including the eight 

consecutive years between 1985-1986 and 1992-1993. However, these counties never 

exceed the average US growth rates and were below Appalachian Region averages from 

1993 onwards. 
113 

Table 3.12 Annual Population Growth Rate (%) across Beale Codes* in 

Appalachia, 

1981-1996

Beale Codes 

Metro Areas Non-Metro Areas 

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1980-81 -0.02 1.17 0.63 -0.10 0.10 1.03 0.58 0.56 0.65 0.34 

1981-82 0.24 1.09 0.19 -0.25 0.02 0.33 0.23 0.21 0.45 0.12 

1982-83 0.21 1.19 0.09 -0.36 -0.06 0.60 0.17 0.27 0.29 0.15 

1983-84 0.03 1.26 0.18 -0.37 -0.08 -0.39 0.22 -0.29 0.39 -0.09 

1984-85 -0.33 1.71 0.25 -0.42 -0.40 -0.36 0.12 -0.37 0.12 -0.42 

1985-86 0.21 2.16 0.10 -0.34 -0.43 -0.57 0.16 -0.63 0.10 -1.01 

1986-87 0.43 2.57 0.53 -0.03 -0.16 -0.57 0.08 -0.65 0.60 -0.68 

1987-88 0.51 2.38 0.52 -0.06 0.04 -0.26 0.37 -0.53 0.22 -0.86 

1988-89 0.49 2.16 0.51 0.13 0.12 -0.42 0.37 -0.54 0.33 -0.76 

1989-90 0.62 2.78 0.56 0.37 0.19 0.13 0.48 -0.05 0.47 -0.30 

1990-91 0.84 2.70 0.88 0.54 0.45 0.76 0.93 0.64 1.37 0.49 

1991-92 1.02 2.52 0.93 0.48 0.64 0.91 1.00 0.72 1.16 0.74 

1992-93 0.95 2.35 0.95 0.56 0.53 0.90 1.17 0.77 1.13 0.69 

1993-94 0.66 3.07 1.03 0.10 0.52 0.62 0.87 0.73 1.17 0.48 

1994-95 0.53 3.15 0.64 0.30 0.48 0.78 1.00 0.73 1.55 0.78 

1995-96 0.46 3.28 0.63 0.11 0.29 0.58 0.96 0.53 1.16 0.47 

*Beale Codes 

0 - Central counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 

1 - Fringe counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 

2 - Counties in metro areas of 250,000 - 1,000,000 pop. 

3 - Counties in metro areas of less than 250,000 pop. 

4 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, adjacent to a metro area 

5 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to a metro area 

6 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, adjacent to a metro area 

7 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, not adjacent to a metro area 

8 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or more) adjacent to a metro area 

9 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or more) not adjacent to a metro area
114 

Reflecting broad suburbanization processes of the 1980s and 1990s, Nonmetropolitan codes, counties with an urban population of 2,500-19,999 and adjacent to a 

metropolitan area (Beale Code 6) and completely rural counties adjacent to a metropolitan 

area (Beale Code 8) grew at rates above the Appalachian Region average, and during the 

1990s at rates that exceeded the US averages (compare with Table 3.3). Indeed, 

completely rural counties adjacent to metropolitan areas (Beale Code 8) grew at rates 

between 17 percent and 50 percent above the US average after 1993. Other Nonmetropolitan county groups had some experience with negative growth, typically during 

the mid and late 1980s. The non-adjacent, Non-metropolitan coded counties (Beale Codes 

5, 7 and 9), with just a few exceptions (the years 1981-1983, and year 1994-1995), grew at 

rates consistently below the Appalachian Region average, though toward the end of the 

study period counties with an urban population of 20,000+ and not adjacent to a 

metropolitan area (Beale Code 5) closely mirrored overall Appalachian Region rates. 

Annual Net Migration Rates

Annual net migration rates by Beale Code are presented in Table 3.13. Fringe 

counties reported the highest annual net migration rates for all years between 1980 and 

1996, with rates as much as eight times the US average during the 1990s (compare with 

Table 3.3). For the other metropolitan county codes (Beale Codes 0, 2 and 3) negative net 

migration rates were observed 1980 through 1986, and for Beale Code 3 through to 1989. 

During the 1990s, the metropolitan counties, with the exception of Beale Code 3, have 

reported net migration rates higher than the US average. 
115 

Table 3.13 Annual Migration Rate (%) across Beale Codes* in Appalachia, 1981-

1996

Beale Code 

Metro Areas Non-Metro Areas 

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1980-81 -0.39 0.40 0.02 -0.62 -0.43 0.30 -0.01 -0.16 0.03 -0.34 

1981-82 -0.12 0.49 -0.27 -0.65 -0.39 -0.23 -0.19 -0.32 -0.01 -0.38 

1982-83 -0.13 0.63 -0.35 -0.72 -0.45 0.09 -0.21 -0.22 -0.12 -0.29 

1983-84 -0.28 0.72 -0.23 -0.68 -0.42 -0.84 -0.12 -0.72 0.03 -0.47 

1984-85 -0.65 1.13 -0.15 -0.71 -0.73 -0.80 -0.21 -0.78 -0.21 -0.75 

1985-86 -0.12 1.56 -0.28 -0.62 -0.74 -0.97 -0.14 -0.99 -0.20 -1.28 

1986-87 0.09 1.96 0.16 -0.27 -0.43 -0.93 -0.19 -0.97 0.34 -0.90 

1987-88 0.16 1.75 0.14 -0.31 -0.22 -0.61 0.09 -0.83 -0.03 -1.06 

1988-89 0.11 1.50 0.10 -0.14 -0.16 -0.79 0.07 -0.85 0.06 -0.98 

1989-90 0.32 2.28 0.23 0.16 -0.06 -0.16 0.24 -0.30 0.27 -0.50 

1990-91 0.44 1.97 0.45 0.25 0.14 0.31 0.58 0.30 1.01 0.22 

1991-92 0.64 1.86 0.53 0.22 0.37 0.49 0.70 0.42 0.92 0.52 

1992-93 0.62 1.70 0.58 0.32 0.28 0.55 0.92 0.48 0.89 0.55 

1993-94 0.41 2.53 0.44 0.02 0.42 0.33 0.82 0.53 1.00 0.41 

1994-95 0.28 2.54 0.37 0.19 0.31 0.46 0.84 0.54 1.37 0.70 

1995-96 0.22 2.70 0.36 0.01 0.13 0.29 0.81 0.34 0.97 0.39 

*Beale Codes: 

0 - Central counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 

1 - Fringe counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 

2 - Counties in metro areas of 250,000 - 1,000,000 pop. 

3 - Counties in metro areas of less than 250,000 pop. 

4 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, adjacent to a metro area 

5 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to a metro area 

6 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, adjacent to a metro area 

7 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, not adjacent to a metro area 

8 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or more) adjacent to a metro area 

9 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or more) not adjacent to a metro area
116 

Among the Non-metropolitan county groups, Beale Codes 6 and 8 (both adjacent 

codes) reported net migration rates above the Appalachian Region average throughout the 

period of study. However, even these county classifications reported negative net 

migration rates (with some exceptions) between 1980-1981 and 1986-1987. During the 

1990s these groups of counties experienced positive net migration rates of two to three 

times the US average, and were only exceeded within the Beale typology by fringe county 

growth rates. By and large, Non-metropolitan counties (all classifications) experienced out 

migration (negative net migration) through the mid 1980s, and Beale Codes 4, 5, 7 and 9 

continued to do so through until 1989-1990. The largest negative migration rate reported 

by Non-metropolitan county classifications during this time was -1.28 by rural non 

adjacent counties (Beale Code 9) in 1985-1986. All Non-metropolitan codes (except Beale 

Code 4) reported net migration rates exceeding the US averages from 1990-1991 onwards. 

Proportion of counties growing and experiencing net in-migration by Beale Code

Once again the overall figures can be examined by Beale Codes. Beale Code 

comparisons are reported in Table 3.14. A number of patterns emerge. First, for all Beale 

Code classifications the number of counties experiencing total population growth 

increased between the two time periods. Second, between 1980-1989 only fringe counties 

were observed to have over 75 percent of the counties experiencing population growth (in 

fact population growth was reported in eleven out of the twelve fringe counties), but for 

the period 1990-1996, eight of the Beale Code classifications have over 75 percent of the 

counties experiencing growth. For the latter time period, the rank order of the top three 

typologies based on the percentage of counties experiencing population growth was: 
117 

fringe (Beale Code 1); completely rural and adjacent to a metropolitan area (Beale Code 

8); small urban population adjacent to metropolitan area (Beale Code 6). The county 

typologies with the lowest proportion of counties experiencing growth during the 1990s 

were counties in metropolitan areas of less than 250,000 people (Beale Code 3) at 

approximately 65 percent and Non-metropolitan counties with urban populations 

exceeding 20,000 that are adjacent to metropolitan areas at 68 percent. 

The proportion of counties experiencing net in-migration during the 1980s was less 

than 50 percent for all but two Beale Codes: fringe (Beale Code 1) and metropolitan 

counties in metropolitan areas of between 250,000 and one million people (Beale Code 2). 

The data for the 1990s time period reveals that across all Beale Codes at least 50 percent 

of counties experienced net in-migration. The rank order is somewhat similar to that 

observed for the percentage with a growing population listed above: namely, fringe (Beale 

Code 1) completely rural and adjacent to a metropolitan area (Beale Code 8), and small 

urban population adjacent to metropolitan area (Beale Code 6). Perhaps deserving of 

mention here are those counties in Beale Code 4, Non-metropolitan counties with an urban 

population of 20,000 or more and adjacent to a metropolitan area (note bene: nineteen 

counties in the ARC are classified in this group). During the 1980s only 26 percent of all 

counties in this classification experienced net in-migration, but for the period 1990-1996 

this had grown to almost 80 percent (or in 15 of the 19 counties). Thus, during the 1990s 

over eighty percent of those Non-metropolitan counties adjacent to metropolitan areas 

(Beale Codes 4, 6, and 8) experienced net in-migration. 
118 

Table 3.14 Proportion of Counties Growing and Experiencing Net In-Migration 

by Beale Codes*, 1980-1989 and 1990-1996

1980-1989 1990-1996 

% N % N

Metropolitan Areas:

Code 0 Percent Growing 42.9 3 85.7 6 

Percent Net In-migration 42.9 3 71.4 5 

Code 1 Percent Growing 91.7 11 100.0 12 

Percent Net In-migration 83.3 10 100.0 12 

Code 2 Percent Growing 71.2 42 88.1 52 

Percent Net In-migration 52.5 31 83.1 49 

Code 3 Percent Growing 35.5 11 64.5 20 

Percent Net In-migration 25.8 8 54.8 17 

*Beale Codes: 

0 - Central counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 

1 - Fringe counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 

2 - Counties in metro areas of 250,000 - 1,000,000 pop. 

3 - Counties in metro areas of less than 250,000 pop. 

4 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, adjacent to a metro area 

5 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to a metro area 

6 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, adjacent to a metro area 

7 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, not adjacent to a metro area 

8 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or more) adjacent to a metro area 

9 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or more) not adjacent to a metro area 
119 

Table 3.14 Proportion of Counties Growing and Experiencing Net InMigration by Beale Codes*, 1980-1989 and 1990-1996 (continued) 

1980-1989 1990-1996 

% N % N

Non-metropolitan Areas:

Code 4 Percent Growing 36.8 7 68.4 13 

Percent Net In-migration 26.3 5 79.0 15 

Code 5 Percent Growing 63.6 7 90.9 10 

Percent Net In-migration 36.4 4 72.7 8 

Code 6 Percent Growing 59.0 46 91.0 71 

Percent Net In-migration 35.9 28 83.3 65 

Code 7 Percent Growing 45.5 35 84.4 65 

Percent Net In-migration 23.4 18 74.0 57 

Code 8 Percent Growing 62.5 25 95.0 38 

Percent Net In-migration 47.5 19 87.5 35 

Code 9 Percent Growing 26.2 17 83.1 54 

Percent Net In-migration 18.5 12 70.8 46 

*Beale Codes: 

0 - Central counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 

1 - Fringe counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 

2 - Counties in metro areas of 250,000 - 1,000,000 pop. 

3 - Counties in metro areas of less than 250,000 pop. 

4 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, adjacent to a metro area 

5 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to a metro area 

6 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, adjacent to a metro area 

7 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, not adjacent to a metro area 

8 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or more) adjacent to a metro area 

9 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or more) not adjacent to a metro area 
120 

Age- and Education-specific Net Migration Rates in Appalachia

Overall net migration rates hide the variability in the characteristics of the people 

who move out of and in to a particular county or region. They cannot disclose whether 

particular types of counties are gaining youth or losing more educated residents. Using 

data from the 1990 U.S. Census of Population and Housing County-to-County Migration 

File,xxxii we are able to calculate age- and education-specific migration rates for each 

Appalachian County. The question on the Census captures those who moved anytime 

between 1985 and 1990, and identifies their county of residence in 1990 but also the 

county that they left. 

These age- and education-specific net migration rates are the difference between 

in- and out-migrants, with positive values indicating net in-migration to the county, and 

negative values net out-migration or loss of people with those characteristics. The net 

migration rates reflect both the ability of counties to retain residents (reduce outmigration) and to attract residents from other places (encourage in-migration). The figures 

in the tables are the averages of the county-specific net migration rates for the counties. 

As in most characteristics we examine, there is a great deal of variability in net migration 

rates across all counties that is hidden by using the average values. 

For Appalachia as a whole, there was only a modest gain in those ages 25 to 39 

years of age, 0.9 per 100 persons that age from 1985 to 1990. There were larger gains 

among older age groups with the highest gain for those ages 55 to 64. Among those no 

longer of working age, the Region gained persons ages 65 to 74, but experienced net outmigration of those ages 75 and over (See Table 3.15). 
121 

Education-specific net migration rates are given in Table 3.16. The net inmigration of those with less than high school and high school educations is about the same 

— six persons per 100 from 1985 to 1990. College-educated persons had a lower net 

migration rate of 3.59, so there still was a gain in college-educated persons, but it lagged 

behind the increase for the high school and less than high school educated.

Table 3.15 Five-year Age-Specific Net Migration Rates, 1985 to 1990 

 (migrants per 100 people in the age group)

Age Group 

25 to 39 40 to 54 55 to 64 65 to 74 75 and up 

Appalachia 0.93 2.05 3.86 1.58 -0.52 

Sub-regions

Northern -1.34 0.20 1.99 0.42 -0.71 

Central -2.76 0.42 2.94 0.53 -1.80 

Southern 4.71 4.43 5.90 3.09 0.27 

1998 Distressed County Codes

Distressed -5.29 -1.09 2.01 -0.10 -2.32 

Transitional-1 -0.55 0.77 3.21 1.56 -2.29 

Transitional 2.07 2.78 4.21 1.71 -0.21 

Competitive 8.94 6.35 6.85 4.82 2.69 

Attainment 17.77 8.38 7.76 6.39 6.59 
122 

Age- and Education-specific Net Migration in Appalachian Sub-regions

The Northern and Central Sub-regions experienced the net out-migration of people 

ages 25 to 39 and ages 75 and up from 1985 to 1990. The highest net in-migration was for 

those ages 55 to 64, but this still was relatively small with about two persons per 100 in 

the Northern Sub-region and almost three per 100 in the Central Sub-region. The 

population growth in the Southern Sub-region is mirrored in the net migration rates. This 

Sub-region had net in-migration in every age group with the highest rate among those ages 

55 to 64, but second highest among young adults ages 25 to 39. 

Table 3.16 Five-year Education-Specific Net Migration Rates, 1985 to 1990 

 (migrants per 100 people in the education category)

Educational Attainment 

Less than High 

School 

High School College or more 

Appalachia 6.23 6.06 3.59 

Sub-regions

Northern 4.98 4.81 -1.47 

Central 4.50 1.40 -0.74 

Southern 8.15 9.46 10.03 

1998 Distressed County Codes

Distressed 3.09 -0.14 -3.81 

Transitional-1 5.61 2.07 -0.28 

Transitional 7.07 8.07 4.46 

Competitive 9.84 12.16 16.92 

Attainment 9.65 16.37 31.68 
123 

Education-specific net migration rates by Sub-region are reported in Table 3.16. 

Both the Northern and Central Sub-regions had highest net in-migration among those with 

less than a high school education, and both of these Sub-regions experienced net outmigration of college educated people. The Northern Sub-region did better than the 

Central Sub-region in keeping and attracting those with high school diplomas. The 

Southern Sub-region again reveals the overall gains in population in each of the educationspecific net migration rates. In contrast to the Northern and Central Sub-regions, net 

migration was highest for college educated persons in the South, with a net gain of ten 

people per 100 college-educated persons over five years. 

Age- and Education-specific Net Migration by 1998 Distressed County Codes

Distressed Counties faced net out-migration from 1985 to 1990 in every age group 

except those ages 55 to 64 where they showed a gain of two persons per hundred (See 

Table 3.15). Net out-migration also occurred among the youngest and oldest age groups 

in Transitional-1 Counties. There was modest net in-migration in the other three age 

groups with the highest rate among those ages 55 to 64. The Transitional Counties 

showed more strength than the more economically stressed counties with gains in every 

age group, except the oldest. As with the Distressed and Transitional-1 Counties, the 

largest net in-migration was among those ages 55 to 64. Among both the Competitive and 

Attainment Counties, the highest net in-migration rates occurred for those ages 25 to 39 

and the lowest rates, which still were positive, were found in the two age groups over age 

65. Most notable is the large net in-migration of those ages 25 to 39 in the Attainment 

Counties, where there was a net gain of almost 18 persons per 100 in that age group. 
124 

Education-specific net migration by Distressed County Codes suggests the loss of 

people with higher educations in both Distressed and Transitional-1 Counties (Table 3.16). 

In Distressed Counties, more persons with high school and college educations left the 

county than moved into the county from 1985 to 1990. Every group of counties 

experienced, on average, net in-migration of those with less than high school educations. 

It is in the education-specific net migration rates that we observe the largest differentials 

in the averages by Distressed County Codes. Attainment Counties gained, on average, 32 

persons per 100 with college educations from 1985 to 1990, Competitive Counties added 

17 persons per hundred, while as noted above, both Distressed and Transitional-1 

Counties lost people in this educational category. While both Attainment and Competitive 

Counties had net in-migration of people with less than a high school education, these rates 

were much lower than the gains they made in high school and college-educated groups. 

This suggests the greater ability of Competitive and Attainment Counties to both retain 

their better-educated residents and to attract better-educated residents to their counties. 

Spatial Distribution of Age- and Education-Specific Net Migration 

The spatial distribution of high (or low) net in-migration by age or education in the 

Appalachian Region is expected to vary with total net migration and population growth. 

However, the characteristics of specific places result in somewhat different patterns by age 

and education, as some areas attract youth while others lose them, and other areas attract 

elders or those with more education. To obtain a sense of both the variability in the net inmigration by age and which counties have high and low levels, the ten counties with the 

highest and the lowest net in-migration for people age 25 to 39 are shown in Table 3.17. 
125 

Table 3.17 Ten Counties with the Highest and Lowest Net Migration Rates for 

Young Adults Ages 25 to 39, 1985 to 1990 

Fipco Area name 

Net migration 

rate for young 

adults (persons 

per 100) 

Number of 

young adult net 

migrants 

Ten Lowest Net Migration Rates

54047 McDowell County, West Virginia -25.25 -2,233 

28105 Oktibbeha County, Mississippi -23.47 -2,156 

54097 Upshur County, West Virginia -21.12 -1,174 

37189 Watauga County, North Carolina -20.82 -1,703 

51091 Highland County, Virginia -19.86 -125 

36109 Tompkins County, New York -18.86 -4,752 

54061 Monongalia County, West Virginia -18.28 -3,633 

39009 Athens County, Ohio -18.20 -2,452 

42027 Centre County, Pennsylvania -15.60 -4,939 

51195 Wise County, Virginia -15.05 -1,616 

Ten Highest Net Migration Rates

42103 Pike County, Pennsylvania 59.94 3,240 

13057 Cherokee County, Georgia 41.85 9,729 

13135 Gwinnett County, Georgia 41.00 39,890 

13223 Paulding County, Georgia 39.68 4,081 

01117 Shelby County, Alabama 36.58 8,918 

13117 Forsyth County, Georgia 34.13 3,505 

42089 Monroe County, Pennsylvania 32.89 6,821 

13085 Dawson County, Georgia 30.43 702 

13011 Banks County, Georgia 24.14 544 

13291 Union County, Georgia 24.09 524 
126 

As can be seen, counties with the lowest net in-migration are scattered through the 

Appalachian Region. The lowest net in-migration occurred in McDowell County, West 

Virginia where the county lost 25.25 people age 25 to 39 per 100 in that age group over 

the five years from 1985 to 1990. Some of the other counties with net out-migration of 

young adults have universities or colleges in the county. Specifically, Tompkins County, 

New York, Monongalia County, West Virginia, Athens County, Ohio, and Centre County, 

Pennsylvania all are home to universities or colleges. 

The counties with high net in-migration of young persons ages 25 to 39 are largely 

in Georgia (seven counties) with two in Pennsylvania and one in Alabama. As might be 

expected, the Georgia counties are in or near the Atlanta metropolitan area. The 

Pennsylvania counties are in the northeast portion of the state which is experiencing rapid 

growth due to in-migration of persons commuting to the New York City metropolitan 

area. It is important to remember that counties with very high rates of net migration often 

receive or lose fairly small numbers of people. The rates are high because of a relatively 

small population base. Counties like Gwinnett County, Georgia however, have both high 

rates of net migration and a large number of people involved. Gwinnett County gained 

39,890 persons ages 25 to 39 from 1985 to 1990. 

The patterns are quite different for persons ages 65 and over. The counties that 

had the highest rates of loss of persons ages 65 and over were located in Kentucky, West 

Virginia and Virginia, with one county in North Carolina (see Table 3.18). Wolfe County, 

Kentucky suffered the highest net out-migration of elders, losing 16.5 persons 65 and over 

per every 100 persons that age from 1985 to 1990. This amounted to a loss of only 138 
127 

people, however. Counties with the highest net in-migration of persons ages 65 and over 

were scattered across the Region, with four Georgia counties, two counties in North 

Carolina, and one county each in West Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Ohio. 

To examine the spatial differences in education-specific net migration, the ten 

counties with the lowest and highest net in-migration of college educated persons are 

shown in Table 3.19. Surprisingly, the counties with the highest net out-migration of 

college-educated persons (negative net migration rate) are not predominantly those that 

contain universities. The greatest rate of loss of college-educated persons occurs in five 

West Virginia counties, four Pennsylvania Counties, and one Kentucky county. The 

Pennsylvania counties with the lowest net migration rates (high net out-migration) have 

relatively small populations and are located economically stressed areas, as are the West 

Virginia Counties. 

CONCLUSIONS

The population of the Appalachian Region had grown from 17.8 million in 1960 to 

approximately 21.7 million by 1996. The rates of population increase for the Appalachian 

Region as a whole and the Sub-regions have waxed and waned since the 1960s. After a 

period of low population growth during the 1980s (1.6 percent), the first six years of the 

1990s witnessed a five percent increase in the population of the Appalachian Region. In this 

chapter, the focus was on two main components of population change: natural increase

(births minus deaths) and net migration (in-migrants minus out-migrants). Overall natural 

increase and net migration figures were presented for different time periods and county 

classifications. 
128 

Table 3.18 Ten Counties with the Highest and Lowest Net Migration Rates 

for Persons Ages 65 and over, 1985 to 1990 

Fipco Area name 

Net migration 

rate for older 

persons (persons 

per 100) 

Number of 

older net 

migrants 

Ten Lowest Net Migration Rates

21237 Wolfe County, Kentucky -16.53 -138 

54021 Gilmer County, West Virginia -12.75 -164 

51017 Bath County, Virginia -11.66 -94 

37075 Graham County, North Carolina -9.42 -114 

54071 Pendleton County, West Virginia -9.13 -133 

51077 Grayson County, Virginia -8.86 -250 

54031 Hardy County, West Virginia -8.47 -149 

54047 McDowell County, West Virginia -7.42 -402 

54105 Wirt County, West Virginia -7.37 -57 

21235 Whitley County, Kentucky -7.26 -322 

Ten Highest Net Migration Rates

54065 Morgan County, West Virginia 17.73 332 

37089 Henderson County, North Carolina 16.76 2,337 

13291 Union County, Georgia 16.62 338 

47035 Cumberland County, Tennessee 15.64 886 

13135 Gwinnett County, Georgia 13.06 2,038 

13281 Towns County, Georgia 12.35 188 

42093 Montour County, Pennsylvania 12.22 337 

37175 Transylvania County, North Carolina 12.07 539 

13057 Cherokee County, Georgia 11.63 698 

39075 Holmes County, Ohio 11.60 387 
129 

Table 3.19 Ten Counties with the Highest and Lowest Net Migration Rates for 

College-educated Persons, 1985 to 1990 

Fipco Area name 

Net migration 

rate for collegeeducated 

(persons per 100) 

Number of 

college-educated 

net migrants 

Ten Lowest Net Migration Rates

54047 McDowell County, West Virginia -28.60 -300 

42023 Cameron County, Pennsylvania -27.57 -98 

54013 Calhoun, West Virginia -25.38 -92 

54073 Pleasants, West Virginia -23.92 -102 

21135 Lewis County, Kentucky -23.70 -144 

54097 Upshur County, West Virginia -21.86 -399 

54085 Ritchie County, West Virginia -20.94 -80 

42047 Elk County, Pennsylvania -19.01 -448 

42031 Clarion County, Pennsylvania -18.29 -593 

54109 Wyoming County, Pennsylvania -18.20 -214 

Ten Highest Net Migration Rates

1117 Shelby County, Alabama 59.87 8,835 

13057 Cherokee County, Georgia 55.43 4,607 

13223 Paulding County, Georgia 50.56 812 

51045 Craig County, Virginia 50.14 92 

13135 Gwinnett County, Georgia 48.61 27,327 

13117 Forsyth County, Georgia 46.62 1,634 

42103 Pike County, Pennsylvania 43.86 927 

13085 Dawson County, Georgia 43.13 168 
130 

Population growth and annual net migration rates within the Appalachian Region 

has been mainly dominated by counties in the South Sub-region. Population growth 

throughout the Region has been highest, on average, in fringe metropolitan counties and 

Non-metropolitan counties adjacent to metropolitan areas [within the ARC there are 12 

fringe counties (Beale Code 1) and 137 metropolitan adjacent counties (Beale Codes 4, 6 

and 8)]. Similarly, during the 1990s, Competitive and Attainment Counties witnessed the 

highest growth rates and highest net migration rates. Taken together, population growth 

and net migration has been highest in counties in the South Sub-region, especially those 

counties in northern Georgia surrounding Atlanta, and other large metropolitan areas in 

Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina. 

The age- and education-specific net migration rates from 1985 to 1990 suggest that 

the region as a whole is gaining persons under age 75, but the gains are greatest among 

those nearing retirement age. Across Sub-regions and Distressed County Codes there is a 

great deal of variability with the more economically distressed areas losing young adults 

and those with college educations, and the economically more prosperous areas gaining 

people in every age group and educational group, but especially young adults and those 

with college educations. These data do not indicate where these in-migrants are coming 

from and as indicated in the tables that list the counties with the highest and lowest net 

migration values, there is a great deal of variability across counties in the Region with 

respect to migration and population growth. 
131 

APPENDIX 3.A.

Fertility and Mortality Rates in 1996

Two key components of population change are fertility and mortality. When the 

number of births in an area exceeds the number of deaths, the area experiences natural 

increase in population. If deaths are greater than births then natural decrease takes place. 

In the absence of migration, an area still can grow if natural increase occurs. Fertility and 

mortality both are influenced by the age composition of the population and the social and 

economic factors associated with the decision to have children or the risk of death from 

various causes. Obviously, areas with more women and families of child-bearing age will 

have more births, but this also is affected by the numbers of children to which each 

woman gives birth. Areas with large numbers of older people with high mortality rates 

will report more deaths than an area of equal population size but a younger population 

with lower mortality risks. 

Fertility 

Fertility and mortality rates for the United States, Appalachia and Sub-regions of 

Appalachia for 1996 are reported in Table 3.A.1. The fertility rate for Appalachia lags the 

U.S. rate by nine births per 1000 women aged 15-44. Within Appalachia there is some 

evidence of small regional variation, with higher fertility rates observed in the South 

Sub-region (58.9 births /1000 women aged 15-44) compared with the North (55.4/1000 

women aged 15-44), with an intermediate rate for the Central Sub-region. 
132 

Across ARC 1998 Distress County Codes fertility rates vary from a low of 56.43 

in the Distressed Counties to a high of 60.22/1000 women aged 15-44 in Competitive 

Counties (Table 3.A.2). There do not appear to be any obvious gradients for fertility 

across Distressed County Codes. 

Table 3A.1 Fertilitya

 and Mortalityb Rates in Appalachia and the United States, 

1996

Fertility Rate Mortality Rate

United Statesc 66.70 8.80 

Appalachia Total 57.07 10.24 

North Appalachia 55.42 10.97 

Central Appalachia 56.09 10.51 

South Appalachia 58.90 9.41 a

 Births per 1,000 women aged 15-44. 

b

 Deaths per 1,000 population. 

c

 U.S. Fertility Rate for 1994, U.S. Mortality Rate for 1995. 
133 

Mortality

The 1996 United States mortality rate averaged 8.8 deaths per 1000 of the 

population somewhat lower than the 10.24/1000 reported for Appalachia (Table 3.A.1). 

Within Appalachia there appears to be a regional trend with lower mortality rates observed 

in the South (9.41/1000) compared to almost 11/1000 in the North Sub-region. 

The variation in mortality rates across ARC Distressed County Codes varies 

between 9/1000 for the Attainment Counties and 11.27/1000 observed for the 

Transitional-1 Counties (Table 3.A.2). Overall, mortality rates are highest for Distressed 

Counties. 

Table 3A.2 Fertilitya

 and Mortalityb Rates by Distress c

Codes, 1996

Distress Code Fertility Rate Mortality Rate

Distressed 56.43 10.85 

Transitional-1 58.11 11.27 

Transitional 56.65 10.51 

Competitive 60.22 9.17 

Attainment 56.97 9.00 a

 Births per 1,000 women aged 15-44. 

b

 Deaths per 1,000 population. 

c

 Distress codes created by the ARC using measures of unemployment, 

poverty, and per capita income. 
 Chapter 3 Endnotes

1. Pickard, Jerome (1981) Appalachia’s decade of change: a decade of in-migration. Appalachia

15(1), 24-28. 

2. Elliot, James R. and Marc J. Perry. 1996. “Metropolitanizing Nonmetro Space: Population 

Redistribution and Emergent Metropolitan Areas, 1965-90.” Rural Sociology 61(3):497-512. 

3. Fulton, John A., Glenn V. Fuguitt, and Richard M. Gibson. 1997. “Recent Changes in 

Metropolitan-Non-metropolitan Migration Streams.” Rural Sociology 62(3):363-384; Johnson, 

Kenneth M. and Calvin L. Beale. 1994. “The Recent Revival of Widespread Population Growth 

in Non-metropolitan Areas of the United States.” Rural Sociology 59(4):655-667; and Nord, 

Mark, A.E. Luloff, and Leif Jensen. 1995. “Migration and the Spatial Concentration of Poverty.” 

Rural Sociology 60:399-415. 

4. Lyson, Thomas A. 1989. Two Sides to the Sunbelt: The Growing Divergence Between the 

Rural and Urban South. New York: Praeger. 

5 We use the County-to-County migration files of the 1990 census to obtain the age and 

education specific migration rates. Note that we use the mid-period population for that particular 

group as the denominator in calculating the migration rates. 
This chapter was written by Daniel T. Lichter and Stephen Matthews. 

CHAPTER 4 

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC WELL-BEING IN APPALACHIA 

INTRODUCTION 

Historically, the people and places of Appalachia have lagged behind the rest of 

the nation on many indicators of social and economic well-being. The chronic problems 

associated with parts of Appalachia, such as poverty and unemployment, reflect persistent 

deficits in individual human capital -- poorer education, and too few job skills, or job 

skills that don’t match the needs of employers. The result is that many of the Appalachian 

poor are unable or lack the background necessary to assume productive economic roles, 

while many families are trapped in economically distressed communities with little hope 

of improving their economic situation. Many of the most talented historically have left for 

better jobs elsewhere within or outside the Region, leaving behind those least prepared to 

take advantage of the limited employment opportunities that are available to them. 

Unfortunately, many Appalachia rural regions and communities, because of mismatches in 

educational levels, job skills, and availability of finance capital (i.e., a sufficient pool of 

educated or skilled people), are unable to develop a combination of worker training 

programs that facilitate attracting new employers, or developing new jobs within the 

community, especially high-wage jobs, which could transform the economic fortunes of 

the residents. 

Chronic deficits in human capital also have gone hand-in-hand with deficits in 

social capital, i.e., “strong” families and community and social networks that represent 

resources that can enhance well-being and buffer economic distress. In particular, the 
135 

transformation of the Appalachian family (like American families everywhere) marked by 

high rates of nonmarital childbearing, low marriage rates, and family instability, has 

further eroded the economic well-being of many Appalachia residents, but especially 

mothers and their children. This is manifested in high rates of poverty and in other 

expressions of social pathology, including delinquency and other criminal behavior. And 

we know that child poverty, on balance, has deleterious effects on emotional and cognitive 

development which perpetuate poverty from generation to generation. 

While there are clear problems of persistent distress in the Region, there has been 

progress in diversifying the economic base and in lowering poverty rates of many 

counties, while also improving the human resource base through education. Since the 

establishment of the ARC, the poverty rate in Appalachia has been cut in half, reflecting 

significant employment gains (e.g., 51 percent between 1969 and 1998) in the Region and 

a doubling of the percentage of adults with high school degrees. Clearly, the continuing 

challenge today -- and in the future -- is to foster complementary economic development 

and human resource efforts in the Region that build on past successes. 

In this chapter, we describe recent trends and growing geographic diversity in the 

human and social capital of Appalachian residents and communities, as measured by 

changing levels of education and family structure. We also document the changes in the 

economic resources available to Appalachian families, i.e., the growth and diversity of 

family income across the region and the shifting prevalence of poverty. 

It is clear that the past two decades have brought significant changes in the stock of 

human and material resources among Appalachia people and communities. At the same 
136 

time, the gap in social and economic well-being has widened during the recent past as 

many communities in the Region have moved ahead economically, while others have 

fallen farther behind in both absolute and relative terms. A narrow focus on statistical 

averages hides the tremendous diversity within the region. 

CHANGES IN EDUCATION

Comparisons between Appalachia and the United States

The Region overall experienced a substantial increase during the 1980-90 period in 

the educational attainment of its population (Table 4.1). Although nearly one-third of 

Appalachia residents aged 25 or older in 1990, were high school dropouts (i.e., less than 

12 years of completed schooling), this represents a significant decline (-10.97 percentage 

points) from 1980, when 42 percent had not completed high school. Between 1980 and 

1990, the percentage of the Appalachian population with some college or more increased 

from about 22 percent to over 33 percent, a gain of nearly 50 percent. 

Viewed optimistically, increases since 1980 in educational levels in the Region 

have exceeded those experienced for the United States overall. As a result, the 

educational levels of people living in Appalachia have become increasingly like the 

United States population overall. Viewed negatively, the Region still lags the United 

States in the percentage of its population that is highly educated. Over 20 percent of the 

U.S. population has a college degree, compared with only 14 percent in Appalachia. 

Recent educational convergence should not be interpreted as educational parity, despite 

the tremendous educational strides made in the Region. 
137 

Variation across population groups. The educational upgrading in Appalachia 

provides considerable optimism for the future. But the gains in education have not been 

distributed equally across population subgroups in the region. The rapid declines in the 

proportion of the population with less than a high school degree are due to cohort 

replacement, as older and least educated are replaced by younger, more educated cohorts. 

This pattern is clearly revealed in Table 4.2. In 1990, only 19.2 percent of 25-44 year olds 

were high school dropouts, compared with 57.7 percent of those aged 65 and older. 

Conversely, the percentage of college graduates was 19.5 among 25-44 year olds, but only 

Table 4.1 Educational Attainmenta

 in Appalachia and the United States, 

 1980 and 1990

1980 1990 Percent Change

Appalachia: 

Less than High School (%) 42.60 31.63 -10.97 

High School Diploma (%) 35.40 35.04 -0.36 

Some College (%) 10.84 19.08 8.24 

College Graduate (%) 11.16 14.26 3.09 

United States:

Less than High School (%) 29.50 24.80 -4.70 

High School Diploma (%) 37.70 30.00 -7.70 

Some College (%) 15.10 24.90 9.80 

College Graduate (%) 17.8 0 20.30 2.50 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

a

 Persons 25 years and over. 
138 

9.2 percent among the elderly. Clearly, the potential for additional future gains in 

educational attainment is high, especially as mortality among the least educated elderly 

population is offset by the growth of a younger, better educated population of labor force 

age. 

Although 18-24 year olds have higher percentages with less than a high school 

education than those aged 25-44, this partly reflects the fact that younger cohorts have not 

yet finished high school. Table 4.3 estimates the percentage of high school dropouts 

among persons aged 16-19 years. In 1990, 11.57 percent of these teens were not currently 

enrolled in school and had not completed high school. From an optimistic standpoint, this 

figure is substantially smaller than the 19.2 percent observed in Appalachia for 25-44 year 

old men, and the 16.4 percent observed among 25-44 year old women. 

The educational distributions and drop-out rates in Appalachia differ substantially 

across race-sex groups (Tables 4.2 and 4.3). White men and white women, at every age, 

had considerably higher levels of educational attainment than Black and Hispanic men and 

women. If education is a ticket to a good job, Blacks and Hispanics are clearly 

disadvantaged. For Black men of prime labor force age (i.e., 25-44), nearly two out of 

five (28 percent) were high school dropouts. For Hispanic men, the percentage 

approached one-third (32 percent). At the same time, a considerably higher percentage of 

these Hispanic men (22.3 percent) had a college degree than did their Black male 

counterparts (10.5 percent). Clearly, educational inequality among Hispanics is 

substantial compared with that observed among either whites or blacks. 
139 

Table 4.2 Educational Attainment by Gender, Race, and Age, 1990

Less than High 

School (%) 

High School 

Diploma (%) 

Some 

College (%) 

College 

Graduate (%) 

Black Women

18-24 25.0 33.9 37.1 4.1 

25-44 22.6 33.3 31.2 12.9 

45-64 48.9 29.2 13.9 8.0 

65 and over 75.8 14.0 5.1 5.0 

Black Men

18-24 36.5 33.5 27.5 2.5 

25-44 28.1 35.5 25.9 10.5 

45-64 52.2 26.2 14.0 7.6 

65 and over 78.2 12.6 5.5 3.8 

Hispanic Women

18-24 23.4 27.4 40.6 8.5 

25-44 21.4 27.5 30.1 21.0 

45-64 35.9 30.9 19.4 13.9 

65 and over 58.9 23.9 9.8 7.4 

Hispanic Men

18-24 41.7 21.6 31.6 5.2 

25-44 32.0 22.6 23.0 22.3 

45-64 41.6 20.2 17.5 20.7 

65 and over 57.9 17.5 11.0 13.6 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.
140 

Table 4.2 Educational Attainment by Gender, Race, and Age, 1990 (continued) 

Less than High 

School (%) 

High School 

Diploma (%) 

Some 

College (%) 

College 

Graduate (%) 

White Women

18-24 20.0 34.4 38.9 6.7 

25-44 15.8 40.0 26.4 17.8 

45-64 32.5 41.9 15.8 9.8 

65 and over 56.1 27.5 9.7 6.6 

White Men

18-24 25.6 34.9 33.9 5.5 

25-44 18.5 37.3 24.2 20.0 

45-64 34.3 33.5 16.4 15.8 

65 and over 56.7 23.5 10.4 9.4 

Total Women

18-24 20.5 34.2 38.8 6.6 

25-44 16.4 39.3 26.8 17.5 

45-64 33.5 41.1 15.6 9.8 

65 and over 57.2 26.8 9.5 6.6 

Total Men

18-24 26.5 34.6 33.5 5.4 

25-44 19.2 37.0 24.3 19.5 

45-64 35.1 33.0 16.3 15.6 

65 and over 57.7 23.0 10.1 9.2 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.
141 

Educational Disparities Across Appalachia 

Sub-regional variation. Striking declines in the percentage of the low-educated 

persons (i.e., those lacking a high school degree) were observed in each of the three 

Table 4.3 High School Drop-Out Ratesa

 by Race in Appalachian 

Sub-regions, 1990

HS Drop-Out Rate (%)

 North Appalachia

Total 8.24 

White 8.05 

Black 12.86 

Hispanic 11.95 

Central Appalachia

Total 15.47 

White 15.47 

Black 15.67 

Hispanic 13.21 

South Appalachia

Total 14.29 

White 14.41 

Black 13.53 

Hispanic 23.06 

Total Appalachia

Total 11.57 

White 11.38 

Black 13.44 

Hispanic 16.51 a Persons 16-19 years old
142 

Appalachian Sub-regions. Table 4.4 shows that percentage point declines ranged between 

-9.76 (North Appalachia) to -12.88 (South Appalachia) during the 1980s. Similar gains 

were found in the percentages with some college or more. 

Table 4.4 Educational Attainmenta in Appalachian Sub-regions, 

 1980 and 1990

1980 1990 Percent Change

 North Appalachia

Less than High School (%) 36.47 26.71 -9.76 

High School Diploma (%) 41.48 40.56 -0.92 

Some College (%) 10.57 18.33 7.76 

College Graduate (%) 11.49 14.40 2.91 

Median Years of Schooling 12 12 0 

Central Appalachia

Less than High School (%) 57.72 46.68 -11.04 

High School Diploma (%) 26.94 30.41 3.48 

Some College (%) 7.74 14.08 6.34 

College Graduate (%) 7.60 8.83 1.22 

Median Years of Schooling 10 12 2 

South Appalachia

Less than High School (%) 46.77 33.89 -12.88 

High School Diploma (%) 29.61 29.74 0.13 

Some College (%) 11.98 21.06 9.08 

College Graduate (%) 11.64 15.31 3.67 

Median Years of Schooling 12 12 0 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

a

 Persons 25 years and over. 
143 

North Appalachia continues to have the lowest percentages of low educational 

attainment (i.e., 26.71 percent without a high school degree). But it is clear that South 

Appalachia has experienced the largest relative increases since 1980 in the percentage 

with either some college or a college degree. In 1990, over one-third of its population had 

at least some post-high school education, reflecting in-migration and retention of highly 

educated workers in the Region, as well as indigenous growth of educational achievement 

(as older cohorts are replaced by younger better educated workers).xxxiii Central 

Appalachia, on the other hand, continues to lag the North and South in completed 

schooling. Nearly one-half (46.68 percent) of its population in 1990 had less than a high 

school education. While this percentage represents a significant decline from 1980, this 

Sub-region nevertheless experienced a slower increase in the population with some 

college (6.34 percentage points) and college degrees (1.22 percentage) than either of the 

other regions. 

County variation. This concentration of population with low education in Central 

Appalachia is further revealed in the analysis in Table 4.5, which presents the 10 counties 

with the highest and lowest percentages with less than a high school degree in 1990. 

Kentucky contains the top seven counties with low education, with percentages ranging 

from 64.54 percent to 59.59 percent. All 10 Appalachian counties with the lowest 

percentages with less than a high school education were located in the North and South. 

These ranged from 12.78 to 21.81 percent, which are roughly one-third to one-fifth as high 

as those Appalachian counties with the highest percentage with high school dropouts. 
144 

The data in Table 4.6 similarly show remarkable county diversity in percentages 

with a college degree. Counties with high percentages of college graduates tended to be 

the locations of colleges or universities (Centre County, Pennsylvania, contains The 
145 

Table 4.5 Ten Counties with Highest and Lowest Percent of Persons with 

Less Than a High School Educationa

 in Appalachia, 1990

FIPS Code County State % Less Than High School 

Highest Percent Less Than High School:

21189 Owsley KY 64.54 

21153 Magoffin KY 61.78 

21109 Jackson KY 61.66 

21051 Clay KY 61.13 

21057 Cumberland KY 60.53 

21147 McCreary KY 59.85 

21131 Leslie KY 59.59 

54047 McDowell WV 57.67 

47067 Hancock TN 57.62 

51027 Buchanan VA 57.50 

Lowest Percent Less Than High School: 

36109 Tompkins NY 12.78 

13135 Gwinnett GA 13.34 

42027 Centre PA 16.38 

36107 Tioga NY 19.39 

01089 Madison AL 19.76 

42103 Pike PA 20.80 

42003 Allegheny PA 20.96 

36007 Broome NY 21.12 

42019 Butler PA 21.42 

01117 Shelby AL 21.81 

a

 Persons 25 years and over. 
146 

Pennsylvania State University; Tompkins County, New York is home to Cornell; and the 

University of West Virginia is in Monongala County, West Virginia). Those with low 

percentages of highly educated people are isolated rural counties in Central Appalachia. 

The strong link between rurality and educational levels is clearly shown in Table 4.7, 

which presents educational distributions in 1990 for counties classified by the ten Beale 

Codes. The percentage of population with less than a high school degree was highest in 

the four most rural types. Specifically, these percentages were 36.14 and 41.80 percent, 

respectively, for counties adjacent and nonadjacent to a metro county and containing 

urban places with populations of 2,500 - 19,999. For completely rural counties (Codes 8 

and 9), the percentages were 40.75 and 47.96, respectively, for adjacent and nonadjacent 

counties. 

Not surprisingly, these rural counties also had the lowest percentages of their 

population with a college education. For the most rural counties (Beale code 9), only 7.75 

percent of the population had a college degree. This compares with over 20 percent in 

Appalachia’s largest metro central city counties. Surprisingly, non-metropolitan counties 

not adjacent to a metropolitan county and with urban areas of 20,000 or more had the 

second highest percentage with college educations — 18.49. Clearly, rurality constitutes 

an important axis of educational differentiation in Appalachia. Policies devoted to human 

resource and educational issues must be sensitive to geographic variation across the ruralurban continuum.xxxiv
147 

Table 4.6 Ten Counties with Highest and Lowest Percent of Persons with a 

College Educationa in Appalachia, 1990

FIPS Code County State % College Graduate 

Highest Percent College Graduate:

36109 Tompkins NY 41.72 

42027 Centre PA 32.31 

28105 Oktibbeh MS 31.74 

01089 Madison AL 30.12 

13135 Gwinnett GA 29.61 

01117 Shelby AL 29.03 

54061 Monongala WV 28.15 

37189 Watauga NC 27.39 

37067 Forsyth NC 24.10 

47093 Knox TN 23.91 

Lowest Percent College Graduate: 

47129 Morgan TN 3.69 

47175 VanBuren TN 4.13 

51077 Grayson VA 4.24 

47173 Union TN 4.45 

54047 McDowell WV 4.59 

21153 Magoffin KY 4.60 

51021 Bland VA 4.61 

21147 McCreary KY 4.63 

54043 Lincoln WV 4.72 

01007 Bibb AL 4.73 a

 Persons 25 years and over 
148 

Table 4.7 Educational Attainmenta by Beale* Codes, 1990

Metropolitan Areas Non-Metropolitan Area

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

Less than High School (%) 21.45 30.84 29.43 28.16 31.07 30.67 36.14 41.80 High School Diploma (%) 36.44 38.07 32.43 37.88 39.36 31.06 36.91 32.98 Some College (%) 21.78 18.46 21.32 20.04 18.12 19.78 16.57 15.38 College Graduate (%) 20.33 12.64 16.83 13.92 11.45 18.49 10.37 9.83 Median Years of Schooling 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

a Persons 25 years and over 

*Beale Codes: 0 - Central counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 1 - Fringe counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 2 - Counties in metro areas of 250,000 - 1,000,000 pop. 3 - Counties in metro areas of less than 250,000 pop. 4 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, adjacent to a metro area 5 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to a metro area 6 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, adjacent to a metro area 7 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, not adjacent to a metro area 8 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or more) adjacent to a metro area 9 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or more) not adjacent to a metro area 
149 

Educational attainment and economic distress. Educational attainment in 

Appalachian Counties are inextricably linked to county economic distress (Table 4.8). In 

the Region’s most economically distressed counties (Code 1), 45 percent of the population 

had less than a high school education, compared with 21 percent in the Attainment 

Counties. Conversely, only 8.54 percent of the population was highly educated in the 

Distressed Counties. Nearly one-fourth were college graduates in the Attainment 

Counties. 

The policy implication is that human resource development must be a critical 

component of any long term strategy to solve the problems of unemployment, poverty, 

and low income in Appalachia. At the same time, labor supply-side answers that stress 

education alone will not solve the economic distress faced by those with historically weak 

ties to the labor force, such as the elderly, the disabled, and low-income mothers. Nor is 

Table 4.8 Educational Attainmenta

 by Distress* Codes, 1990

Percent Distressed Transitional-1 Transitional Competitive Attainmen

t

Less than High School 44.72 38.96 31.21 32.35 21.25 

High School Diploma 33.30 36.02 36.51 31.84 31.33 

Some College 13.44 16.08 18.92 20.95 23.65 

College Graduate 8.54 8.94 13.36 14.87 23.77 

Median Years of 

Schooling 

12 12 12 12 12

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

a

 Persons 25 years and over. 

* Distress codes created by the ARC using measures of unemployment, poverty, and per capita 

income.
150 

education the only remedy for those who have been marginalized historically by limited 

opportunity or by discrimination, including many rural blacks. Education in the absence of 

good jobs is not adequate to improve conditions in Appalachian counties. The geographic 

concentration of low education suggests the conflicts inherent between individual-level 

and place-based development activities. Previous studies show that average education 

increased more rapidly over the past decade among the poor population than the nonpoor 

population.xxxv 

CHANGES IN APPALACHIAN FAMILIES 

Comparisons between 1980 and 1990

Marriage and two-parent families confer many social and economic advantages, 

especially for children. The percentage distribution of household and family types in 

Appalachia for 1980 and 1990 is shown in Table 4.9. These data yield several 

conclusions. First, non-family households constituted about one-fourth of all households 

in Appalachia in 1990, and increased slightly during the 1980-90 period. Second, while 

family households have declined as a percentage of all households, single-parent-headed 

families have increased. This includes female-headed and male-headed families, both with 

and without children. Only 5.38 percent of families were female-headed families with 

children. Third, married-couple families with children were the only type of household to 

experience declines as a percentage of all households. Clearly, “traditional” families, 

comprised of father, mother, and children, are less common today than in the past. This 

pattern has also been observed for the United States as whole. In 1998, 24.6 percent of all 

households were represented by the traditional nuclear family.xxxvi
151 

Racial and ethnic variation. Much of the recent policy concern about declines in 

the traditional family stems from evidence, at the national level, that racial and ethnic 

divergence in family structure have largely offset any positive steps toward racial and 

ethnic economic equality over the last generation. Indeed, substantial differences in the 

distributions of household types are apparent for whites, Blacks, and Hispanics in 1980 

and 1990 for the Region (Tables 4.10-4.12). 

Table 4.9 All Races - Household and Family Type by Presence of Children (%) for 

the Appalachia Region, 1980 and 1990

1980 1990

Family Households: 

Married Couple Family 

With Own Children Under 18 33.40 27.30 

Not With Own Children Under 

18 

32.45 32.86 

Female Headed Family 

With Own Children Under 18 4.80 5.38 

Not With Own Children Under 

18 

4.63 5.05 

Male Headed Family 

With Own Children Under 18 0.77 1.16 

Not With Own Children Under 

18 

1.52 1.63 

Non-Family Households 22.43 26.63 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.
152 

For Appalachia whites, the patterns and changes of household types mirror figures 

reported previously for the Appalachian Region as a whole (Table 4.10). The traditional 

nuclear family declined as a percentage of all household types, from 33.91 percent in 1980 

to 27.78 percent in 1990. For Appalachian blacks, the percentage of families headed by 

females with children was 18.18 percent in 1990, up slightly from the 16.44 percent 

observed in 1980 (Table 4.11). The percentage of female-headed households with children 

is 4 times greater among blacks than among whites in the Region. Clearly, large racial 

differences, such as those reported here, undermine efforts to enhance the relative 

Table 4.10 Whites - Household and Family Type by Presence of Children (%) for 

the Appalachia Region, 1980 and 1990

1980 1990

Family Households: 

Married Couple Family 

With Own Children Under 18 33.91 27.78 

Not With Own Children Under 

18 

33.41 34.05 

Female Headed Family 

With Own Children Under 18 4.02 4.47 

Not With Own Children Under 

18 

4.30 4.58 

Male Headed Family 

With Own Children Under 18 0.73 1.11 

Not With Own Children Under 

18 

1.46 1.56 

Non-Family Households 22.19 26.46 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.
153 

socioeconomic status of blacks. By definition, households headed by females suffer very 

high rates of poverty because they contain (usually) only one potential wage earner and 

women’s earnings still lag behind those of men. Poverty rates are especially high, both 

nationally and in the Region, among black female household heads, many of whom lack 

the education, skills, and employment opportunities to secure a good job that pays a 

family wage. Although the educational gap between Blacks and whites in the South has 

narrowed considerably, earnings have not, suggesting that opportunities may play a large 

role in these differentials.xxxvii 

Table 4.11 Blacks - Household and Family Type by Presence of Children (%) for 

the Appalachia Region, 1980 and 1990

1980 1990

Family Households: 

Married Couple Family 

With Own Children Under 18 24.72 18.94 

Not With Own Children Under 

18 

19.24 17.42 

Female Headed Family 

With Own Children Under 18 16.44 18.18 

Not With Own Children Under 

18 

9.62 11.94 

Male Headed Family 

With Own Children Under 18 1.45 1.81 

Not With Own Children Under 

18 

2.43 2.56 

Non-Family Households 26.11 29.15 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.
154 

The story is different for Hispanics living in Appalachia (Table 4.12). The 

percentage of Hispanic married couple households with children exceeded that of both 

whites and blacks in 1990. More significantly, the percentage of married couple families 

with children, unlike other racial/ethnic groups, increased rather than decreased from 

1980 to 1990. Such results are consistent with the strong familial cultural ideology found 

among most Hispanic groups, one manifested in comparatively high rates of early 

marriage and childbearing, and low divorce rates. At the same time, the percentage of 

female-headed families with children is almost twice as high among Hispanics as among 

whites (e.g., 8.61 percent vs. 4.47 percent). However, if national statistics provide a 

guide, much of this difference can be attributed to the greater prevalence of informal 

unions (i.e., common law marriages) among Hispanics, which provide, like marriage, a 

relatively stable familial context for childbearing and child-rearing. 

Family Variations Across Appalachia

Sub-regional variation. Distributions of household types for the North, Central, 

and South Sub-regions of Appalachia are provided in Table 4.13. These data provide a 

singular conclusion: The distribution and changes in family types are remarkably similar 

across Appalachia’s major Sub-regions. Each region experienced sizeable declines in the 

“traditional” married-couple family with children, and corresponding increases in other 

household types, including female-headed families with children. 
155 

Table 4.12 Hispanics - Household and Family Type by Presence of Children (%) 

for the Appalachia Region, 1980 and 1990

1980 1990

Family Households: 

Married Couple Family 

With Own Children Under 18 32.91 34.92 

Not With Own Children Under 

18 

27.48 22.06 

Female Headed Family 

With Own Children Under 18 7.41 8.61 

Not With Own Children Under 

18 

4.71 3.42 

Male Headed Family 

With Own Children Under 18 1.17 2.19 

Not With Own Children Under 

18 

1.68 2.49 

Non-Family Households 24.65 26.30 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.
156 

Table 4.13 Household and Family Type by Presence of Children (%) for Appalachia Sub-regions, 1

1980 1990 

North Central South North Centr

Family Households: 

Married Couple Family 

With Own Children Under 18 31.87 38.59 34.05 26.11 31.32 Not With Own Children Under 18 32.47 31.57 32.66 32.56 32.65 

Female Headed Family 

With Own Children Under 18 4.39 4.64 5.37 5.13 5.46 Not With Own Children Under 18 4.57 4.69 4.68 4.89 5.17 

Male Headed Family 

With Own Children Under 18 0.76 0.82 0.78 1.16 1.18 Not With Own Children Under 18 1.64 1.48 1.38 1.70 1.60 

Non-Family Households 24.31 18.21 21.07 28.46 22.62 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.
155 

County variation. The similarity in the distributions of household types across 

major Sub-regions of Appalachia hides the substantial inter-county diversity found within 

the Region. This becomes clear when we identify the 10 Appalachian counties with the 

highest and lowest percentages of female-headed households with children in 1990 (Table 

4.14). The highest percentages are found in the Deep South. In fact, 8 of the 10 

Appalachian counties with the highest percentages of female-headed families with 

children were found in Mississippi. These percentages ranged between 8.76 and 12.87 

percent, roughly twice the Appalachian average for this family type. 

Conversely, Appalachia counties with very low percentages of female-headed 

households with children were spatially more widely distributed. These counties typically 

were at the suburban periphery of metropolitan cities, or included counties with major 

universities or colleges. 

This pattern can be more easily observed in Table 4.15, which provides the 

distributions of household types for each of the Beale Codes. The lowest percentage of 

female-headed families was found in the fringe counties of metro areas of 1 million or 

more population (4.72 percent) and in completely rural counties that were adjacent to a 

metro areas (4.47). These county types, not surprisingly, had the highest percentage of 

married couple families with children (31.42 and 30.08 percent, respectively). 
156 

Table 4.14 Ten Counties with Highest and Lowest Percent of Households 

that are Female Headed Families with Children in Appalachia, 1990

FIPS Code County State % Female Headed Families 

Highest Percent Female Headed Families: 

28103 Noxubee MS 12.87 

28025 Clay MS 11.91 

28159 Winston MS 10.22 

28087 Lowndes MS 10.20 

28069 Kemper MS 9.90 

21237 Wolfe KY 9.66 

28095 Monroe MS 9.57 

28105 Oktibbeh MS 9.38 

01107 Pickens AL 9.24 

28093 Marshall MS 8.76 

Lowest Percent Female Headed Families: 

51045 Craig VA 2.02 

51091 Highland VA 2.21 

51063 Floyd VA 2.24 

54105 Wirt WV 2.43 

13291 Union GA 2.48 

13281 Towns GA 2.49 

42053 Forest PA 2.57 

37149 Polk NC 2.61 

51023 Botetourt VA 2.66 

13117 Forsyth GA 2.72 
157 

Table 4.15 Household and Family Type by Presence of Children (%) by Beale Codes*, 

Metropolitan Areas Non-Metropolitan 

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

Family Households: 

Married Couple Family 

With Own Children Under 18 25.21 31.42 26.14 26.29 27.26 26.40 28.82 29.7Not With Own Children Under 18 32.08 33.49 32.41 33.01 32.65 30.56 34.37 32.7

Female Headed Family 

With Own Children Under 18 5.25 4.72 5.75 5.37 5.61 5.86 4.81 5.5Not With Own Children Under 18 5.53 4.45 5.44 4.77 4.61 4.76 4.55 5.0

Male Headed Family 

With Own Children Under 18 0.89 1.35 1.12 1.11 1.23 1.13 1.32 1.2Not With Own Children Under 18 1.79 1.68 1.62 1.54 1.64 1.45 1.58 1.6

Non-Family Households 29.25 22.88 27.51 27.91 27.00 29.84 24.55 24.1

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.*Beale Codes: 

0 - Central counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 1 - Fringe counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 2 - Counties in metro areas of 250,000 - 1,000,000 pop. 3 - Counties in metro areas of less than 250,000 pop. 4 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, adjacent to a metro area 

 5 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, not adjace

6 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, adjacent to 7 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, not adjacen8 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of adjacent to a metro area 9 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of adjacent to a metro area 
158 

While rural-urban differences in family types are evident in these data, the overall picture 

is one of substantial geographical similarity rather than diversity. For the most part, the 

distribution of family types across Beale Codes share a common pattern. The implication 

is straightforward: rural areas, even in Appalachia, have fully shared in the sweeping 

family changes observed in the United States over the past three decades, changes usually 

regarded as “urban” problems. Rural America — including rural Appalachia—has not 

been immune to the economic and social forces that have buffeted the American family. 

Indeed, evidence of family instability and change is more apparent in the most rural areas 

in the Region than in the suburban fringe. The perception of close-knit and strong rural 

kinship networks must be amended to reflect the new reality of less stable ties between 

parents of children. 

Family structure and economic distress. The distribution of household types, 

distinguished by (5) levels of economic distress (based on unemployment, poverty, and 

per capita income), is provided in Table 4.16 for Appalachian counties. Differences in 

family structure are largely a matter of degree rather than kind, and, in general, there are 

probably more similarities between Distressed and Attainment Counties than differences. 
159 

Table 4.16 Household and Family Type by Presence of Children (%) by Distress Codes*, 199

Distressed Transitional-1 Transitional Competitive 

Family Households: 

Married Couple Family 

With Own Children Under 18 30.53 28.28 27.06 28.25 Not With Own Children Under 18 31.19 33.42 33.37 33.65 

Female Headed Family 

With Own Children Under 18 6.12 5.71 5.20 5.41 Not With Own Children Under 18 5.37 5.25 4.90 4.93 

Male Headed Family 

With Own Children Under 18 1.37 1.21 1.15 1.30 Not With Own Children Under 18 1.69 1.54 1.60 1.57 

Non-Family Households 23.73 24.60 26.73 24.88 

Note: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.* Distress codes created by the ARC using measures of unemployment, poverty, and per capita income. 
160 

Perhaps the most significant difference in that a disproportionate share of 

households containing children are located in the most economically distressed counties. 

In 1990, roughly 38 percent of the households in the Distressed Counties included 

children. This compares with almost 32 percent among the Attainment Counties. 

Moreover, while Distressed Counties contain a disproportionate share of married couple 

families with children, these counties also are home to a disproportionate share of singleparent households. 

Clearly, distressed communities represent an important extra-familial context that 

shapes the experiences of a large share of Appalachian youth while “growing up.” 

Previous research, usually focused on large cities, suggests that the consequences of 

growing up in poor neighborhoods are often revealed in elevated school drop out rates, 

teen pregnancy and childbearing, and delinquent behavior (e.g., drug and alcohol use). 

Moreover, socially and economically disadvantaged communities are less likely than other 

communities to offset any negative effects associated with growing up in poverty or in 

unstable families. The implications of growing up in economically distressed 

communities in rural areas are less well studied. 

CHANGES IN ECONOMIC WELL-BEING 

Changes in Poverty, Family Income, and Income Inequality

Between 1979 and 1989, median family income (in 1989 dollars) in Appalachia 

declined slightly from $30,069 to $29,728 (Table 4.17). For the United States, median 

family income experienced only modest increases over the 1979 to 1989 period; indeed, 

median family in the United States has stagnated since the early 1970s.xxxviii In 
161 

Appalachia, stagnation in real family income during the 1980s occurred in concert with 

increasing income inequality, a conclusion indicated by the rise in the family poverty rate 

from 9.77 percent to 11.94 percent between 1979 and 1989. During this period, the U.S. 

poverty rate for families increased from 9.2 percent to 10.3 percent.xxxix

The rise in inequality can be clearly observed in Table 4.18, which provides two 

conventional measures of average household income inequality (the Gini Coefficient and 

the Theil Indexxl ) across counties within the Region. These data indicate that average 

income inequality was virtually identical between the Region and the United States.

Table 4.17 Median Family Income and Percent of Families in Poverty in 

 Appalachian Sub-regions, 1979 and 1989

1979a 1989 Change

 North Appalachia: 

Median Family Income $31,874 $30,018 ($1,856) 

Family Poverty (%) 7.50 10.73 3.23 

Central Appalachia: 

Median Family Income $24,636 $21,982 ($2,654) 

Family Poverty (%) 17.19 22.24 5.04 

South Appalachia: 

Median Family Income $29,196 $31,181 $1,985 

Family Poverty (%) 10.64 10.86 0.22 

Total Appalachia: 

Median Family Income $30,069 $29,728 ($341) 

Family Poverty (%) 9.77 11.94 2.17 

a Median Family Income for 1979 has been converted to 1989 dollars. 
162 

For example, the average Gini in the Region and United States was .386 in both in 

1990. The range of within-county inequality across counties within the Region was more 

restricted than for the United States; i.e., there were fewer counties in the Region with 

extremely high or low inequality. However, inequality on average increased slightly 

more rapidly during the 1980s in the Region than in the United States overall. 

Variations Across Appalachia

Sub-regional variations. Central Appalachia has experienced significantly higher 

rates of poverty and lower median family income than North and South Appalachia (Table 

4.17). Poverty rates are roughly twice as high in Central Appalachia than in the rest of 

Appalachia and the nation. More troubling is the fact that Central Appalachia also 

Table 4.18. Household Income Inequality in Appalachia and the United 

States, 1980 and 1990.

Gini Coefficient Theil Index 

1980 Difference 

(1990 - 1980) 

1980 Difference 

(1990 - 1980) 

North 

Appalachia 

0.386 

0.338 to 0.434 

0.026 

-0.019 to 0.084 

0.252 

0.193 to 0.322 

0.038 

-0.026 to 0.119 

Central 

Appalachia 

0.424 

0.371 to 0.496 

0.028 

-0.023 to 0.079 

0.309 

0.225 to 0.420 

0.046 

 -0.059 to 0.149 

South 

Appalachia 

0.403 

0.325 to 0.475 

0.014 

-0.049 to 0.054 

0.280 

0.183 to 0.395 

0.021 

-0.058 to 0.095 

Total 

Appalachia 

0.397 

0.325 to 0.496 

0.021 

-0.049 to 0.084 

0.269 

0.183 to 0.420 

0.032 

-0.059 to 0.149 

United States 0.397) 

0.297 to 0.544 

0.012 

-0.099 to 0.103 

0.271 

0.150 to 0.529 

0.018 

-0.454 to 0.172
163 

experienced large absolute and relative declines in median family income during the 

1980s, a result that can be linked directly to the low levels of educational attainment 

reported earlier in the context of persistent economic underdevelopment and large-scale 

layoffs in coal production in this region. On the other hand, South Appalachia 

experienced increases in median family income between 1979 to 1989. Clearly, spatial 

inequality — especially between Central Appalachia and the rest of Appalachia — has 

accelerated over the past decade or so. 

This fact also is evident in Table 4.18, which provides the average inequality 

measures for each Appalachian Sub-region. Central Appalachia, in both 1980 and 1990, 

had the highest average within-county income inequality, as well as the largest absolute 

increase in income inequality over the 1980s. In addition, Central Appalachia contained 

counties with the most uneven income distribution in the Region. 

County variation. Figure 4.1 provides the changing dispersion of high-poverty 

counties (i.e., those over 40%) in 1979 and 1989. These data clearly revealed that 

persistent poor counties are located in Central Appalachia. The economically depressed 

situation of Central Appalachia is also revealed in analyses of the 10 counties with the 

lowest median family incomes (Table 4.19) and highest family poverty rates (Table 4.20) 

in 1989. Nine of the 10 counties with the lowest median family income were located in 

Kentucky; the remaining lowest income county was located in Tennessee. Median family 

incomes in these counties were roughly one-third to one-half the Appalachian region 

average. Kentucky also owned the distinction of being home to the nine poorest counties 

in Appalachia. Poverty was highest in Owsley County, Kentucky, with a rate of 46.81 
164 

percent. By way of contrast, Gwinnett County, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, had the 

lowest family poverty rate — 2.94 percent — in 1989. Such striking differences serve to 

illustrate the great diversity in the economic well-being of Appalachian people and 

communities. 

The striking economic contrasts between rural Kentucky and suburban Atlanta 

suggest a more general pattern: the economic well-being of rural Appalachia significantly 

lags urban Appalachia. This is plainly revealed in Table 4.21, which provides median 

family income in 1989 and family poverty rates for each of the ten Beale Codes. Median 

family incomes were lowest ($20,445) and family poverty highest (21.73 percent) in the 

most-rural counties, i.e., completely rural counties not adjacent to a metropolitan county. 

Median family incomes were highest and poverty rates lowest in the largest metropolitan 

counties and their suburban fringe counties. Clearly, any optimism implied by economic 

gains in urban Appalachia must be tempered by the pessimism implied by the 

deteriorating economic circumstances observed in rural Appalachia. The modest increases 

in poverty and stagnating real income in the Region hide growing inequalities between 

rural and urban areas. 

The high poverty in Central Appalachian counties has gone hand-in-hand with 

high levels of household income inequality. Kentucky contained all ten counties with the 

highest levels of income inequality (Table 4.22). Most were heavily rural counties. The 

lowest inequality was found in North and South Appalachia; indeed, one-half of the 

counties with the lowest levels of income inequality were found in Georgia. 
165 

Table 4.19 Ten Counties with Highest and Lowest Median Family Income in 

Appalachia, 1989

FIPS Code County State Median Family Income 

Highest Median Family Income: 

51105 Allegheny VA $84,232 

51191 Washington VA $50,581 

51035 Carroll VA $50,375 

13135 Gwinnett GA $48,000 

51195 Wise VA $44,843 

01117 Shelby AL $42,549 

13057 Cherokee GA $41,762 

13117 Forsyth GA $40,718 

13097 Douglas GA $40,497 

01089 Madison AL $39,264 

Lowest Median Family Income: 

21189 Owsley KY $11,110 

21147 McCreary KY $12,223 

21237 Wolfe KY $12,469 

21153 Magoffin KY $13,955 

21129 Lee KY $14,618 

21053 Clinton KY $14,627 

21051 Clay KY $14,721 

47067 Hancock TN $14,745 

21109 Jackson KY $14,767 

21025 Breathitt KY $14,908 
166 

Table 4.20 Ten Counties with Highest and Lowest Family Poverty in 

Appalachia, 1989

FIPS Code County State Family Poverty (%) 

Highest Percent Family Poverty: 

21189 Owsley KY 46.81 

21237 Wolfe KY 41.01 

21147 McCreary KY 40.06 

21153 Magoffin KY 39.23 

21025 Breathitt KY 36.16 

21051 Clay KY 35.88 

21119 Knott KY 35.69 

21121 Knox KY 34.78 

21109 Jackson KY 34.64 

28103 Noxubee MS 34.44 

Lowest Percent Family Poverty: 

13135 Gwinnett GA 2.94 

13057 Cherokee GA 4.42 

13117 Forsyth GA 4.67 

51023 Botetourt VA 4.77 

13097 Douglas GA 4.88 

42103 Pike PA 5.09 

42089 Monroe PA 5.12 

42037 Columbia PA 5.94 

42093 Montour PA 6.01 

37059 Davie NC 6.08 
167 

 

Over the past decade, the largest increases in income inequality were also found in 

Central Appalachia — all in West Virginia and Kentucky (Table 4.23). Moreover, the 

three counties with the highest levels of income inequality in 1990 (i.e., the Kentucky 

counties of Owsley, Know, and Lee) also were found among the top ten counties that 

experienced the largest absolute increases in inequality during the 1980s. These results 

again clearly suggest growth of within- and between-county income inequality in 

Appalachia. 

Table 4.21 Median Family Income and Percent of Families in Poverty by Beale Codes, 

1989

Beale Code 

Median Family 

Income 

Family 

Poverty (%) 

Metropolitan Areas: 

0 - Central counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. $35,939 7.98 

1 - Fringe counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. $32,520 9.43 

2 - Counties in metro areas of 250,000 - 1,000,000 pop. $31,928 10.20 

3 - Counties in metro areas of less than 250,000 pop. $29,701 10.63 

Non-Metropolitan Areas: 

4 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, adjacent to a metro area $28,346 11.56 

5 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to a metro area $28,729 13.40 

6 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, adjacent to a metro area $27,383 12.66 

7 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, not adjacent to a metro area $24,270 17.91 

8 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or more) 

adjacent to a metro area 

$24,248 15.96 

9 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or more) 

not adjacent to a metro area 

$20,445 21.73
168 

Income, poverty, and economic distress. Compared with the Attainment Counties, 

the Distressed Counties in Appalachia have very low levels of family income and high 

rates of poverty (Table 4.24). This is to be expected because the designation of 

“distressed” counties by the Appalachian Regional Commission is based on per capita 

family income, unemployment levels, and poverty rates. 

The more interesting question is whether the situation in Distressed Counties 

deteriorated over the 1979 to 1989 period, and whether the gap widened between the least 

and most distressed counties in Appalachia. As shown in Table 4.24, median family 

income declined from $24,243 to $20,478 between 1979 and 1989 in the 97 Distressed 

Counties, while poverty rates increased from 16.87 to 24.06 percent. In vivid contrast, the 

11 Attainment Counties experienced significant increases in real income between 1979 

and 1989, although poverty rates increased slightly -- a fact indicative of growing income 

inequality within prosperous counties. More significantly, the income gap between the 

least and most distressed counties thus widened between 1979 and 1989, from $11,523 to 

$17,237. The poverty gap, measured by the absolute difference in poverty rates between 

the least and most distressed counties, similarly increased from 10.22 in 1979 to 16.38 in 

1989. The Appalachian “winners” during the 1980s clearly have distanced themselves 

economically and perhaps socially from the Appalachian “losers.” 
169 

Table 4.22 Counties with Highest and Lowest Household Income 

Inequality in 1990 — Gini Coefficient

Fips Code County State Gini Coefficient 

in 1990 

Highest Gini Coefficient (highest income inequality in 1990) 

21189 Owsley KY 0.547 

21121 Knox KY 0.526 

21129 Lee KY 0.510 

21159 Martin KY 0.509 

21053 Clinton KY 0.503 

21025 Breathitt KY 0.500 

21127 Lawrence KY 0.498 

21119 Knott KY 0.496 

21237 Wolfe KY 0.496 

21175 Morgan KY 0.496 

Lowest Gini Coefficient (lowest income inequality in 1990) 

13135 Gwinnett GA 0.327 

13097 Douglas GA 0.333 

13223 Paulding GA 0.339 

42099 Perry PA 0.341 

13057 Cherokee GA 0.342 

42067 Juniata PA 0.359 

36097 Schuyler NY 0.360 

13213 Murray GA 0.365 

51023 Bototourt VA 0.367 

39025 Clermont OH 0.367 
170 

Table 4.23 Counties with Largest Change in Household Income 

Inequality in 1990.

Fips Code County State Gini Coefficient 

Largest increase in income inequality from 1980 to 1990) 

54005 Boone WV 0.084 

21189 Owsley KY 0.079 

54047 McDowell WV 0.070 

54109 Wyoming WV 0.065 

21121 Knox KY 0.064 

21129 Lee KY 0.062 

54059 Mingo WV 0.058 

54001 Barbour WV 0.057 

54021 Gilmer WV 0.057 

54073 Pleasants WV 0.055 

Largest decrease in income inequality from 1980 to 1990 

13223 Paulding GA -0.049 

21057 Cumberland KY -0.023 

13311 White GA -0.022 

47133 Overton TN -0.019 

54065 Morgan WV -0.019 

13057 Cherokee GA -0.017 

13213 Murray GA -0.017 

47007 Bledsoe TN -0.016 

47173 Union TN -0.016 

13013 Barrow GA -0.016 
171 

Table 4.24 Median Family Income and Percent of Families in Poverty by 1998 

ARC Distress Codes, 1979 and 1989

1979a 1989 

Distress Code Median Family 

Income 

Family Poverty 

(%) 

Median Family 

Income 

Family Poverty 

(%) 

Distressed $24,243 16.87 $20,478 24.06 

Transitional-1 24,993 12.79 24,355 15.88 

Transitional 30,207 9.12 29,513 11.10 

Competitive 30,614 8.27 32,692 7.97 

Attainment 35,766 6.65 37,725 7.68 

a

 Median family income for 1979 has been converted to 1989 dollars. 

This conclusion is reinforced in the analysis of recent trends in income inequality, 

reported in Table 4.25. Distressed counties had the highest average level of within-county 

income inequality in 1990 (Gini = .422), as well as the highest absolute increases over the 

1980-90 period. Thus, distressed counties have not only fallen behind the least distressed 

counties, but the 1980s brought an acceleration in income inequality within the most 

distressed counties. 

CRIME RATES IN APPALACHIA 

The social and economic well-being of Appalachia can also be measured by 

changes in crime rates, which are rooted in changing economic conditions, community 

disorganization, and individual psychopathy. For our purposes, the Federal Bureau of 

Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reports(UCR) provide annual data on “index” crimes for 

U.S. counties. The crime data include counts of offenses occurring in several categories of 
172 

serious crime. Typically these index crimes are divided into two groups: violent and 

property crimes. In turn these two groups can be subdivided. Violent crimes include 

murder, rape, robbery and assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny (theft), arson, 

and auto-theft. 

Before proceeding it is worth noting some of the problems with the UCR data. 

Among the most important limitations are variation in crime reporting by both the victims 

and by law enforcement officials, incomplete and missing data, and definitions of the 

population at risk. Data on crimes reported by victims are generally regarded as more 

reliable than arrest data. The UCR contain missing data, though for the Appalachian 

Region as a whole there are relatively few missing data items (counties not reporting). In 

Table 4.25. Household Income Inequality in Appalachia by Distressed Code, 

1980 and 1990.

Gini Coefficient Theil Index 

1980 Difference 

(1990 - 1980) 

1980 Difference 

(1990 - 1980) 

Distressed 0.422 

0.381 to 0.496 

0.032 

-0.023 to 0.084 

0.305 

0.244 to 0.420 

0.052 

-0.059 to 0.149 

Transitional-1 0.405 

0.371 to 0.458 

0.022 

-0.019 to 0.053 

0.280 

0.225 to 0.364 

0.033 

-0.025 to 0.087 

Transitional 0.393 

0.342 to 0.455 

0.020 

-0.049 to 0.055 

0.264 

0.197 to 0.369 

0.030 

-0.058 to 0.083 

Competitive 0.385 

0.328 to 0.429 

0.011 

-0.022 to 0.029 

0.256 

0.185 to 0.331 

0.015 

-0.045 to 0.039 

Attainment 0.395 

0.325 to 0.429 

0.021 

-0.017 to 0.034 

0.266 

0.183 to 0.311 

0.034 

-0.026 to 0.054
173 

addition, as annual data can vary and may be influenced by a small number of events, the 

data presented below are “mean” rates calculated from five individual years. In this 

situation, if a county is missing one year of data, four data values are used to calculate the 

mean. If two years were missing, three were counted, etc. In practice, if a county was 

missing a data item in one year it usually was missing the same information for all five 

years (twelve counties in 1992-1996). 

The data used here are drawn from two five year periods: 1977-1981 and 1992-

1996. The years 1977-1981 cover the first five years for which UCR data are available, 

while 1992-1996 cover the last five years of interest in this report. For these five year 

periods, the crime data reported below have been converted to rates (per 100,000 of the 

population) and weighted by the dependency ratio (calculated as “((population 0-14 + 

population 65 and over) / (population 15-64) * 100") to control for variations in the age 

distributions of the counties of interest. For the year 1977-1981 the dependency ratio was 

calculated from 1980 data, and the dependency ratio for 1992-1996 used 1990 census data.

Changes in Appalachian Crime Rates

Overall, crime in Appalachia is low compared to US averages, typically around 

60-70 percent of the national levels. The weighted crime rates for the two time periods and 

the mean percent change in index crimes for Appalachia as a whole are provided in Table 

4.26. The general trend appears to be that crime rates have increased (with exceptions for 

individual crimes). Crime rates increased by over twelve percent. The highest increases 

reported were for rape and arson. Such increases in crime raise questions about the 

reporting of those crimes and changes in public awareness and procedure, particularly 
174 

associated with rape. Not all individual index crimes increased: murder rates dropped in 

the ARC by 32 percent, and among property crimes, burglary dropped by 17 percent and 

auto theft by 4 percent. 

While crime is low compared to the nation as a whole there are considerable 

variations within the region and between different types of crime. The following section 

focuses on the changes in the various index crimes over time for the three Sub-regions 

within the Appalachian Region, before moving on to a discussion of crime rates by Beale 

Codes and Distress Codes. 

Sub-regional variation. The mean weighted index crime rates for 1977-1981 and 

1992-1996 and the change in rates between the two periods are shown in Tables 4.27-4.29. 

Table 4.26 Weighted Crime Rates in Appalachia, 1977-1981 and 1992-1996

1977-1981 1992-1996 Percent Change 

All Index Crimes 1152.6 1294.0 12.3 

Violent Crimes: 87.6 133.9 52.8 

Murder 4.0 2.7 -32.5 

Rape 5.7 11.3 99.1 

Robbery 14.8 16.8 13.5 

Assault 62.9 102.9 63.5 

Property Crimes: 1064.4 1159.9 8.9 

Burglary 394.9 327.5 -17.0 

Arson 7.2 12.0 66.6 

Larceny 585.3 752.3 28.5 

Auto Theft 84.1 80.1 -4.7 
175 

Briefly, overall crime rates in the earlier time period were highest in the North Sub-region 

though these were driven by property crime rates, specifically larceny and burglary (Table 

4.27). Violent crime rates were highest in the South Sub-region, though murder and rape 

crime rates were highest in the Central Sub-region. The Central Sub-region had the lowest 

crime rate of the Sub-regions, but in addition to murder and rape crimes it also reported 

the highest rate for arson between 1977-1981. 

By 1992-1996 overall crime rates increased for Appalachia, though not for the 

North Sub-region (Table 4.28). The South sub-region had the highest overall crime rate, 

including the highest rates for violent and property crimes. Indeed, the South sub-region 

had the highest crime rates for five of the eight individual index crimes, with the Central 

sub-region retaining the highest murder, rape and arson crime rates. 

Table 4.27 Weighted Crime Rates in Appalachia Sub-regions, 1977-1981

North Central South Total 

All Index Crimes 1313 821 1182 1152 

Violent Crimes: 74 84 101 87 

Murder 2.2 6.5 4.3 4.0 

Rape 5.8 6.1 5.5 5.7 

Robbery 15.5 11.1 16.0 14.8 

Assault 50.4 60.1 75.1 62.9 

Property Crimes: 1239 737 1081 1064 

Burglary 441 302 402 394 

Arson 7.4 13.4 3.9 7.2 

Larceny 719 350 589 585 

Auto Theft 79 84 89 84 

Note: Figures represent available data for 396 of 399 Appalachian counties.
176 

The percentage change in the weighted index crime rates between 1977-1981 and 

1992-1996 is reported in Table 4.29. The overall index crime rates decreased in the North 

Sub-region, experiencing reductions in four index crime rates: murder (-18.1), robbery (-

14.8), burglary (-31 percent) and auto theft (-14.2 percent). Crime increased in the Central 

Sub-region at a rate similar to the Appalachian Region as a whole (12 percent). However, 

the Central Sub-region also witnessed a reduction in crime rates for murder, robbery, 

burglary and auto theft, though it also reported the largest increase in the violent crime 

rate, with almost a doubling of the assault rate. The South Sub-region saw the largest 

increases in overall crime (27.5 percent) at twice the Appalachian Region rate. Property 

crime increases in the South Sub-region were almost three times the Appalachian average. 

Table 4.28 Weighted Crime Rates in Appalachia Sub-regions, 1992-1996

North Central South Total 

All Index Crimes 1256 922 1508 1294 

Violent Crimes: 96 140 164 134 

Murder 1.8 4.1 2.7 2.7 

Rape 12.1 12.5 10.1 11.3 

Robbery 13.2 8.5 24.1 16.8 

Assault 68.4 114.6 126.7 102.9 

Property Crimes: 1160 782 1345 1159 

Burglary 304 246 388 327 

Arson 12.7 16.5 9.2 12.0 

Larceny 789 467 862 752 

Auto Theft 67 70 96 80 

Note: Figures represent available data for 387 of 399 Appalachian counties.
177 

While the South had impressive reductions in the murder rate (-37 percent), the only other 

index crime rate to fall was burglary (-3 percent) which was small compared to regional 

trends. Robbery and auto theft, which decreased in both the North and Central Subregions, increased in the South. The 50 percent increase in robbery crime rates in the 

South Sub-region contributed to the increase in the Appalachian Region as a whole for 

this type of crime. 

Crime Disparities by County. Overall index crime rates between 1992-1996 were 

highest in non-metropolitan counties with more than 20,000 people both adjacent to a 

metropolitan area (Beale Code 4) and not adjacent to a metropolitan area (Beale Code 5) 

Table 4.29 Mean Percent Change in Weighted Crime Rates in Appalachia Subregions, 1977-1981 vs. 1992-1996

North Central South Total 

All Index Crimes -4.4 12.3 27.5 12.3 

Violent Crimes: 29.1 66.7 61.9 52.8 

Murder -18.1 -36.9 -37.2 -32.5 

Rape 108.6 104.9 83.6 99.1 

Robbery -14.8 -23.4 50.6 13.5 

Assault 35.7 90.6 68.7 63.5 

Property Crimes: -6.3 6.2 24.4 8.9 

Burglary -31.0 -18.7 -3.6 -17.0 

Arson 71.6 23.1 135.8 66.6 

Larceny 9.6 33.3 46.1 28.5 

Auto Theft -14.2 -16.9 7.9 -4.7 

Note: Figures represent available data for 387 of 399 Appalachian counties.
178 

(see Table 4.26). Violent crime rates vary by less than 2:1 between the highest and lowest 

rates across all county typologies, with the highest rates (189/100,000) in metropolitan 

areas of between 250,000 and one million residents and the lowest in rural non adjacent 

counties (96/100,000). Within violent crimes there is variability, with the ratio between 

highest and lowest rates for robbery approximately 7:1. A reversal of the crime gradient 

between metropolitan and non-metropolitan seems evident for murder, with rates above 

the ARC average (2.7 per 100,000) in four of the six non-metropolitan Beale Codes. Rape, 

robbery and assault reveal the highest rates in metropolitan areas, though nonmetropolitan Beale Codes 4 and 5 have relatively high rates for these three crimes. 

 Property crime rates vary across county typologies with the exception of counties 

Beale Coded 4 and 5 counties disrupting the smooth metropolitan-non-metropolitan 

gradient (Table 4.30). Property rates are driven largely by the larceny rate. Auto theft is 

strongly a metropolitan phenomenon though small cities report high rates. Other property 

crimes such as burglary and arson are highest in metropolitan Beale Codes (especially 

central and fringe counties) though variation in the rates between highest and lowest 

reported values are less than two to one. 
179 

Table 4.30 Mean Weighted Crime Rates in Appalachia by Beale Codes, 1992-1996

Metropolitan Areas Non-Metropolitan Area

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

All Index Crimes 1553 1723 1657 1577 1741 2006 1335 1206 Violent Crimes: 136 135 189 152 154 162 131 123 

Murder 1.5 1.7 2.4 2.0 1.6 3.0 2.3 2.9 Rape 13.3 10.4 13.9 10.7 13.4 13.1 10.9 9.3 Robbery 39.4 20.6 32.7 26.5 21.7 33 13.4 11.8 Assault 82.7 102.5 140.4 113.2 117.6 112.9 104.4 99.3 

Property Crimes: 1416 1587 1467 1424 1586 1844 1204 1084 

Burglary 267 444 367 323 365 382 346 318 Arson 14.9 15.0 11.3 10.1 13.8 7.7 12.1 12.3 Larceny 995 1011 991 1025 1138 1342 773 690 Auto Theft 152 131 108 75 82 120 83 73 

Note: Figures represent available data for 387 of 399 Appalachian counties.

*Beale Codes: 0 - Central counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 1 - Fringe counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 2 - Counties in metro areas of 250,000 - 1,000,000 pop. 3 - Counties in metro areas of less than 250,000 pop. 4 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, adjacent to a metro area 

 5 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to a m

6 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, adjacent to a metro a7 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, not adjacent to a met8 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or metro area 9 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or to a metro area 
180 

Regarding changes in crime rates between 1977-82 and 1992-1996 the overall 

violent crime rates increased by 53 percent (Table 4.31 - compare with Table 4.29). The 

smallest increases (7 percent) in violent crimes were found in center cities (Beale Code 0) 

and the largest increase (74 percent) among small cities not adjacent to metropolitan 

counties (Beale Code 5). As already noted there is variability among violent crimes. 

Murder rates have dropped across all Beale Code county typologies but most especially in 

center and fringe metropolitan counties. Robbery rates vary enormously with some 

counties experiencing a decrease or no change (in five of the county typologies) and small 

non adjacent cities experiencing an increase in robbery of 55 percent. Assault rates have 

increased greatly (63 percent) though metropolitan central cities and the most remote rural 

areas have the lowest rates of increase, 13 and 24 percent respectively. 

Property crimes have increased by almost nine percent (Table 4.31 - compare with 

Table 4.29). However, in central cities (Beale Code 0), counties with over 20,000 people 

and adjacent to metropolitan areas (Beale Code 4) and rural areas adjacent to metropolitan 

areas (Beale Code 8) the property crime rates have fallen. The highest increases are 

generally found among the remaining non-metropolitan counties (Beale Codes 5, 6, 7 and 

9). Burglary rates have fallen in all county typologies, though the smallest decreases are 

found in non-metropolitan counties. Larceny rate increases vary across county typologies 

by five to one, with the highest rates of increase in non-adjacent rural counties (Beale 

Code 9). Auto theft has declined or not changed in seven of ten county typologies with 

declines in excess of 20% in small metropolitan areas and counties with over 20,000 

people adjacent to metropolitan areas (Beale Code 3 and 4). 
181 

Table 4.31 Mean Percent Change in Weighted Crime Rates in Appalachia by Beale Codes, 1977-1981 v

Metropolitan Areas Non-Metropolitan Areas 

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

All Index Crimes -1.6 12.1 11.0 3.2 -2.1 29.4 21.0 13.2 Violent Crimes: 7.0 58.8 70.2 50.4 40.0 74.1 65.8 43.0 

Murder -42.3 -63.8 -27.7 -23.0 -40.7 -26.8 -30.3 -38.2 Rape 38.5 76.2 93.0 67.1 103.0 87.1 122.4 75.4 Robbery -7.9 10.7 34.5 11.3 -6.8 55.6 13.5 -1.6 Assault 13.4 82.7 84.0 44.8 51.9 86.3 76.0 53.9 

Property Crimes: -2.3 9.4 6.2 0.0 -4.9 26.5 17.6 10.8 

Burglary -42.3 -24.4 -20.5 -26.0 -30.2 -11.3 -11.2 -10.6 Arson 86.2 134.3 76.5 55.3 17.9 133.3 120.0 73.2 Larceny 21.0 37.5 22.6 14.7 10.4 46.5 38.5 28.4 Auto Theft -7.3 3.9 -0.9 -21.0 -28.6 11.1 12.1 -14.1 

Note: Figures represent available data for 387 of 399 Appalachian counties.

*Beale Codes: 0 - Central counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 1 - Fringe counties of metro areas of 1 million or more pop. 

2 - Counties in metro areas of 250 000 - 1 000 000

 5 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to a metr

6 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, adjacent to a metro area 7 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, not adjacent to a metro a8 - Completely rural (no places with pop. of 2,500 or mometro area 9 - Completely rural (no places with pop of 2 500 or mo
182 

Crime Disparities by Economic Distress. The variation in crime rates across 

distress codes for the period 1992-1996 is reported in Table 4.32. Competitive Counties 

have consistently the highest crime rates: for the overall index, for both violent and 

property crimes, and for six of the eight index crimes (excluding murder and arson). For 

the overall index crime rate there is an apparent gradient from low crime Distressed 

Counties to high crime Competitive Counties. The distress county gradient is not clear for 

any separate index crimes. In the case of murder (and to a lesser extent arson) a reverse 

gradient is more in evidence, with the most distressed reporting the highest crime rates and 

the least distressed reporting the lowest crime rates. Within individual property crime rates 

the lowest rates are typically for Distressed and Transitional-1 counties (except arson). 

Table 4.32 Mean Weighted Crime Rates in Appalachia by Distress Codes*, 1992-1996

Distressed Transitional-1 Transitional Competitive Attainment

All Index Crimes 957 1139 1375 1914 1284 

Violent Crimes: 122 98 135 207 96 

Murder 3.6 3.4 2.3 2.3 2.0 

Rape 13.3 8.0 10.6 14.6 7.8 

Robbery 11.4 9.3 17.3 39.9 13.4 

Assault 93.5 77.4 105.2 150.8 72.7 

Property Crimes: 835 1041 1240 1706 1188 

Burglary 272 275 344 426 310 

Arson 17.2 11.7 10.2 11.0 7.8 

Larceny 490 713 816 1146 786 

Auto Theft 71 52 79 133 91 

* Distress codes created by the ARC using measures of unemployment, poverty, and per capita 

income.
183 

The percent change in rates between those reported in for 1977-1982 and 1992-

1996 are listed in Table 4.33. The pattern across the distress county codes is less clear, 

though overall index crimes and property crimes are highest in the most distressed 

counties and lowest in the “Attainment” counties. 

Changes in crime rates across Distress Codes vary enormously. Overall index 

crime rate increases appear to follow a gradient where the highest increases are found in 

the most depressed counties. Violent crimes (based on lower rates) show higher increases 

than property crimes but show no clear crime gradient across distress codes. Murder has 

Table 4.33 Mean Percent Change in Weighted Crime Rates in Appalachia by 

Distress Codes*, 1977-1981 vs. 1992-1996

Distressed Transitional-1 Transitional Competitive Attainment

All Index Crimes 17.1 15.9 10.2 12.9 7.2 

Violent Crimes: 41.2 19.4 59.5 66.4 29.5 

Murder -38.9 -15.0 -28.1 -32.3 -47.6 

Rape 107.8 56.8 100.0 92.1 32.2 

Robbery 1.7 8.8 14.5 42.5 5.6 

Assault 49.8 23.2 72.1 76.3 46.5 

Property Crimes: 14.4 15.7 6.7 8.7 5.7 

Burglary -7.0 -19.1 -19.9 -15.3 -24.5 

Arson 47.0 91.8 72.8 111.5 160.0 

Larceny 37.3 42.8 25.7 22.5 26.5 

Auto Theft -9.8 -12.2 -4.0 -3.0 -1.5 

* Distress codes created by the ARC using measures of unemployment, poverty, and per 

capita income. 
184 

dropped across all distress codes with a u-shaped pattern across codes, with the largest 

decreases found in both the most and the least distressed counties. While rape data are 

questionable (in terms of accuracy and true reporting as well as greater awareness of the 

seriousness of this type of crime) the largest increases were observed in the Distressed 

Counties. Robbery crime increases vary by a factor of twenty-to-one, with the highest 

increases found in Competitive Counties. 

As mentioned above, the changes in property crime rates follow a gradient across 

the distress codes, with the highest increases found in Distressed and Transitional-1 

counties. Within property crimes this gradient seems to hold up (except for arson). For 

burglary and auto theft, where decreases were found, the decrease has been smallest in the 

most distressed counties. For larceny the highest increases are for the most distressed 

counties. 

CONCLUSION 

The uneven development and social and economic diversity in Appalachia are 

clearly revealed in this chapter. Major strides forward in some parts of Appalachia have 

been off-set by stagnation or slow social and economic progress in other parts of the 

Region. The optimism of significant improvements in the human capital — the rise in 

completed schooling — only gives ballast to the persistent and continuing low levels of 

education attainment in most of Appalachia compared to the rest of the nation. The lack 

of skills and education, now necessary for upward socioeconomic mobility in an 

increasingly high tech economy, remain problematic in many parts of Appalachia, 
185 

especially in Central Appalachia — and most especially in rural Kentucky. Clearly, 

geographic social and economic differentiation and inequality characterize the 

Appalachian landscape. 

Unfortunately, the persistent problem of low human capital in some parts of the 

Region are now exacerbated by (and reflect) the continuing transformation of the family. 

The rise in female headed families reinforces the problem of low family income and high 

rates of poverty in the Region. The seeds of family change take root today, but the results 

are reaped tomorrow when today’s poor and social disadvantaged children enter 

adulthood, many of whom are ill-prepared to assume productive and civic roles. 

Research studies show that growing up in single parent families is associated with lower 

educational achievement, impaired emotional and cognitive development, and juvenile 

delinquency. In fact, crime rates were highest in the most economically distressed 

counties of Appalachia, and, violent and property crime rates have increased over the last 

two decades in the Region. Clearly, the economic problems of the Region cannot be 

separated from the problem of human resource development, unstable families, and 

psychopathy (revealed in high crime rates). At the same time, creating decent jobs in the 

absence of skilled and well-adjusted workers will not solve the problems of low income 

population in Appalachia. Economic growth and human resource development must go 

hand-in-hand. 
This chapter was written by Diane K. McLaughlin 

Chapter 4 Endnotes

1. See Table 20. U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1999. Geographical Mobility: March 1996 to March 

1997 (Update). Current Population Report, P20-510. Washington, DC: Government Printing 

Office. Between March 1996 and March 1997, the South on balance imported 8,000 more highly 

educated adults (with college degrees) than they exported to other regions of the country. 

2. See Lichter, Daniel T., Gretchen T. Cornwell, and David J. Eggebeen. 1993. "Harvesting Human 

Capital: Family Structure and Education Among Rural Youth." Rural Sociology 58:53-75; and 

Lichter, Daniel T., Lionel J. Beaulieu, Jill L. Findeis, and Ruy Teixeira. 1993. "Human Capital, 

Labor Supply, and Poverty in Rural America." Pp. 39-67 in Gene Summers (ed.), Persistent Rural 

Poverty. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 

3. See Isaac Shapiro. 1989. Laboring for Less: Working But Poor in Rural America. Washington, 

DC: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 

4. .Source: http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hh-fam/98pplb.txt 

5. Mark Fossett and Theresa Seibert. 1997. Long Time Coming: Racial Inequality in the Nonmetropolitan South, 1940-1990. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.. 

6. Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census (1997). 

7. Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census (1993). 

8. The Gini Coefficient and Theil Index vary between 0 and 1, with higher scores indicating greater 

average within-county inequality. The Gini has a straightforward interpretation: A coefficient of 

zero means that income is evenly across households (i.e., all households have the same income), 

while a Gini of 1 indicates that all income in concentrated in one family. In 1997, the top 20 

percent of households in the United States accounted for 49.4 percent of all family income. 
This chapter was written by Diane K. McLaughlin 

CHAPTER 5 

JOBS AND WORKERS IN APPALACHIA 

INTRODUCTION

Labor force activity of residents is a key indicator of the economic viability and 

stability of local labor markets. Coupled with information on occupational and industrial 

structure, this information provides a picture of the economic capacity of a local labor 

market, and an indicator of whether the labor market relies on older, established industries or 

is taking part in the faster growing sectors of the economy. General growth or decline in the 

labor market also can be inferred from this type of information. This chapter builds on and 

helps to explain the differences in population composition found in Chapter 2, patterns of 

migration observed in Chapter 3, and economic well-being of Appalachian residents 

described in Chapter 4. 

In addition, it is important to remember that the success of local areas in attracting 

new jobs, supporting existing businesses, and diversifying their economies depends in part on 

the resources at their disposal (e.g. good transportation systems, finance capital, building 

sites, markets, citizen involvement and good leadership). A critical resource is the pool of 

workers available. The work ethic, education and skills of workers, and sometimes the size 

of the available work pool with particular characteristics can influence the decisions of 

outside firms to locate in an area, and affects the ability of local entrepreneurs to build their 

businesses. 

There are four major sections to this chapter. Initially, we provide information on the 

labor force participation rates of men and women in 1980 and 1990, and the size of the labor 
189 

force, based on data from the U.S. Census of Population. We then examine unemployment 

rates over the same period. Third, we give information on the industrial structure in 1980, 

1990 and 1996 based on Regional Economic Information System (REIS) data so that a more 

recent picture of industrial structure is available. We then show the occupation structures in 

1980 and 1990 based on U.S. Census of Population and Housing. Looking at both industrial 

and occupational change is important since the restructuring that had occurred influences the 

occupational structure as well as the industrial composition in local labor markets affecting 

types of jobs available. 

LABOR FORCE STATUS AND GROWTH

Labor Force Participation in Appalachia

Labor force participation is measured by the number of persons who are employed 

and unemployed divided by the number of persons ages 16 and over. We show the labor 

force participation rates as percentages for men and women, for 1980 and 1990, for the 

United States, Appalachia, and the three Sub-regions of Appalachia in Table 5.1. The 

percentage point difference from 1980 to 1990 is reported in the final column of the table. 

Generally, the table shows divergence for men and convergence for women between 

Appalachia and the U.S. in labor force participation. In 1980, 74.7 percent of men in the 

U.S. participated in the labor force, compared with 71.4 percent of men in Appalachia—a 3.3 

percentage point gap. By 1990, this difference had widened to a 6.3 point difference. 
190 

Appalachian women’s labor force participation rose by 6.8 points to 50.8 from 1980 to 1990, 

but Appalachian women’s labor force participation remained 5.9 percentage points below that 

of U.S. women, overall. In 1990, 56.7 percent of U.S. women were in the labor force 

compared to 50.8 percent of Appalachian women. 

Table 5.1 Labor Force Participation for Appalachia and the U.S. by Gender and 

Sub-region, 1980 and 1990

1980 1990 Change 

No. % No. % No. %

North Appalachia

 Men 2,637,639 71.2 2,511,631 68.2 -126,008 -3.0 

 Women 1,736,873 42.1 2,001,744 48.6 264,871 6.5 

 Total 4,374,512 55.9 4,513,375 57.8 138,863 6.7 

Central Appalachia

 Men 480,334 64.9 462,310 62.6 -18,024 -2.3 

 Women 277,878 34.7 337,694 41.5 59,816 6.7 

 Total 758,212 49.3 800,004 51.5 41,792 2.2 

South Appalachia

 Men 2,075,112 73.3 2,368,493 73.2 293,381 -0.1 

 Women 1,538,820 48.7 1,994,635 55.3 455,815 6.7 

 Total 3,613,932 60.3 4,363,128 63.8 749,196 3.5 

Total Appalachia

 Men 5,193,085 71.4 5,342,434 69.8 149,349 -1.6 

 Women 3,553,571 43.9 4,334,073 50.8 780,502 6.8 

 Total 8,746,656 56.9 9,676,507 59.7 929,851 2.8 

U.S.

 Men 59,926,488 74.7 67,046,083 76.1 7,119,596 1.4 

 Women 44,523,329 49.8 56,427,367 56.7 11,904,038 6.9 

 Total 104,449,817 61.6 123,473,450 66.4 19,023,633 4.8 
191 

Labor Force Participation by Appalachian Sub-regions

Comparing the change in participation rates for men across Sub-regions in Appalachia, 

every Sub-region had declines in labor force participation from 1980 to 1990. There are 

differences, however, across Sub-regions in the labor force participation rates. In 1990, men 

in the South Sub-region had the highest participation with 73.2 percent in the labor force. The 

Central Sub-region had the lowest participation among men, with 62.6 percent in the labor 

force, a gap of 10.6 percentage points with the South. The North Sub-region had the largest 

decline in participation rates from 1980 to 1990, however, -3.0 percentage points. 

Increases in labor force participation among women were quite similar from 1980 to 

1990 across Appalachian Sub-regions (6.5 and 6.7 percentage points), but these similar gains 

do not reduce the large variation in women’s participation across Sub-regions. Women in the 

Central Sub-region have by far the lowest labor force participation, with only 41.5 percent in 

the labor force (increased from 34.7 percent in 1980). The North Sub-region is intermediate 

with 48.6 percent of women in the labor force in 1990. Women in the South Sub-region have 

the highest labor force participation, with 55.3 percent participating. This is almost as high as 

women’s participation in the U.S. overall. The gap in participation among women in the 

Central and Southern Sub-regions is 13.8 percentage points, suggesting quite different 

opportunities for women and perhaps variation in attitudes regarding women’s involvement in 

the paid labor force. It may also indicate a priority given to men in filling positions in a 

region hard-hit by declines in extractive industries and manufacturing employment in the 

1980s -- jobs typically held by men. 
192 

Labor Force Participation in 1993 Beale Codes

Labor force opportunity often is associated with proximity to metropolitan areas. To 

explore this relationship, the labor force participation of men and women in counties 

classified by Beale Codes in 1990 is shown in Table 5.2. There is a general pattern of 

declining labor force participation for men and women from the most metropolitan to the most 

rural counties. Without question, the highest participation is found among men and women in 

the top three metro classifications. 

Metro men’s labor force participation is over 72 percent in 1990 in the top three 

metropolitan categories, with men in fringe counties of metro areas of 1,000,000 or more 

having participation of 74.3 percent. In the largest Non-metropolitan counties and in counties 

in metro areas with less than 250,000 population, men’s participation rates are between 68 and 

69 percent. For men in the three most rural Beale classifications, labor force participation 

drops to 65.7 percent for counties with urban populations between 2,500 and 19,999 but not 

adjacent to metro areas, 67.3 percent for completely rural adjacent counties, and to 62.1 

percent for men in completely rural counties not adjacent to a metro area. 

Women’s participation in the labor force shows the same basic pattern by Beale Code 

as men’s, only with lower participation rates. Women in the three largest metro 

classifications have the highest participation, about 53 percent. In the next four classifications 

(Codes 3 to 6) women have participation rates between 49.2 and 50.9 percent. These are 

lower than those for women in the largest metro areas, but are higher than the participation 

rates for women in the three most rural categories. The lowest participation rates for both 
193 

men and women are found in the completely rural counties, not adjacent to metro areas. Only 

42.9 percent of women in these counties were in the labor force in 1990. 
194 

 

Table 5.2 Labor Force Participation by Sex Across Beale Codes, 1990

Men Women 

Beale Region Number Percent Number Percent 

Metropolitan Areas:

0 - Central counties of metro areas of 

1 million or more pop. 

715,493 72.31 599,745 53.16 

1 - Fringe counties of metro areas of 

1 million or more pop. 

203,585 74.30 157,457 53.13 

2 - Counties in metro areas of 

250,000 - 1,000,000 pop. 

1,622,058 72.25 1,365,198 53.73 

3 - Counties in metro areas of less 

than 250,000 pop. 

655,184 68.46 528,957 49.64 

Non-Metropolitan Areas:

4 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, 

adjacent to a metro area 

385,615 68.78 312,019 50.18 

5 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, 

not adjacent to a metro area 

169,883 68.01 143,041 50.86 

6 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, 

adjacent to a metro area 

725,159 68.96 567,333 49.15 

7 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, not 

adjacent to a metro area 

555,016 65.68 430,700 46.08 

8 - Completely rural (no places with 

pop. of 2,500 or more) adjacent to a 

metro area 

133,760 67.29 98,237 46.69 

9 - Completely rural (no places with 

pop. of 2,500 or more) not adjacent 

to a metro area 

176,681 62.09 131,386 42.92 

Total 5,342,434 69.78 4,334,073 50.75 
195 

Labor Force Participation by 1998 Distressed County Codes

Given that the Distressed County Codes are based on poverty rates, unemployment, 

and per capita income, we expect a strong relationship between men’s and women’s labor 

force participation and Distressed County Codes. Labor force participation is shown for men 

and women in 1990 by Distressed County Codes in Table 5.3. As expected, the lowest 

participation is found in the Distressed Counties where 60.3 percent of men and 38.8 percent 

of women are in the labor force. The highest participation rates are in the Competitive 

Counties, rather than in the Attainment Counties (the most prosperous counties). In the 

Competitive Counties 75.6 percent of men and 58.1 percent of women are in the labor force. 

These levels are almost as high as the U.S. average for men, and women in the Appalachian 

Competitive Counties have slightly higher participation rates than the average for U.S. 

women. 

Table 5.3 Labor Force Participation by Sex Across Distress Codes*, 1990

Men Women 

No. Percent No. Percent 

Distressed 476,335 60.30 337,649 38.75 

Transitional-1 211,413 66.22 164,806 46.11 

Transitional 3,374,714 69.67 2,740,126 50.74 

Competitive 514,287 75.56 432,345 58.12 

Attainment 765,685 74.87 659,147 56.51 

Total 5,342,434 69.78 4,334,073 50.75 

* * Distress codes created by the ARC using measures of unemployment, 

poverty, and per capita income. 
196 

Spatial Distribution of Labor Force Participation Rates

To provide an indication of the diversity in labor force participation rates and the 

geographic distribution of counties with high and low rates, Map 5.1 shows the Appalachian 

counties by labor force participation for men. There is an equal number of counties in each 

category. Highest labor force participation counties are the lightest shade. The labor force 

participation for men in these counties in 1990 ranged from 72.3 to 87.9 percent. Consistent 

with the participation rates by Beale Codes, these counties tend to border or be parts of large 

metropolitan areas. They also tend to be more concentrated in the South in South Carolina, 
197 

Georgia, and Alabama. The counties with the lowest participation rates (those that are darkest 

on the map) are concentrated in the middle of Appalachia, specifically parts of West Virginia, 

eastern Kentucky, and southern Ohio. Areas associated with coal-mining and steel production. 

These counties have labor force participation that ranges from a low of 39.5 percent to 63.7 

percent. As can be seen from the distribution of counties on the map, the majority of 

Appalachian counties (60 percent) have men’s labor force participation that ranges from 63.7 

to 72.3 percent. 

The spatial distribution of counties with high and low women’s labor force 

participation mirrors that for men. The labor force participation for women, with an equal 

number of counties in each category, is shown in Map 5.2. As with men, the highest labor 

force participation among women is located largely in Southern Appalachia adjacent to 

metropolitan areas, although there is a block of counties in New York with high women’s 

participation. Counties in this group have women’s labor force participation that ranges from 

54.3 to 71.8 percent. The lowest women’s labor force participation is concentrated in the 

central part of Appalachia, in West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and some counties in southeastern Ohio and the south-western tip of Virginia. Women’s labor force participation for 

these counties ranges from 25.8 to 43 percent. 

A list of the ten counties with the lowest labor force participation rates for men and 

women in 1990 is provided in Table 5.4. Owsley County, Kentucky has the lowest men’s 

labor force participation, only 39.5 percent. The next lowest participation is found in 

McDowell County, West Virginia, where 47.4 percent of men are in the labor force. Recall 

that McDowell County experienced some of the highest out-migration of all Appalachian 

Counties, consistent with poor and/or declining economic opportunities. The gap between 
198 

Owsley, Kentucky and McDowell County is significant suggesting very serious barriers to 

men’s employment and/or very high levels of disability in Owsley, Kentucky. Five of these 

ten counties with the lowest men’s labor force participation are located in eastern Kentucky in 

the coal mining region and the more mountainous areas where transportation is difficult. 
199 

Table 5.4 Appalachian Counties with Lowest Labor Force Participation 

Rates for Men and Women, 1990

FIPS Code County State Percent in Labor Force 

Men:

21189 Owsley KY 39.52 

54047 McDowell WV 47.41 

21051 Clay KY 50.84 

47067 Hancock TN 52.07 

21175 Morgan KY 52.47 

42053 Forest PA 52.59 

21129 Lee KY 52.93 

47007 Bledsoe TN 53.03 

21147 McCreary KY 53.09 

13281 Towns GA 53.09 

Women:

54047 McDowell WV 25.76 

54109 Wyoming WV 25.79 

54059 Mingo WV 25.83 

54015 Clay WV 26.08 

21133 Letcher KY 26.84 

54101 Webster WV 26.94 

21131 Leslie KY 26.97 

21159 Martin KY 27.80 

54005 Boone WV 28.19 

21095 Harlan KY 28.49 
200 

All of the counties with lowest women’s labor force participation are located in 

Kentucky (6) or West Virginia (4). McDowell, Wyoming, and Mingo Counties, West 

Virginia have the lowest women’s labor force participation in the Appalachian Region — 25.8 

percent. Only two counties, McDowell, West Virginia and Clay, West Virginia, are among 

the ten counties with the lowest participation for both men and women. These differences for 

men and women are consistent with research that has shown different employment 

opportunities for men and women in the same labor markets and provides evidence of the 

continued sex-segregation of employment opportunities. 

The ten counties with the highest men’s and women’s labor force participation in 1990 

are listed in Table 5.5. Six of the counties with the highest men’s labor force participation are 

in Georgia, with Gwinnett’s participation of 87.9 percent the highest in Appalachia. This 

county also had the highest women’s labor force participation in 1990 — 71.8 percent, well 

above the U.S. average, and it had high in-migration and population growth (see chapter 3). 

There is more consistency in the top ten counties for men’s and women’s labor force 

participation, with five of the top ten counties the same. Four of these are Georgia counties 

that border or are part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. 

Gender and Race Differences in Labor Force Participation in Appalachia

Labor force participation rates in 1980 and 1990, and the change in labor force 

participation rates for men and women, by race and ethnicity are shown in Table 5.6. The 

first panel shows sex-specific participation for men and women. Panels 2 through 4 give sexspecific participation rates by race and ethnicity. The patterns observed for all men and 

women tend to hold, for the most part, in each race group. 
201 

Table 5.5 Appalachian Counties with Highest Labor Force 

Participation Rates for Men and Women, 1990

FIPS Code County State Percent in Labor Force 

Men:

13135 Gwinnett GA 87.93 

13057 Cherokee GA 84.89 

13097 Douglas GA 81.97 

01117 Shelby AL 81.88 

13117 Forsyth GA 81.64 

37003 Alexander NC 80.92 

13223 Paulding GA 80.87 

13313 Whitfield GA 80.24 

39025 Clermont OH 79.69 

01089 Madison AL 79.65 

Women:

13135 Gwinnett GA 71.80 

13097 Douglas GA 66.71 

13057 Cherokee GA 64.89 

37003 Alexander NC 64.73 

13085 Dawson GA 62.72 

13213 Murray GA 62.37 

37023 Burke NC 62.20 

37027 Caldwell NC 61.74 

13313 Whitfield GA 61.71 

37059 Davie NC 61.53 
202 

Women experienced gains in labor force participation from 1980 to 1990, while men 

taken together as a group experienced a slight decline. This was true for each race group, 

although only Hispanic men experienced an increase in labor force participation over the 

decade. These gains in women’s labor force participation may reflect the shifting industrial 

and occupational composition towards creation of jobs more often associated with women (in 

retail trade and services), and it may indicate the need for dual-earner families as the job 

opportunities and quality of jobs for men have declined. 

Table 5.6 Labor Force Participation Rates by Gender and Race 

1980 and 1990 

Men Women 

1980 1990 Change 1980 1990 Change 

Total 71.4 69.8 -1.6 43.9 50.8 6.9 

Whites 72.1 70.4 -1.7 43.6 50.3 6.7 

Blacks 61.4 60.8 -0.6 49.1 56.2 7.1 

Hispanics 63.1 69.9 6.8 42.1 55.8 13.7 

As might be expected, labor force participation rates vary a great deal by race and 

ethnicity. Among men, overall labor force participation for whites and Hispanics is quite 

similar in 1990 — 70.4 percent of whites and 69.9 percent of Hispanics were in the labor 

force. Only 60.8 percent of Black men were in the labor force in 1990, significantly lower 

than either whites or Hispanics. Gains in labor force participation were greatest for Hispanic 

men (6.8 percentage points), and the decline was largest for whites (-1.7 percentage points). 
203 

Women’s labor force participation also varies by race and ethnicity. These groups 

can be compared to each other and to men in the same group. Black and Hispanic women 

have higher labor force participation than white women in 1990. Among Black women 56.2 

percent were in the labor force compared to 55.8 percent of Hispanic women, and 50.3 percent 

of white women. Hispanic women had the largest increase in labor force participation over 

the decade — 13.7 percentage points. Black women gained 7.1 percentage points and White 

women’s labor force participation rose by 6.7 points. 

These differences in labor force participation by race and ethnicity only partly reflect 

the different places people live. Recall that most minorities are concentrated in the 

metropolitan counties or counties adjacent to large cities, the areas with the highest labor force 

participation rates. Living in counties with depressed economic opportunities is not likely to 

explain the race and ethnic gap with whites on labor force participation. Other explanations 

include differentials in human capital (education and work skills) and disability (among older 

working age persons) across race and ethnic groups, and discrimination against Blacks and 

Hispanics in local labor markets. The particularly low participation rates of Black men in 

1980 and the loss to 1990 suggests that they may be at the bottom of any labor queue, 

regardless of their education and skills. 

Unemployment in Appalachia

Unemployment rates also vary greatly across Appalachia. Unemployment rates for 

1980 and 1990 for the U.S., Appalachia, and the Appalachian Sub-regions for all persons, and 

for men and women are given in Table 5.7. In both 1980 and 1990, Appalachia’s total 

unemployment rate exceeded that of the U.S. In 1990, the U.S. unemployment rate was 6.3 

percent, compared to 6.8 percent for Appalachia. The unemployment rate was down in 1990 

compared to 1980, and the decline was larger for the Appalachia than for the U.S. Men’s and 
204 

women’s unemployment rates were quite similar in Appalachia in 1980 and 1990, with men’s 

0.4 and 0.2 percentage points higher in each year, respectively, than women’s. 

Unemployment in Appalachian Sub-regions

Table 5.7 Unemployment for Appalachia by Gender and Sub-region, 1980 and 

1990

 

1980

 

1990

 

Change

No. % No. % No. %

North Appalachia

 Men 229,174 8.7 199,132 7.9 -30,042 -0.8 

 Women 130,548 7.5 131,941 6.6 1,393 -0.9 

 Total 359,722 8.2 331,073 7.3 -28,649 -0.9 

Central Appalachia

 Men 52,109 10.8 49,342 10.7 -2,767 -0.1 

 Women 24,413 8.8 32,408 9.6 7,995 0.8 

 Total 76,522 10.1 81,750 10.2 5,228 -0.1 

South Appalachia

 Men 128,935 6.2 121,498 5.1 -7,437 -1.1 

 Women 110,655 7.2 126,033 6.3 15,378 -0.9 

 Total 239,590 6.6 247,531 5.7 -15,480 -0.9 

Total Appalachia

 Men 410,218 7.9 369,972 6.9 -40.246 -1.0 

 Women 265,616 7.5 290,382 6.7 24,766 -0.8 

 Total 675,834 7.7 660,354 6.8 -15,480 -0.9 
205 

Comparing Sub-regions, Central Appalachia has the highest unemployment rates for 

men and women, and, most notably, the unemployment rates increased from 1980 to 1990, 

and for women overall. Men’s unemployment rate was 10.7 percent in 1990, while women’s 

was 9.6 percent. These decline by 0.1 percentage points for men and rose by 0.8 points for 

women. Technological change in mining continued to displace workers during the 1980s, 

suggesting one reason for the increase in unemployment rates in the Central Sub-region. 

Another explanation may be more optimistic. These increases in unemployment rates 

occurred at the same time as labor force participation rates for women in the Central Subregion grew. The beginnings of economic diversification and more available jobs may have 

encouraged discouraged women workers (those without jobs who had stopped looking for 

work) to begin looking for employment, thus resulting in increases in both labor force 

participation rates and unemployment rates. Given either explanation, there clearly remains a 

mismatch of persons interested in working compared with the number or type of job 

opportunities available. Unemployment rates were lowest in the South Sub-region in both 

1980 and 1990, and this Sub-region had declines from 1980 to 1990 similar to those in the 

North Sub-region. Only 5.1 percent of men and 6.3 percent of women were unemployed in 

the South in 1990. Over the ten year period, men’s unemployment had dropped by 1.1 

percentage points, while women’s declined by 0.9. In the North Sub-region, 7.9 percent of 

women and 6.6 percent of men still were unemployed in 1990. 

Unemployment Rates by 1993 Beale Codes

Trends in unemployment are inversely related to population size and metropolitan 

adjacency, although the pattern is less clear for men than women. The unemployment rates 
206 

for men and women in Appalachian Counties grouped by Beale Codes are in Table 5.8. 

Among women the unemployment rates are lowest for central counties of 1 million or more, 

5.29 percent and the second lowest is in metropolitan counties of 250,000 to 1,000,000. In 

each case, the women’s unemployment rate is below 6.6 percent. In Non-metropolitan 

counties, adjacent counties have lower unemployment than nonadjacent counties in each 

population size class, with the highest women’s unemployment, 9.24 percent, found in 

completely rural, nonadjacent counties. 

Among men, the lowest unemployment in 1990 occurred in metropolitan counties with 

populations of 250,000 to 1,000,000 -- 5.86 percent. Fringe counties of metro areas of 1 

million or more and the central counties of those areas were more than a half percentage point 

higher, 6.48 and 6.52 percent, respectively. The highest men’s unemployment rate 

among Non-metropolitan counties was 9.6 percent in completely rural counties not adjacent to 

metropolitan counties. Non-metropolitan counties not adjacent to metropolitan counties and 

having urban populations of 20,000 or more had the lowest men’s unemployment rate among 

Non-metropolitan counties, 7.10 percent. In all comparisons of men’s and women’s 

unemployment rates within each category except two, women’s unemployment rates were 

lower than men’s in 1990. 

Unemployment Rates by 1998 Distressed County Codes

Since unemployment rates are part of the criteria used to classify counties as 

distressed, we expect a straightforward relationship. Unemployment rates by sex by 

Distressed County Codes are given in Table 5.9. As expected, the Distressed Counties have 

the highest unemployment for both men and women, 13.02 and 11.30 percent, respectively. 
207 

Table 5.8 Unemployment by Sex Across Beale Codes, 1990

Men Women 

Beale Code No. Percent No. Percen

t 

Metropolitan Areas:

0 - Central counties of metro areas 

of 1 million or more pop. 

46,657 6.52 31,705 5.29 

1 - Fringe counties of metro areas of 

1 million or more pop. 

13,194 6.48 9,970 6.33 

2 - Counties in metro areas of 

250,000 - 1,000,000 pop. 

95,044 5.86 83,652 6.13 

3 - Counties in metro areas of less 

than 250,000 pop. 

44,037 6.72 34,857 6.59 

Non-Metropolitan Areas: 

4 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, 

adjacent to a metro area 

29,803 7.73 21,955 7.04 

5 - Urban pop. of 20,000 or more, 

not adjacent to a metro area 

12,070 7.10 10,220 7.14 

6 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, 

adjacent to a metro area 

52,846 7.29 41,208 7.26 

7 - Urban pop. of 2,500-19,999, not 

adjacent to a metro area 

48,329 8.71 36,811 8.55 

8 - Completely rural (no places with 

pop. of 2,500 or more) adjacent to a 

metro area 

11,029 8.25 7,859 8.00 

9 - Completely rural (no places with 

pop. of 2,500 or more) not adjacent 

to a metro area 

16,963 9.60 12,145 9.24 

Total 369,972 6.93 290,382 6.70 
208 

The lowest unemployment rates for women are found in Attainment Counties, where the rate 

is 5.06 percent. Among men, however, the Competitive Counties show an unemployment of 

4.31 percent, the lowest of the Distressed Codes. In all but the Competitive Counties, 

women’s unemployment rates within a Distress Code were lower than men’s. 

Spatial Distribution of Unemployment in Appalachia

The spatial distribution of men’s unemployment across Appalachian Counties is 

shown in Map 5.3. The highest unemployment rates, which include the top twenty percent of 

counties, have rates which range from 10.3 to 25.4 percent. These counties are concentrated 

in the center of Appalachia but generally remain north of the Carolinas and Tennessee. The 

second highest unemployment rates for men encircle the block of counties with the highest 

rates and extend into southeastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and the southern tier of New 

York. The lowest unemployment rates, which run from 1.9 to 5.0 percent, are found along the 

eastern edges of Appalachia, especially in South Carolina and Georgia — mostly near rapidly 

growing metropolitan areas. 

Table 5.9 Unemployment by Sex Across Distress Codes*, 1990

Men Women 

Number Percent Number Percent 

Distressed 62,018 13.02 38,171 11.30 

Transitional-1 18,787 8.89 14,431 8.76 

Transitional 225,498 6.68 181,736 6.63 

Competitive 22,153 4.31 22,710 5.25 

Attainment 41,516 5.42 33,334 5.06 

Total 369,972 6.93 290,382 6.70 

* * Distress codes created by the ARC using unemployment, poverty, and per capita income. 
209 

The spatial pattern of women’s unemployment is basically similar to that for men, 

except that the core is more broken and there is a larger block of high unemployment in 

Mississippi and fairly high unemployment in more counties in Alabama (see Map 5.4). 

Lower levels of unemployment (counties in the lowest category have values that range from 

2.7 to 5.5) are found along the eastern edge of Appalachia, with most counties in Georgia, 

North Carolina, and the southwest tip of Virginia. These may have quite different 

explanations. The low unemployment in Georgia and North Carolina may relate to the rapid 

growth in these areas and their economies overall. In the southwest tip of Virginia, many men 

have been displaced from coal mining and women find employment to offset the loss in 

income, plus jobs that become available are lower-paying and targeted towards women. 
210 

To provide additional detail on the counties with the highest unemployment rates, 

Table 5.10 lists the ten counties with the highest unemployment rates for men and women in 

1990. Owsley County, Kentucky had the highest unemployment for men among Appalachian 

counties in 1990, 25.4 percent. The second highest was McDowell, West Virginia with 22.7 

percent of men in the labor force unemployed. These two counties also had the lowest labor 

force participation among men in 1990. Five of the ten highest unemployment counties for 

men in 1990 were in Kentucky and five in West Virginia. 

The highest unemployment for women in 1990 occurred in Benton County, 

Mississippi, where 22.1 percent of women in the labor force were unemployed. The second 

highest was McDowell County, West Virginia with 20.8 percent of women unemployed. Of 

the ten counties with highest unemployment for women, five were located in Kentucky, three 

in West Virginia, and two were Mississippi Counties. 
211 

Table 5.10 Appalachian Counties with Highest Unemployment 

Rates for Men and Women, 1990

FIPS Code County State Percent 

Unemployed 

Men:

21189 Owsley KY 25.39 

54047 McDowell WV 22.74 

54015 Clay WV 22.42 

54101 Webster WV 21.51 

21153 Magoffin KY 20.71 

21147 McCreary KY 20.41 

54087 Roane WV 19.17 

21063 Elliott KY 18.73 

54109 Wyoming WV 17.39 

21119 Knott KY 17.08 

Women:

28009 Benton MS 22.06 

54047 McDowell WV 20.84 

21147 McCreary KY 20.30 

21127 Lawrence KY 20.17 

54101 Webster WV 18.09 

28103 Noxubee MS 17.61 

21109 Jackson KY 16.28 

54043 Lincoln WV 16.04 

21095 Harlan KY 15.72 

21197 Powell KY 15.42 
212 

The counties with the lowest unemployment rates for men and for women are given in 

Table 5.11. For men, the lowest unemployment rate is 1.88 in Towns County, Georgia. The 

low unemployment counties are more scattered geographically than might be expected. Only 

three are in Georgia, two each are in North Carolina and Virginia and one each in Ohio, 

Alabama, and Mississippi. Counties with the lowest unemployment rates in 1990 for women 

are equally geographically dispersed. Three are in Virginia, two are located in Georgia and 

North Carolina, and one each in Ohio, Tennessee, and New York. Interestingly, only three of 

the counties that were lowest on men’s unemployment also were among the ten lowest 

counties on women’s unemployment. This again suggests that there often are distinct labor 

markets and job opportunities for men and women in the same geographic area. 

Gender, Race and Ethnic Variation in Unemployment in Appalachia

Overall in Appalachia, unemployment declined by 1.0 percentage points for men and 

0.8 percentage points for women from 1980 to 1990 (see Table 5.12). Consistent with this 

overall pattern of decline, white and Hispanic men’s unemployment declined by 1.0 and 2.6 

percentage points, respectively. Unemployment rose among Black men, however, from 12.5 

to 12.9 percent. Among women, unemployment also declined for white and Hispanics, by 

0.9 and 1.4 percentage points, respectively. Black women, like Black men, experienced a 

slight increase in unemployment over the decade, from 12.2 to 12.4 percent. 

INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURE

The industrial structure of an area provides insight into the types and quality of jobs that are 

available, and how vulnerable employment is to market forces or changes in the global 
213 

Table 5.11 Appalachian Counties with Lowest Unemployment 

Rates for Men and Women, 1990

FIPS Code County State Percent Unemployed 

Men:

13281 Towns GA 1.88 

37005 Alleghany NC 2.60 

39075 Holmes OH 2.73 

37003 Alexander NC 2.75 

01117 Shelby AL 2.80 

51091 Highland VA 2.85 

13117 Forsyth GA 2.89 

13135 Gwinnett GA 3.02 

51021 Bland VA 3.03 

28017 Chickasaw MS 3.06 

Women:

39057 Holmes OH 2.73 

51091 Highland VA 3.21 

37059 Davie NC 3.22 

13135 Gwinnett GA 3.33 

36109 Tompkins NY 3.52 

13137 Habersham GA 3.59 

51045 Craig VA 3.60 

47153 Sequatchie TN 3.79 

37193 Wilkes NC 3.88 

51023 Botetourt VA 3.89 
214 

economy. The shifts in the U.S. economy from farming and extractive industries (mining and 

forestry) to manufacturing and then towards services over the past century have corresponded 

with vast changes in the types of jobs available, job security, and job rewards. Labor force 

participation rates of men and women, unemployment, and the ability of families to earn 

adequate incomes all are influenced by the restructuring of the economy in the U.S., but these 

shifts are experienced locally. 

While the U.S. patterns of shifting industrial structure have been marked over the past 

three decades, these changes are minor compared to the influence industrial restructuring has 

had on some local economies because local economies often are not diverse, but rely on one 

or two major industries. When changes occur in these industries, the entire economic base of 

a community can be disrupted or lost. Parts of Appalachia, in particular, have suffered the loss 

of mining and extractive industry jobs-- jobs that were the largest part of the local economy. 

Some of these have not experienced growth in either manufacturing or services to replace 

Table 5.12 Unemployment Rates by Gender and Race, 

 1980 and 1990

Men Women 

1980 1990 Change 1980 1990 Change

Total 7.7 6.9 -0.8 7.5 6.7 -0.8 

Whites 7.4 6.6 -0.8 7.1 6.2 -0.9 

Blacks 12.3 12.9 0.5 12.2 12.4 0.2 

Hispanics 10.5 8.0 -2.5 10.2 8.9 -1.4 
215 

those lost jobs. Or the jobs that have replaced the mining and extractive industry jobs do not 

pay similar wages or offer comparable benefits. Adjusting to these changes is one of the 

major challenges facing many Appalachian communities now and in the future. 

Jobs in Industries in Appalachia and the United States

The REIS (Regional Economic Information System) data provide annual estimates of 

employment (full- and part-time combined) or number of jobs by industry for every county in 

the U.S. Important trends in the changing industrial structure for Appalachia overall are 

revealed in Table 5.13. Most noteworthy for the region as a whole are the declines in 

manufacturing from 24.69 percent of jobs in 1980 to 17.65 percent in 1996. Farm 

employment, mining, and government positions showed more modest declines. Industries 

that 

increased their share of employment were services, which rose from 18.23 percent of 

employment to 25.96 percent. Retail trade had a more modest increase from 15.2 to 17.87 

percent of employment. Other industries’ share of employment changed by less than one 

percent from 1980 to 1996. These changing shares of employment in Appalachia occurred at 

a time when employment in the Region increased from 8.8 million to almost 11.2 million 

people, thus, the growth in jobs overall was substantial despite declining jobs and shares of 

jobs in some sectors. 

Manufacturing and mining industries not only lost shares of employment, they lost 

absolute numbers of jobs. The numbers of workers employed in mining declined from 

229,494 in 1980 to 99,801 in 1996. Manufacturing lost 202,173 jobs over the same period. 
216 

Despite their loss in share of employment, other industries in the region actually had increases 

in the number of persons employed from 1980 to 1996. Government employment increased

by 165,582 jobs, even though its share of jobs dropped from 15.15 to 13.42 percent. Most of 

this increase in government employment occurred in state and local governments which 

Table 5.13. Employment by Industry for the Appalachian Region

1980 1990 1996 

Number % Number % Number % 

Farm employment 312,708 4.51 339,725 3.34 301,483 2.70 

Nonfarm employment 

Ag., forest. & 

fishing 

36,033 0.41 70,680 0.69 78,332 0.70 

Mining 229,494 2.61 148,807 1.46 99,801 0.89 

Construction 438,926 4.99 574,147 5.64 655,804 5.87 

Manufacturing 2,173,603 24.69 1,997,414 19.63 1,971,430 17.65 

Transportation, 

communication, 

utilities 

424,081 4.82 457,325 4.49 486,864 4.36 

Wholesale trade 339,755 3.86 409,659 4.03 449,454 4.02 

Retail trade 1,338,091 15.20 1,729,557 17.00 1,996,383 17.87 

Finance, insurance 

and real estate 

465,327 5.29 525,299 5.16 597,030 5.34 

Services 1,604,581 18.23 2,434,225 23.92 2,899,344 25.96 

Government 1,333,825 15.15 1,422,650 13.98 1,499,407 13.42 

Military 107,769 1.22 126,167 1.24 104,169 0.93 

State and local 1,047,426 11.90 1,128,551 11.09 1,238,984 11.09 

Total employment 8,803,864 10,176,753 11,170,651 

Data are from the REIS data set through the University of Virginia homepage. 
217 

increased by 191,558 jobs. The devolution of federal government responsibilities to state and 

local levels has resulted in some increases in state and local government employment as they 

have attempted to fill the void and meet their new obligations.

The largest increase in number of jobs was in the service sector where employment 

increased by 1,294,763 jobs from 1980 to 1996. Retail trade had the next largest increase of 

658,292 jobs, with 1,338,091 persons employed in retail trade in 1980 and 1,996,383 jobs in 

1996. Retail trade alone more than offset the numbers of jobs lost in manufacturing and 

mining, but the quality of jobs is argued to be lower in retail trade and services. This shifting 

in quality of jobs has corresponded with increasing shares of dual-worker families suggesting 

that it may take two jobs in the service or retail trade sector to support a family, while one job 

may have been adequate in the manufacturing or mining industry. 

Compared to the U.S. (See Table 5.14), the Appalachian Region has larger shares of 

jobs in mining, construction, manufacturing, retail trade, and state and local government 

employment. Most noteworthy, the Appalachian Region still had 17.65 percent of its jobs in 

manufacturing in 1996, while the U.S. had dropped to 12.63 percent of jobs in this industrial 

sector. The Region lags behind the U.S. in the percentage of jobs in services, which was 

responsible for 30.44 percent of jobs in the U.S. in 1996 but offered 25.96 percent of jobs in 

Appalachia in the same year. Appalachia was lower than the U.S. by two percentage points in 

the finance, insurance and real estate sector. These differences in industrial structure could be 

interpreted as the Appalachia Region still lagging behind the U.S. economy as a whole in 

making the transition from a goods producing to a service producing economy. For those who 

find this transition troubling because of the corresponding change in job quality and the loss 

of middle-class jobs in the goods-producing sector, Appalachia may be seen as being able to 
218 

hold on to a more diverse industrial structure that utilizes both goods- and services-producing 

sectors of the economy. 
219 

Table 5.14. Employment by Industry for the United States. 

1980 1990 1996 

Number % Number % Number % 

Farm employment 3,798,000 3.32 3,147,000 2.26 2,934,000 1.93 

Nonfarm employment 

Ag., forest. & 

fishing 

909,000 0.80 1,452,400 1.04 1,883,000 1.24 

Mining 1,277,600 1.12 1,042,900 0.75 880,300 0.58 

Construction 5,654,200 4.95 7,264,000 5.22 8,118,000 5.33 

Manufacturing 20,781,10

0 

18.19 19,634,600 14.1

1 

19,231,500 12.6

3 

Transportation, 

com-munication, 

utilities 

5,672,100 4.97 6,560,600 4.71 7,209,300 4.73 

Wholesale trade 5,741,700 5.03 6,651,900 4.78 7,013,200 4.60 

Retail trade 17,883,90

0 

15.66 22,840,700 16.4

1 

25,703,900 16.8

8 

Finance, insurance 

and real estate 

8,756,000 7.67 10,695,600 7.68 11,282,900 7.41 

Services 24,999,60

0 

21.89 38,662,900 27.7

8 

46,369,800 30.4

4 

Government 18,758,00

0 

16.42 21,232,000 15.2

5 

21,688,000 14.2

4 

Military 2,501,000 2.19 2,750,000 1.98 2,245,000 1.47 

State and local 13,263,00

0 

11.61 15,245,000 10.9

5 

16,565,000 10.8

8 

Total employment 114,231,2

00 

 139,184,60

0 

152,313,90

0 

Data are from the REIS data set through the University of Virginia homepage. 
220 

Industry Composition and Change by Appalachian Sub-region. 

The variation in employment opportunities by Sub-region within Appalachia, and how 

employment by industry changed is shown in Table 5.15. The general patterns in the shifts in 

employment by industry are similar across Sub-region, but the magnitude of the shifts varies 

indicating the different industrial composition of the Sub-regions in 1980. In the North Subregion, the four largest employers in 1980 were manufacturing (22.94 percent), services 

(20.47 percent), retail trade (16.23 percent), and government (14.44 percent). 
221 

Table 5.15. Employment by Industry and Sub-region

1980 1990 1996 

 Number % Number % Number % 

Panel 1. North Sub-region

Farm employment 138,625 3.18 118,232 2.51 104,388 2.53 

Nonfarm employment 

Ag., forest. & 

fishing 

16,552 0.38 30,040 0.64 35,596 0.71 

Mining 117,439 2.69 75,481 1.60 49,635 1.00 

Construction 207,154 4.75 246,320 5.23 260,923 5.23 

Manufacturing 1,000,038 22.94 769,091 16.33 725,878 14.55 

Transportation, 

communication, 

utilities 

235,251 5.40 231,796 4.92 235,563 4.72 

Wholesale trade 170,239 3.90 182,245 3.87 184,150 3.69 

Retail trade 707,716 16.23 843,906 17.92 924,967 18.55 

Finance, insurance 

and real estate 

239,060 5.48 260,228 5.52 294,440 5.90 

Services 892,501 20.47 1,288,892 27.36 1,443,466 28.94 

Government 629,529 14.44 642,428 13.64 671,874 13.47 

Military 38,777 0.89 47,127 1.00 38,138 0.76 

State and local 524,276 12.03 527,517 11.20 564,756 11.32 

Total employment 4,359,657 4,710,220 4,987,183 
222 

Table 5.15. Employment by Industry and Sub-region, continued.

1980 1990 1996 

Number % Number % Number % 

Panel 2: Central Sub-region

Farm employment 74,665 10.01 70,752 8.60 63,316 7.11 

Nonfarm employment 

Ag., forest. & 

fishing 

3,183 0.43 5,873 0.71 5,880 0.66 

Mining 90,573 12.14 54,410 6.61 36,021 4.04 

Construction 35,117 4.71 40,391 4.91 50,216 5.64 

Manufacturing 111,007 14.88 128,430 15.60 130,075 14.60 

Transportation, 

com-munication, 

utilities 

40,253 5.40 41,295 5.02 44,375 4.98 

Wholesale trade 24,759 3.32 25,094 3.05 26,440 2.97 

Retail trade 108,181 14.51 128,282 15.58 151,868 17.05 

Finance, insurance 

and real estate 

28,529 3.83 30,589 3.72 32,327 3.63 

Services 117,410 15.74 154,105 18.72 187,317 21.02 

Government 109,446 14.68 124,017 15.07 136,767 15.35 

Military 8,249 1.11 10,677 1.30 8,795 0.99 

State and local 89,448 11.99 102,418 12.44 117,308 13.17 

Total employment 745,791 823,141 890,938 
223 

These same four industries were the top employers in the Central Sub-region in 1980, 

but the shares were much more equal with 15.74 percent in services, 14.88 percent in 

manufacturing, 14.68 percent in government, and 14.51 percent in retail trade. The next 

highest employer in the Central Sub-region was mining with 12.14 percent of employment in 

Table 5.15. Employment by Industry and Sub-region, continued

1980 1990 1996 

Number % Number % Number % 

Panel 3: Southern Sub-region

Farm employment 184,170 4.98 150,741 3.25 133,779 2.53 

Nonfarm employment 

Ag., forest. & 

fishing 

16,298 0.44 34,767 0.75 36,856 0.07 

Mining 21,482 0.58 18,916 0.41 14,145 0.27 

Construction 196,655 5.32 287,436 6.19 344,665 6.51 

Manufacturing 1,062,558 28.73 1,099,893 23.69 1,115,477 21.08 

Transportation, 

com-munication, 

utilities 

148,577 4.02 184,234 3.97 206,926 3.91 

Wholesale trade 144,757 3.91 202,320 4.36 238,864 4.51 

Retail trade 522,194 14.12 757,369 16.31 919,548 17.37 

Finance, insurance 

and real estate 

197,738 5.35 234,482 5.05 270,263 5.11 

Services 594,670 16.08 991,228 21.35 1,268,561 23.97 

Government 594,853 16.08 656,205 14.13 690,766 13.05 

Military 60,743 1.64 68,363 10.47 57,236 1.08 

State and local 433,702 11.73 498,616 10.74 556,920 10.52 

Total employment 3,698,416 4,643,392 5,292,530 

Data are from the REIS database obtained from the University of Virginia homepage.
224 

1980. The fifth largest industry by employment in the North Sub-region in 1980 was finance, 

insurance and real estate with only 5.48 percent of the jobs. 

The South Sub-region, like the other Sub-regions, had its largest shares of employment 

in manufacturing, services, government, and retail trade, but manufacturing’s share in 1980 

was 28.73 percent, compared with 16.08 percent for both services and government and 14.12 

percent for retail trade. As in the North, finance, insurance and real estate held the next 

highest share of jobs (5.35 percent). In contrast with the Central Sub-region, mining was only 

0.58 percent of employment in the South and 2.69 percent in the North Sub-region. 

 Examining changes in the shares of employment by industry from 1980 to 1996, the 

shifts reflect the shares in 1980. In the North Sub-region, manufacturing employment 

dropped from 22.94 to 14.55 percent, with a loss of 274,160 jobs. Services industries had the 

largest gain in employment (550,965 jobs) and employment shares rose from 20.47 to 28.94 

percent. Retail trade also experienced an increase from 16.23 to 18.55 percent of 

employment, or a gain of 217,251 jobs. 

Other industries had smaller changes in their share of employment. Mining, for 

example was 2.69 percent of employment in the North Sub-region in 1980, and dropped to 

one percent in 1996, with a loss of 67,804 jobs. Finance, insurance and real estate increased 

its employment share with a gain of 55,380 jobs, while government employment gained 

42,345 jobs, but lost job share. Overall, in the North Sub-region, employment increased by 

14.4 percent from 1980 to 1996, a gain of 627,526 employed. This is 26.5 percent of the gain 

in employment for the Appalachian Region as a whole, even though in 1980 the North Subregion had almost half (49.5 percent) of the employment in the region. 

Central Sub-region jobs grew by 19.5 percent from 1980 to 1996, or 145,147 jobs. 

This job growth largely occurred in four sectors: services, retail trade, government and 

construction. Services increased its share of employment from 15.74 to 21.02 percent, or by 
225 

69,907 jobs. Retail trade added 43,687 employed to increase it share from 14.51 to 17.05 

percent. Government had a smaller role, with 27,321 new jobs all in state and local 

government, and an increase in employment share from 14.68 to 15.35 percent. Only 15,899 

jobs were added in construction, enough to boost employment share from 4.71 to 5.64 

percent. Manufacturing lost employment share, from 14.88 to 14.60 percent, but added 

19,068 jobs from 1980 to 1996. The mining industry, on the other hand, lost both jobs and 

employment share, dropping from 12.14 to 4.04 percent of employment while losing 54,552 

jobs. Farm employment (actual persons working on farms or farmers) declined from 10.01 to 

7.11 percent of people working, but this remains the largest share that farm employment holds 

in any Sub-region. 

Growth in employment is a characteristic of every industry sector in the Southern Subregion, but two — farm employment and mining. Even while other industries lost 

employment share, they gained in numbers of persons working in those industries from 1980 

to 1996. Services had the largest gain, increasing its employment share from 16.08 to 23.97 

percent and adding 673,891 jobs. Retail trade increased jobs by 397,354 to raise its share of 

employment from 14.12 to 17.37 percent. Over 148,000 jobs were added in construction, 

while state and local governments increased workers by 123,218. Despite this increase, state 

and local governments lost employment share from 11.73 to 10.52 percent. Manufacturing 

had the largest loss in employment share, from 28.73 to 23.69, but still added 52,919 workers 

from 1980 to 1996. Overall, the Southern Sub-region experienced an increase of 43.1 percent 

or 1,594,114 jobs from 1980 to 1996. This was 67.4 percent of the total Appalachian rise in 
226 

number of jobs. This Sub-region, in 1980, was the location of 42 percent of Appalachia’s 

jobs. By 1996, the Southern Sub-region held 47.4 percent of Appalachia’s jobs. 

Industry Composition and Change by Distressed County Code

Distressed County Codes are developed based on key indicators that are related to the 

quality of employment in the county. Differences in industrial structure and restructuring may 

be particularly useful for understanding this classification of counties. In 1980, the 

government sector was the largest employer in Distressed Counties, with 17.12 percent of jobs 

(See Table 5.16). This was followed by services (15.64 percent), retail trade (14.65 percent), 

mining (14.47 percent), and manufacturing (12.68 percent). By 1996, the industrial 

composition had shifted so that services had the largest share of employment (22.87 percent), 

retail trade had grown to 18.05 percent, and government sector had dropped to third with 

17.82 percent of employment. Manufacturing had changed little in its employment share from 

1980 to 1996, holding at about twelve percent. Farm employment exceeded mining with 6.09 

percent of persons in farm employment, and 5.36 percent in mining. This decline in mining 

corresponds with a loss of 63,818 jobs, or almost 60 percent of mining jobs in 1980. The gain 

in service sector employment just barely offsets that decline with a gain of 72,449 jobs. Jobs 

in retail trade only increased by 39,966 from 1980 to 1996. Manufacturing employment rose 

by only 4,120 jobs. In 1996, 828,368 jobs were located in Distressed Counties of Appalachia. 

Overall job growth in Distressed Counties was 10.7 percent, well below Appalachia’s growth 

in jobs of 26.9 percent. 
227 

Transitional 1 Counties show less reliance on mining than Distressed Counties and a 

much heavier emphasis on manufacturing employment in 1980. Manufacturing employed 

25.24 percent of the workers in 1980, followed by the government sector (17.02 percent), 

Table 5.16. Employment by Industry and 1998 ARC Distressed County 

Codes 

1980 1990 1996 

Number % Number % Number % 

Panel 1: Distressed Counties

Farm employment 61,644 8.24 55,741 7.26 50,450 6.09 

Nonfarm employment 

Ag., forest. & 

fishing 

2,401 0.32 4,722 0.62 5,199 0.63 

Mining 108,223 14.47 66,705 8.69 44,405 5.36 

Construction 36,140 4.83 35,710 4.65 43,775 5.28 

Manufacturing 94,851 12.68 91,844 11.96 98,971 11.95 

Transportation, 

com-munication, 

utilities 

41,794 5.59 40,261 5.24 41,400 5.00 

Wholesale trade 19,674 2.63 19,578 2.55 19,744 2.38 

Retail trade 109,555 14.65 128,075 16.68 149,521 18.05 

Finance, insurance 

and real estate 

26,748 3.58 27,528 3.59 29,028 3.50 

Services 117,009 15.64 154,243 20.09 189,458 22.87 

Government 128,078 17.12 136,532 17.78 147,612 17.82 

Military 8,996 1.20 11,377 1.48 9,685 1.17 

State and local 108,869 14.55 115,311 15.02 128,399 15.50 

Total employment 747,999 767,668 828,368 
228 

Table 5.16. Employment by Industry and 1998 ARC Distresses County 

Codes, continued.

1980 1990 1996 

Number % Number % Number % 

Panel 2: Transitional 1 Counties

Farm employment 27,595 8.32 24,198 6.75 21,548 5.68 

Nonfarm employment 

Ag., forest. & 

fishing 

1,354 0.41 2,340 0.65 2,491 0.66 

Mining 13,974 4.21 8,448 2.36 5,737 1.51 

Construction 14,490 4.37 18,139 5.06 21,459 5.65 

Manufacturing 83,734 25.24 80,027 22.31 75,494 19.89 

Transportation, 

com-munication, 

utilities 

15,913 4.80 15,800 4.40 13,946 3.67 

Wholesale trade 7,576 2.28 8,783 2.45 7,600 2.00 

Retail trade 47,500 14.32 56,966 15.88 66,422 17.50 

Finance, insurance 

and real estate 

12,366 3.73 12,905 3.60 14,443 3.80 

Services 50,020 15.08 70,149 19.56 79,239 20.87 

Government 56,469 17.02 59,694 16.64 59,654 15.71 

Military 4,101 1.24 5,202 1.45 4,217 1.11 

State and local 44,373 13.37 47,234 13.17 49,677 13.09 

Total employment 331,761 358,720 379,610 
229 

Table 5.16. Employment by Industry and 1998 ARC Distressed County Code, 

continued

1980 1990 1996 

Number % Number % Number % 

Panel 3: Transitional Counties

Farm employment 267,113 4.74 228,453 3.58 202,749 2.92 

Nonfarm employment 

Ag., forest. & 

fishing 

24,279 0.43 45,725 0.72 50,265 0.72 

Mining 100,104 1.78 65,945 1.03 43,861 0.63 

Construction 268,829 4.77 353,011 5.53 399,737 5.76 

Manufacturing 1,455,805 25.85 1,331,448 20.85 1,295,132 18.68 

Transportation, 

communication, 

utilities 

266,581 4.73 283,015 4.43 296, 340 4.27 

Wholesale trade 212,209 3.77 241,046 3.78 260,352 3.75 

Retail trade 854,693 15.18 1,086,795 17.02 1,244,014 17.94 

Finance, insurance 

and real estate 

290,807 5.16 311,714 4.88 353,303 5.09 

Services 1,001,216 17.78 1,463,967 22.93 1,720,259 24.81 

Government 871,987 15.48 914,432 14.32 964,661 13.91 

Military 71,805 1.28 81,139 1.27 66,236 0.96 

State and local 690,365 12.26 736,450 11.54 809,407 11.67 

Total 5,631,737 6,384,473 6,934,323 
230 

Table 5.16. Employment by Industry and 1998 ARC Distressed County Code, 

continued

1980 1990 1996 

Number % Number % Number % 

Panel 4: Competitive Counties

Farm 

employment 

30,392 3.97 23,109 2.31 19,852 1.72 

Nonfarm employment 

Ag., forest. & 

fishing 

3,846 0.50 7,423 0.74 7,460 0.65 

Mining 2,255 0.29 2,555 0.25 1,758 0.15 

Construction 49,672 6.49 72,592 7.24 79,614 6.92 

Manufacturing 247,911 32.39 261,379 26.08 273,683 23.77 

Transportation, 

communication, 

utilities 

30,262 3.95 41,595 4.15 49,134 4.27 

Wholesale trade 29,293 3.83 42,137 4.20 50,740 4.41 

Retail trade 114,880 15.01 170,909 17.05 206,489 17.94 

Finance, 

insurance and 

real estate 

37,372 4.88 48,443 4.83 54,784 4.76 

Services 123,553 16.14 216,681 21.62 276,468 24.02 

Government 94,100 12.29 114,994 11.47 126,674 11.00 

Military 7,720 1.01 9,749 0.97 8,818 0.77 

State and 

local 

78,508 10.26 96,044 9.58 107,977 9.38 

Total 

employment 

7,654,443 1,002,145 1,151,212 
231 

services (15.08 percent), retail trade (14.32 percent) and farm employment (8.32 percent). By 

1996, the industry structure had shifted so that the services sector had the largest share of 

employment at 20.87 percent, and manufacturing had shifted to second with 19.89 percent. 

This shift in share occurred because of a loss of 8,240 jobs in manufacturing and a gain of 

Table 5.16. Employment by Industry and 1998 ARC Distressed County Code, 

continued

1980 1990 1996 

Number % Number % Number % 

Panel 5: Attainment Counties

Farm employment 10,716 0.81 8,224 0.49 6,884 0.37 

Nonfarm employment 

Ag., forest. & 

fishing 

4,153 0.31 10,470 0.63 12,917 0.69 

Mining 4,938 0.37 5,154 0.31 4,040 0.22 

Construction 69,795 5.26 94,695 5.69 111,219 5.92 

Manufacturing 291,302 21.95 232,716 13.99 228,150 12.15 

Transportation, 

com-munication, 

utilities 

69,531 5.24 766,654 4.61 86,044 4.58 

Wholesale trade 71,003 5.35 98,115 5.90 111,018 5.91 

Retail trade 211,463 15.94 286,812 17.24 329,937 17.58 

Finance, insurance 

and real estate 

98,034 7.39 124,709 7.50 145,472 7.75 

Services 312,783 23.57 529,185 31.81 633,920 33.77 

Government 183,191 13.81 196,998 11.84 200,806 10.70 

 Military 15,147 1.14 18,700 1.12 15,213 0.81 

State and local 125,311 9.44 133,512 8.02 143,524 7.65 

Total employment 1,326,924 1,663,747 1,877,138 
232 

29,219 jobs in services. Retail trade (17.50 percent), government (15.71 percent) and farming 

(5.68 percent) rounded out the top five industry sectors by employment. Mining is a 

relatively small sector with only 4.21 percent (or 13,974) of jobs in 1980 and 5,737 jobs in 

1996. Overall, jobs in Transitional 1 Counties grew by 14.4 percent from 1980 to 1996. 

The larger group of Transitional Counties has characteristics quite similar to the first 

group of Transitional-1 Counties, but they have slightly better indicators of poverty, 

unemployment and income levels. These counties also were heavily reliant on manufacturing 

in 1980, with 25.85 percent of jobs (1,455,805 jobs) found in that industrial sector. Services 

were important with 17.78 percent of jobs. Government sector and retail trade employed 

15.48 and 15.18 percent of workers, respectively. Finance, insurance and real estate was the 

fifth largest industrial sector with 5.16 percent of jobs. 

By 1996, manufacturing and services had switched places, so that services employed 

the largest share of workers, 24.81 percent, and manufacturing had dropped to 18.68 percent. 

This occurred as the result of a gain of 719,043 jobs in services, and a loss of 160,673 jobs in 

manufacturing. Retail trade had grown to 17.94 percent of jobs by adding 389,321 jobs over 

the sixteen years, followed by government sector with 13.91 percent. In 1996, 6,934,323 

persons were employed in these Transitional Counties, up 1,302,586 people or 23.1 percent 

from 1980. These counties experienced greater growth in employment than the Distressed 

Counties and the Transitional-1 Counties, but still fell below the job growth of Appalachia. 

Competitive Counties, like the Transitional Counties, had their largest share of jobs in 

manufacturing in 1980, 32.39 percent. This is the highest share of manufacturing jobs of any 

of these county groups. Services employed the second largest group — 16.14 percent. Retail 
233 

trade and government followed with 15.01 and 12.29 percent of jobs, respectively. Perhaps 

an indicator of pending growth, construction employed 6.49 percent of workers, the fifth 

highest share. Also like the Transitional Counties, by 1996, services exceeded manufacturing 

in share of employment. Services’ share had increased to 24.02 percent, and manufacturing’s 

share had dropped to 23.77 percent. Even though this drop in share had corresponded with a 

job growth of over 25,000 jobs, manufacturing could not compete with the gain of 152,915 

jobs in services. 

Retail trade had increased its share of employment to 17.94 percent, and government 

had dropped to 11.0 percent. Despite this drop in share, state and local government gained 

29,469 jobs from 1980 to 1996, jobs that might have been added in response to the increasing 

demands for services as population in these counties grew. Employment in these Competitive 

Counties increased from 765,443 to 1,151,212 from 1980 to 1996, a jump of 385,769 jobs or 

50.4 percent. This increase significantly exceeds the job growth in the entire Appalachian 

Region. 

The Attainment Counties had made the shift from a goods-producing to a servicebased economy by 1996. Even in 1980, services employed the largest share of workers, 23.57 

percent, followed closely by manufacturing with 21.95 percent of employment. Retail trade 

had 15.94 percent of jobs, and government 13.81 percent. Finance, insurance and real estate 

was the fifth largest sector with 7.39 percent of workers. By 1996, the services sector share of 

employment had increased by over ten percentage points to 33.77 percent, retail trade had 

grown to encompass 17.58 percent of jobs, and manufacturing had dropped to only 12.15 

percent of jobs. Government employment had declined to 10.7 percent, while finance, 

insurance, and real estate had grown slightly to 7.75 percent. Manufacturing’s share dropped 
234 

by 9.8 percentage points due to a loss of 63,152 jobs. The service sector’s growth in share of 

employment resulted from a gain of 321,137 jobs. The Attainment Counties have an 

industrial structure most like that of the U.S. overall. The Attainment Counties’ employment 

grew by 41.5 percent from 1980 to 1996, an increase of 550,214 jobs. This is well above the 

Appalachian average, but below the growth experienced by the Competitive Counties. 

OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTURE

Much of the attention on change in the workplace in recent years has focused on 

industrial restructuring and the shift from manufacturing to service industry employment. 

Less discussed has been the corresponding changes in the types of occupations available. The 

change in industrial structure — jobs in the service sector fall into different occupational 

categories than do jobs in manufacturing — is one cause of this change in occupational 

structure. For example, manufacturing has more precision production, craft and repair 

occupations or machine operators, assemblers and inspectors occupations, while service sector 

occupations are more likely to include technical and sales and professional occupations. 

A second change also is occurring, and it relates to the internal restructuring of 

occupations within industries. These relate to the re-organization of work away from large 

scale mass-production to more flexible modes of production with heavier reliance on skilled 

workers and computer-assisted design and production of smaller batches of product targeted 

to particular markets. These occupations may carry the same general title, but require much 

more education and computer skills than similarly titled occupations in the same industry ten 

or fifteen years ago. The increasing use of computers and technology in clerical jobs has 

decreased the number of these occupations while increasing the technology-related skills 
235 

demanded. Efforts to shift costs of worker benefits and wages and fluctuations in market 

demand by outsourcing and contracting for production and services formerly conducted 

within a large firm (parts production, janitorial services, advertising and marketing) further 

change the occupational structure by industry sector. Changing technology and the drive to be 

competitive by specializing, outsourcing particular processes, and being responsive to buyer’s 

needs have altered the occupational structure within industries. 

Occupational Structure of Appalachia

Within Appalachia as a whole these changes in occupational structure can be observed 

from 1980 to 1990. Occupation data at the county level beyond 1990 is not available. Based 

on data from the U.S. Census of Population, Table 5.17 shows the percentage of those 

employed in each of the ten major occupational groups in Appalachia. In 1980, the largest 

percentage of workers, 15 percent, was found in the precision production, craft and repair 

occupations. Administrative support occupations were second with 14.3 percent, followed by 

machine operators, assemblers and inspectors, and then service occupations. 

The largest group in 1980 was occupations largely found in manufacturing industries. 

By 1990, however, most workers were employed in technical and sales occupations (14.33 

percent), followed by administrative support (14.15 percent), with precision production, craft 

and repair third with 13.45 percent of those employed in 1990. In just those ten years, the 

occupational structure of Appalachia shifted to a heavier reliance on occupations associated 

with the service sector. The smallest occupational category was farming, forestry and fishing 

in both years, with under three percent of workers reporting these occupations. 

It is important here to note that service occupations include private household workers, 
236 

protective services (firefighters, police), food preparation, waiters and waitresses, health 

service occupations, cleaning and building maintenance and personal service occupations 

(barbers, child care providers), while services as an industrial sector includes business and 

repair services (advertising, computer and data processing, protective services, auto repair), 

personal services (private household, hotels, beauty shops), entertainment services, and 

Table 5.17 Occupational Structure of Appalachia.

1980 1990 

Number Percent Number Percent 

Executive, administrative, 

managerial 

766,219 8.04 1,012,131 9.60 

Professional specialty 1,024,468 10.74 1,299,679 12.33 

Technical and sales 1,096,213 11.50 1,510,256 14.33 

Administrative support 1,363,274 14.30 1,492,037 14.15 

Service 1,156,217 12.13 1,353,578 12.84 

Farming, forestry, fishing 240,366 2.52 245,142 2.33 

Precision production, craft 

and repair 

1,430,280 15.00 1,418,131 13.45 

Machine operators, 

assemblers and inspectors 

1,324,824 13.89 1,117,778 10.60 

Transportation and 

materials movers 

570,273 5.98 560,985 5.32 

Handler, equipment 

cleaner, laborer 

563,245 5.91 531,782 5.04 

Total employed 9,535,379 10,541,499 
237 

professional and related services (physicians, hospitals, legal services, schools and universities, 

museums). 

Comparing Appalachia with the United States, there are some important differences 

(see Table 5.18). As mentioned above, in 1980 Appalachia still had more workers in precision 

production, craft and repair occupations than any other occupation indicating a continuing 

reliance on the manufacturing industrial sector. For the U.S. overall, however, 

Table 5.18 Occupation Structure of the United States

1980 1990 

Number Percent Number Percent 

Executive, administrative, 

managerial 

11,729,405 10.31 16,332,671 12.23 

Professional specialty 13,989,090 12.30 18,805,764 14.08 

Technician and related 

support 

14,824,552 13.04 20,630,295 15.45 

Administrative support 19,532,153 17.18 21,670,633 16.23 

Service 14,753,046 12.97 17,705,354 13.26 

Farming, forestry, fishing 3,347,191 2.9 3,331,730 2.49 

Precision production, craft 

and repair 

14,693,572 12.92 15,147,908 11.34 

Machine operators, 

assemblers and inspectors 

10,601,306 9.32 9,153,506 6.85 

Transportation, materials 

movers 

5,134,558 4.51 5,484,477 4.11 

Handler, equipment cleaner, 

laborer 

5,118,337 4.50 5,282,685 3.96 

Total employed 113,723,210 133,545,024 
238 

more workers reported administrative support occupations in both 1980 and 1990, with 17.18 

percent of those employed in this category in 1980 and 16.23 percent in 1990. This was the 

second largest category in Appalachia in both years. In the U.S. in 1990, the second and third 

largest occupational categories were technician and related support and professional specialty 

occupations. Services was the fourth largest occupation group in the U.S. in 1990 while 

precision production, craft and repair had dropped from fourth to sixth with 11.34 percent of 

workers in 1990. As in Appalachia, the farming, forestry and fishing occupations had the 

fewest workers in the U.S. overall. Appalachia’s occupational structure is moving more slowly 

towards the heavy reliance on administrative support and professional specialty occupations. 

Occupational Structure by Appalachian Sub-regions

 Looking at Appalachia by Sub-region, the Northern Sub-region looks the most similar 

to the U.S. overall in that the largest occupation group in both 1980 and 1990 was 

administrative support with 14.98 percent of workers in 1980 and 14.82 percent in 1990 (see 

Table 5.19). Unlike the U.S. however, in 1980 the Northern Sub-region’s second largest 

occupation was precision production, craft and repair with 14.56 percent, this had dropped to 

12.64 percent of employed in 1990, or the fifth largest. 

 In 1990, service occupations was the second largest group with 14.37 percent of 

workers, followed by technical and sales and professional specialty occupations. These last 

two occupational categories had the largest percentage point increases from 1980 to 1990. Four 

occupational categories lost 256,834 people from 1980 to 1990. Two of these four, machine 

operators, assemblers and inspectors and precision production, craft and repair had the largest 
239 

losses with 160,122 and 69,677, respectively. The biggest absolute gains were in technical and 

sales occupations (154,798) and professional specialty occupations (106,269), also those with 
240 

the largest percentage gain in employment over the decade. 

The Central Sub-region was heavily reliant on precision production, craft and repair 

occupations in both 1980 and 1990. Over 19 percent of the Central Sub-region’s workforce 

was employed in these occupations in 1980. While this had decreased to 16.32 percent of 

employed by 1990 with an actual loss of 17,289 workers, it remained the largest occupational 

group. There were shifts in the relative importance of other occupation categories over the 

Table 5.19 Occupation Structure of Appalachia by Sub-region. 

1980 1990 

Number Percent Number Percent 

Panel 1: North Sub-region

Executive, administrative, 

managerial 

382,206 8.03 474,353 9.60 

Professional specialty 546,251 11.45 652,520 13.20 

Technician and related 

support 

553,670 11.61 708,468 14.33 

Administrative support 714,374 14.98 732,705 14.82 

Service 628,778 13.18 710,204 14.37 

Farming, forestry, fishing 108,437 2.27 112,464 2.28 

Precision production, craft 

and repair 

694,651 14.56 624,974 12.64 

Machine operators, 

assemblers and inspectors 

568,110 11.91 407,988 8.25 

Transportation, materials 

movers 

287,527 6.03 261,922 5.30 

Handler, equipment 

cleaner, laborer 

258,960 5.60 257,530 5.21 

Total employed 4,769,965 4,943,127 
241 

decade. Administrative support, which was second largest in 1980 with 11.85 percent of 

workers, dropped to fourth not because it lost workers, but because technicians and related 

support grew to 12.91 percent and services grew to 12.69 percent of the workforce by 1990. 

Table 5.19 Occupation Structure of Appalachia by Sub-region, continued

1980 1990 

Central Sub-region Number Percent Number Percent 

Panel 2: Central Sub-region

Executive, 

administrative, 

managerial 

56,502 6.80 64,787 7.47 

Professional specialty 79,047 9.52 92,870 10.70 

Technician and related 

support 

86,248 10.38 112,015 12.91 

Administrative support 98,422 11.85 102,386 11.80 

Service 94,059 11.32 110,084 12.69 

Farming, forestry, fishing 35,195 4.24 32,019 3.69 

Precision production, 

craft and repair 

158,930 19.13 141,641 16.32 

Machine operators, 

assemblers and inspectors 

95,582 11.51 93,323 10.75 

Transportation, materials 

movers 

75,671 9.11 69,941 8.06 

Handler, equipment 

cleaner, laborer 

50,992 6.14 48,688 5.61 

Total employed 830,646 867,754 
242 

The largest growth in number of workers occurred in technical and sales occupations with an 

additional 25,767 persons added from 1980 to 1990. This is almost seventy percent of the jobs 

held by the additional 37,108 people employed in the Central Sub-region from 1980 to 1990. 

This supports the idea that some of these local economies are beginning to diversify in an effort 

to become less reliant on their traditional extractive economic base. 

Table 5.19 Occupation Structure of Appalachia by Sub-region, continued.

1980 1990 

Number Percent Number Percent 

Panel 3: South Sub-region

Executive, administrative, 

managerial 

327,512 8.32 472,991 10.00 

Professional specialty 399,170 10.14 554,289 11.72 

Technician and related 

support 

456,295 11.60 689,773 14.58 

Administrative support 550,478 13.99 656,946 13.89 

Service 433,380 11.01 533,291 11.27 

Farming, forestry, fishing 96,735 2.46 100,658 2.13 

Precision production, craft 

and repair 

576,699 14.66 651,516 13.77 

Machine operators, 

assemblers and inspectors 

661,132 16.80 616,467 13.03 

Transportation, materials 

movers 

207,075 5.26 229,122 4.84 

Handler, equipment 

cleaner, laborer 

226,292 5.75 225,564 4.77 

Total employed 3,934,768 4,730,618 
243 

The Southern Sub-region showed the most change in occupation structure over the 1980 

to 1990 decade. In 1980, the top two occupation categories were machine operators, assemblers 

and inspectors and precision production, craft and repair with 16.8 and 14.66 percent of those 

employed, respectively. The third the fourth largest occupations were administrative support 

and technical and sales. These had 13.99 and 11.6 percent of the workers, respectively. 

By 1990, the top two occupation categories in the Southern Sub-region had shifted to 

technical and sales, with 14.58 percent, and administrative support with 13.89 percent of those 

employed. Precision production, craft and repair had dropped to third with 13.77 percent and 

machine operators, assemblers and inspectors had moved to fourth with 13.03 percent of 

workers in 1990. Of these three occupation categories, only machine operators, assemblers and 

repair occupations suffered a real decline in the number of workers over the decade with a loss 

of 44,665. By comparison, the technical and sales category increased by 233,478 and 

administrative support by 106,468. The second largest numerical growth in occupations was in 

professional specialty occupations which added 155,119 jobs from 1980 to 1990. Despite this 

growth it had risen to only the fifth largest occupation group by 1990. 

Occupational Structure by ARC 1998 Distressed County Categories

An examination of occupational structure by 1998 Distressed County Code provides 

insight to the relationship between occupational structure and economic success of counties. 

Comparable to the occupational structure of the Central Sub-region, Distressed Counties rely 

most heavily on precision production, craft and repair occupations (see Table 5.20). Almost 

twenty percent of those employed work in these occupations. While the number employed in 

this category dropped by 30,122 from 1980 to 1990, it remained the most important occupation 
244 

category in 1990 with 16.27 percent of the employed. Services remained the second largest 

occupation group by increasing its employment by 18,310 and its share of employment from 

11.93 to 13.86 percent. The third largest occupation group in 1980, administrative support with 

11.43 percent of employed, dropped to fourth in 1990 even though it gained in both numbers 

and share of workers. Technical and sales occupations moved into the third largest 

occupational group in 1990 when its share of employment reached 12.30 percent, with an 

increase of 24,696 employed from 1980 to 1990. Overall, employment in the Distressed 

Counties increased by only 10,602 persons from 1980 to 1990, a 1.2 percent increase. 

These occupational shifts suggest the retraining and placement of displaced workers 

over the decade, and a shift in the gender distribution of workers as spouses of displaced 

workers enter the labor force to take jobs in the new growing occupational categories. The 

increased labor force participation of men in this region over the decade indicates that both 

processes took place, although population loss through out-migration of discouraged male job 

searchers may also influence both the labor force participation rates and the shares in the local 

economy held by different occupations. 

Transitional-1 Counties appear to have been more able to retain employment in 

precision production, craft and repair and machine operators, and assemblers and inspectors 

occupations than were the Distressed Counties. These two occupation groups were the largest 

in the Transitional-1 Counties in both 1980 and 1990. In 1980, 16.94 percent of employed were 

in precision production, craft and repair occupations, but this had dropped to 15.52 percent in 

1990. This drop was due to the loss of only 2,316 jobs, however. Machine operators, 

assemblers and inspectors was the second largest occupation group with 16.45 
245 

Table 5.20 Occupation Structure of Appalachia by ARC 1998 Distressed 

County Code

1980 1990 

Number Percent Number Percent 

Panel 1: Distressed Counties

Executive, administrative, 

managerial 

57,116 6.54 63,444 7.18 

Professional specialty 86,665 9.93 99,525 11.27 

Technician and related 

support 

83,965 9.62 108,661 12.30 

Administrative support 99,759 11.43 105,885 11.99 

Service 104,138 11.93 122,444 13.86 

Farming, forestry, fishing 31,471 3.61 28,913 3.27 

Precision production, craft 

and repair 

173,840 19.92 143,718 16.27 

Machine operators, 

assemblers and inspectors 

89,952 10.31 82,105 9.30 

Transportation, materials 

movers 

85,018 9.74 76,923 8.71 

Handler, equipment 

cleaner, laborer 

60,748 6.96 51,657 5.85 

Total employed 872,673 883,275 
246 

Table 5.20 Occupation Structure of Appalachia by ARC 1998 Distressed 

County Code, continued

1980 1990 

Number Percent Number Percent 

Panel 2: Transitional 1 Counties

Executive, 

administrative, 

managerial 

25,599 6.65 28,933 7.14 

Professional specialty 33,924 8.81 41,225 10.18 

Technician and related 

support 

37,387 9.71 49,897 12.32 

Administrative support 45,772 11.89 46,637 11.51 

Service 46,528 12.09 54,313 13.41 

Farming, forestry, fishing 12,743 3.31 12,401 3.06 

Precision production, 

craft and repair 

65,190 16.94 62,874 15.52 

Machine operators, 

assemblers and inspectors 

63,317 16.45 57,514 14.20 

Transportation, materials 

movers 

28,001 7.27 26,226 6.48 

Handler, equipment 

cleaner, laborer 

26,457 6.87 24,999 6.17 

Total employed 384,919 405,021 
247 

Table 5.20 Occupation Structure of Appalachia by ARC 1998 Distressed 

County Code, continued

1980 1990 

Number Percent Number Percent 

Panel 3: Transitional Counties

Executive, administrative, 

managerial 

474,945 7.70 602,929 9.01 

Professional specialty 655,110 10.62 800,663 11.96 

Technician and related 

support 

703,677 11.40 938,546 14.02 

Administrative support 868,562 14.08 927,701 13.86 

Service 754,407 12.23 875,505 13.08 

Farming, forestry, fishing 167,033 2.71 167,611 2.50 

Precision production, craft 

and repair 

909,711 14.74 910,496 13.60 

Machine operators, 

assemblers and inspectors 

909,763 14.74 763,247 11.40 

Transportation, materials 

movers 

358,431 5.81 355,638 5.31 

Handler, equipment 

cleaner, laborer 

369,140 5.98 352,975 5.27 

Total employed 6,170,779 6,695,313 
248 

Table 5.20. Occupation Structure of Appalachia by ARC 1998 Distressed 

County Code, continued.

1980 1990 

Number Percent Number Percent 

Panel 4: Competitive Counties

Executive, administrative, 

managerial 

69,515 8.42 103,389 10.10 

Professional specialty 77,279 9.36 111,070 10.85 

Technician and related 

support 

91,737 11.11 144,414 14.11 

Administrative support 114,039 13.80 144,570 14.13 

Service 87,598 10.60 115,760 11.31 

Farming, forestry, fishing 19,317 2.34 20,931 2.05 

Precision production, craft 

and repair 

125,563 15.20 144,651 14.14 

Machine operators, 

assemblers and inspectors 

150,922 18.27 138,998 13.58 

Transportation, materials 

movers 

42,890 5.19 48,840 4.77 

Handler, equipment 

cleaner, laborer 

47,211 5.72 50,659 4.95 

Total employed 826,072 1,023,283 
249 

percent of persons employed in 1980. It lost 5,803 jobs over the decade to have a 14.20 percent 

share in 1990. Services, the third largest occupation group in 1980 and 1990, gained 7,785 jobs 

to increase its share of employment from 12.09 to 13.41 percent. The largest gain in 

employment over the decade occurred in technical and sales occupations. This occupation 

Table 5.20 Occupation Structure of Appalachia by ARC 1998 

Distressed County Code, continued

1980 1990 

Number Percent Number Percent 

Panel 5: Attainment Counties

Executive, 

administrative, 

managerial 

139,043 10.85 213,437 13.91 

Professional specialty 171,491 13.39 247,196 16.11 

Technician and related 

support 

179,447 14.01 268,737 17.51 

Administrative support 235,141 18.36 267,243 17.41 

Service 163,545 12.77 185,555 12.09 

Farming, forestry, 

fishing 

9,801 0.77 15,286 1.00 

Precision production, 

craft and repair 

155,976 12.18 156,391 10.19 

Machine operators, 

assemblers and 

inspectors 

110,869 8.66 75,913 4.95 

Transportation, 

materials movers 

55,933 4.37 53,358 3.48 

Handler, equipment 

cleaner, laborer 

59,689 4.66 51,492 3.36 

Total employed 1,280,936 1,534,607 
250 

group added 12,510 employed and constituted 12.32 percent of those employed in Transitional1 Counties in 1990. The overall gain in employment for these counties was 20,102, or about 5.2 

percent. The shift from blue-collar jobs to white and pink-collar jobs is evident, although these 

counties were better able to retain their blue-collar jobs in the 1980s than were the Distressed 

Counties. 

Transitional Counties were equally reliant on precision production, craft and repair and 

machine operators, assemblers and inspectors occupations in 1980, with 14.74 percent of those 

employed in each category. By 1990, counties in this category had lost 146,516 machine 

operators, assemblers and inspectors jobs so that employment share dropped to 11.4 percent, 

only the sixth largest occupation group. The precision production, craft and repair occupations 

were able to retain most jobs, with a loss of only 785 positions from 1980 to 1990. Growth in 

other occupational categories meant that this category dropped to third largest in 1990, with 

13.6 percent of employment. 

The largest absolute and percentage growth in employment occurred in the technical and 

sales occupations which gained 234,869 jobs (a 33 percent increase) over the decade, and rose 

from fourth largest to largest occupation group in 1990. It employed 14.02 percent of workers 

in 1990. Administrative support occupations gained 59,139 employed, enabling this category to 

retain second place even while its share of employment dropped from 14.08 to 13.86 percent. 

Professional specialty occupations added 145,553 jobs from 1980 to 1990, the second largest 

gain of any occupation category and a 22.2 percent increase. Overall for these counties, 

employment increased by 524,534 jobs or 8.5 percent. 
251 

Machine operators, assemblers and inspectors occupations were the largest share of 

employment in Competitive Counties in 1980 with 18.27 percent of the employed. The second 

largest occupation group was precision production, craft and repair which employed 15.2 

percent of workers. Unlike the first three county groups, Competitive Counties were able to add 

precision production, craft and repair occupations over the decade, increasing employment in 

this category by 19,088 and enabling it to share the position of largest occupation group in 1990 

with technical and sales, and administrative support occupations. These occupation groups had 

14.14, 14.11 and 14.13 percent of employed in 1990, respectively. 

The largest gains over the decade were in technical and sales occupations which 

increased by 52,677 positions, and moved from fourth to tied for largest occupation group. 

Employment in this category grew by 57 percent from 1980 to 1990. As in other county 

groups, professional specialty occupations grew substantially from 1980 to 1990, by 33,791 

employed (a 43.7 percent growth) for Competitive Counties, but failed to become one of the top 

four occupation categories. Executive, administrative and managerial occupations also rose by 

over 33,000 employed, an almost 50 percent increase from 1980 to 1990. Administrative 

support occupations rose by 30,531. The largest decline over the decade occurred in machine 

operators, assemblers and inspectors occupations, which dropped by 11,924 employed, and 

moved from first to fourth largest occupation group. Employment in Competitive Counties 

grew by 197,211 or 23.8 percent from 1980 to 1990. 

Occupational categories on which the Attainment Counties relied were predominantly 

those related to service, sales and professional employment in both 1980 and 1990. 

Administrative support occupations was the largest occupation category in 1980, employing 
252 

18.36 percent of workers. Technical and sales occupations ranked second with 14.01 percent of 

employed, and was followed by professional specialty occupations with a 13.39 percent share. 

Services employed 12.77 percent of workers and was ranked fourth in 1980. By 1990, the 

rankings of these categories had shifted somewhat. A gain of 89,290 workers in the technical 

and sales category made it the largest occupational group in 1990, with 17.51 percent of 

Attainment County workers. Administrative support occupations fell to second with a 17.41 

percent share of total employed. Professional specialty occupations held third place by adding 

75,705 positions to obtain 16.11 percent of employment. Executive, administrative and 

managerial occupations increased by almost the same amount, 74,394 new employed over the 

decade, to become the fourth largest occupational group in 1990. This was an increase of 53.5 

percent over 1980 levels. Employment in Attainment Counties grew by 19.8 percent from 1980 

to 1990. 

CONCLUSIONS

The patterns in labor force participation, unemployment levels, industrial and 

occupational structure that we observe in this chapter continue to reflect the diversity in the 

Appalachian Region. As presented in many of the overviews of the Region, Appalachia as a 

whole does lag behind the rest of the nation on such indicators of economic strength as labor 

force participation rates and unemployment rates. It also lags behind the nation in making the 

transition away from being an economy based on goods production and towards an economy 

more reliant on service production and retail trade. While the former patterns may suggest less 

vitality in the Appalachian economy, the slower shift towards predominance of services and 
253 

retail trade may not be viewed as negatively. As we have seen in other chapters, however, this 

overview of the Region masks the variability within. A more detailed examination paints a 

picture that in some areas is much worse than that of the Region as a whole, and in others 

presents conditions that suggest economic growth and vitality that match that of the U.S. 

Economic opportunities available and the ability of workers to capitalize on those 

opportunities clearly varies within Sub-regions, and obviously differs across the ARC 

Distressed County Codes. There is little surprise that the areas of lowest labor force 

participation, and even decline in men’s labor force participation over the decade fall in the 

North and Central Sub-regions. This is consistent with the industrial restructuring that has 

occurred in the ‘Rust Belt” of the North, and the changes in markets and technology in coal 

mining in the Central Sub-region. Women’s increasing labor force participation from 1980 to 

1990, even in the North and Central Sub-regions suggest the continued restructuring in the 

economy away from manufacturing and extractive industries, which predominantly employed 

men, towards jobs in services and retail trade which are characterized as offering lower wage 

jobs that often are part-time and so more often filled by women. As part of this shift, in both of 

these Sub-regions, men’s labor force participation remained higher that of women, but men’s 

unemployment rates were higher than women’s suggesting men’s greater difficulty in finding 

suitable employment, or their greater likelihood of being displaced as manufacturing and 

extractive industries scale back, move to other locations, or close. 

The South Sub-region has experienced the strongest economy and growth during the 

1980s and so is the Sub-region with labor force participation rates and unemployment rates that 

almost surpass the averages for the U.S. It is important to stress the ‘almost’ here. Even this 
254 

fastest growing Appalachian Sub-region does not exceed the U.S. average for these important 

economic indicators. 

Not surprisingly, these patterns are reflected in the labor force participation and 

unemployment rates for the counties in the five Distressed County Code categories. The 

Distressed Counties, many of which are located in the Central Sub-region, have the lowest labor 

force participation among men and women, and women, in particular are much less likely to be 

in the labor force. Only 39 percent of women in Distressed Counties were in the labor force in 

1990, compared with 46 percent in Transitional-1 and more than 50 percent in each of the other 

categories. Men’s labor force participation rates ranged from 60 percent in Distressed Counties 

to over 74 percent in the most prosperous counties. Clearly, the economic opportunities vary 

greatly across Sub-regions and Distressed County Codes. But even the most prosperous 

counties in Appalachia — those classified as Attainment Counties — have labor force 

participation rates that are below the U.S. average. These counties do, however, have 

unemployment rates lower than the national average. 

The industrial composition of the Region shows the steady shift away from goods 

production and extraction towards the services-producing sector of the economy. The main 

difference is the speed with which this transition is occurring. The North Sub-region which was 

fairly heavily reliant on manufacturing has shifted strongly into services and retail trade. The 

South Sub-region, which had an even stronger base in manufacturing than the North in 1980, 

has been more successful in retaining manufacturing employment but has also greatly expanded 

jobs in services and retail trade. This heavier manufacturing economic base in the South is 

consistent with the movement of manufacturing from the unionized North to the non-union 
255 

South during the 1970s and 1980s. Keeping these jobs from moving overseas or to Mexico as a 

result of NAFTA is one challenge facing community leaders in the South. The Central Subregion was the most heavily reliant on extractive industries, particularly mining, as a share of 

employment, but the drop in energy prices and new technology that requires far fewer workers 

have resulted in a loss of almost 60,000 jobs in the Central Sub-region alone from 1980 to 1996. 

Manufacturing was never as important in the Central Sub-region, comprising only 14 percent of 

jobs. The largest increases have occurred in services and retail trade. 

These differences in industrial structure across the Sub-regions, and across Distress 

County Codes, influence the occupational structure of employment. The shift away from goods 

production has resulted in a decline in occupations, such as precision production, craft and 

repair, often associated with these industries. While this occupational group remains important 

in the Region, it has fallen behind technical and sales and administrative support occupations in 

share of employment. One of the most marked differences in occupations across counties in the 

Distressed County Codes is the concentration of technician and related support, administrative 

support, and professional specialty occupations in Attainment Counties. These counties exceed 

the U.S. share of employment in these occupations. Distressed Counties have their largest share 

of employment in precision production, craft and repair occupations. 
252 

The variation in labor force participation, unemployment, industrial and 

occupational structure across Appalachia indicates more than what the descriptive 

information gives. Areas with low labor force participation and high unemployment face 

problems in generating adequate employment for their residents. The change in 

occupational and industrial structure give insight to the losses some local economies have 

suffered and to their success in building and transforming their economies. These 

changes also indicate the types of skills and education that workers in the area have. 

Mismatches between employer needs in growing sectors of the economy nationally, 

regionally, and locally, and in the apparent skills and education of residents in an area 

pose a challenge to local communities attempting to attract outside employers or to 

capitalize on the skills, resources, and opportunities that can be developed locally. The 

increasing focus on sustainability and diversity of local economies that are more reliant 

on local ownership and management indicates a somewhat different development 

strategy. The ability of local communities to encourage education and training programs 

to facilitate local leadership, entrepreneurship, and retention of residents may play an 

important role in successful sustainable development when the impetus for economic 

growth is more focused on local resources. These strategies still place communities that 

have experienced decades of out-migration and extraction of resources and profits by 

absentee owners with minimal reinvestment at a disadvantage to communities with a 

strong base of infrastructure, capital, and human resources. But the solutions may be 

more attainable for disadvantaged communities than ‘smokestack chasing’ or ‘buffalohunting’ for those one or two big employers. It is in this scenario that local investment in 
253 

physical and human infrastructure can pay-off in locally guided and locally beneficial 

economic growth. 
254 

CHAPTER 6 

APPALACHIA: CHALLENGES FOR THE FUTURE

Appalachia is a Region marked by its diversity. While the Region as a whole is 

often characterized as lagging behind the rest of the United States in education, economic 

growth, and economic well-being of its citizens, summaries and averages mask the 

diversity that exists within the Region. This study documents the great variability across 

Appalachia, even when looking at relatively broad categorizations of counties: the three 

geographic Subregions of Appalachia, counties classified by the 1998 ARC Distressed 

County Codes, and counties organized by the 1993 Beale Codes which uses a rural-urban 

continuum. The reporting of counties with the highest and lowest values on various 

indicators reveals the great diversity that exists across Appalachian Counties. 

Current conditions in Appalachia are the conjunction of historically determined 

patterns of power and decision-making, utilization of resources, more recent patterns of 

migration and the ability of current residents (new and long-time) to work together to 

build the type of community they desire. Polar opposite problems of economic decline 

and population loss and too rapid growth as a result of a booming local economy exist 

within the Region. Each places unique strains on existing infrastructure — social, 

human, financial and physical — and each demands investments to build local capacity to 

help meet the needs and solve the problems facing residents. 

Demographic and Economic Diversity —Bringing them Together

Each of the chapters in this report examined separate aspects of demographic and 

economic change, the task for this chapter is to tie those separate aspects together. The 
255 

various chapters covered the composition and distribution of the population in the 

Region, family structure, educational attainment, the labor force participation and 

industrial composition, and the economic well-being of residents. These can be discussed 

separately, but they clearly are intertwined. 

A summary of patterns observed in the data helps to identify the characteristics 

that tend to group together. Areas with population decline are those that have 

experienced out-migration (especially of younger adults and more highly educated 

persons) during at least part of the study period, the residents have lower educational 

attainment, lower labor force participation rates especially among women, higher 

unemployment, higher poverty rates, lower median household incomes, the counties have 

slow growth or decline in employment (to match the population decline), and they tend to 

be more reliant on services, retail trade, and government industry sectors as the top three 

employers. These counties are more likely to be found in the Central Subregion, to be 

defined by the ARC in 1998 as Distressed Counties, they are more likely to be rural and 

not adjacent to metropolitan counties, and they are more likely to have a history of 

reliance on extractive industries (timber and coal), although Counties that the ARC 

defined as Distressed Counties in 1998 fall in every part of the Region (See Table 1.4). 

On the other hand, there are counties that have experienced rapid population 

increases since 1980. In-migration of all ages, but especially of young adults and bettereducated persons, marks these counties, as does rapid growth in employment, 

concentration of employment in the services, retail trade and manufacturing industrial 

sectors, high median incomes, lower poverty rates, high labor force participation of both 
256 

men and women, lower unemployment rates, and higher educational attainment of 

residents. Blacks and Hispanics in Appalachia are most likely to be found in these 

rapidly growing counties. These counties are found near the rapidly growing 

metropolitan areas in the South (Atlanta predominates), and they are the Competitive and 

Attainment Counties as classified by the ARC in 1998, although there are other pockets 

of comparable growth in the North Subregion. None of the counties in the Central 

Subregion falls into the Competitive or Attainment County categories. 

Between these extremes are the counties where most Appalachian residents live. 

These counties are facing neither serious economic and population decline, nor are they 

experiencing explosive growth and suburbanization. Moderate population growth 

spurred by natural increase and relatively low in-migration rates, middle level educational 

attainments, economies midway in the transition from a goods- to a services-producing 

economy that are reliant on employment in services, manufacturing and retail trade as the 

top three industry sectors, and middle level labor force participation and unemployment 

rates characterize these counties. These counties tend to be those classified as 

Transitional by the ARC, and they comprise the largest share of counties in the North (65 

percent) and the South (68 percent) Subregions. They are only 28 percent of counties in 

the Central Subregion, however. A closer examination would probably reveal that some 

of these counties are poised to enter a phase of more rapid growth, some teeter on the 

brink of decline, and others sit well-satisfied with their current conditions. 

Equally interesting are the counties that appear to defy what would seem to be 

their histories and location. These counties experience growth but they sit nestled among 
257 

the poorest, declining counties in the Region. Others are depressed economically and 

face population decline, but are surrounded by economic and population growth. These 

outliers may be the most interesting cases for understanding why some counties are able 

to defy the odds and remain viable, while others can’t seem to catch a break even when 

surrounded by wealth. 

Challenges for the Future

A study that only spans the 1980s and into the 1990s can identify those counties 

experiencing growth, decline, or stability, and can describe the trends that have occurred. 

From the patterns we observe, we can infer the processes driving change, but we must 

draw on other sources of information to understand the history and background of the 

Region. It seems clear in seeing the very different levels of growth and decline across the 

Region that multiple factors are at work. Histories of particular areas have resulted in 

very different levels of resources being available, giving communities quite different 

options and outlooks as they approach the next century. Some have a wealth of human 

resources, good infrastructure, and access to financial capital to call upon as they plan for 

the future. Others have little — they have lost key human resources to out-migration, 

they have little to invest in infrastructure or development activities, and they are 

competing with much richer communities in attempting to attract jobs, keep and attract 

residents, and opportunities. Yet a third set of communities is experiencing rapid growth 

that exceeds the capacity of local infrastructure, housing and services, and in many cases 

the nature and speed of that growth is beyond local control. The challenge for the 

Appalachian Region is to work to ensure that the growth that does occur is sustainable 
258 

environmentally and economically, and to help those communities that have limited 

resources to improve the economic opportunities available without sacrificing the aspects 

of their communities that residents value. 

The data compiled for this report can help to identify those characteristics that are 

associated with counties facing decline and those experiencing growth, but they cannot 

reveal which of these attributes causes the others. As indicated above, each of these 

counties has a unique history, and counties may have reached the same point today by 

following a different path. What is clear from these data is that the Appalachian Region 

essentially faces the same problems as the rest of the United States — how to close the 

gap between rural and urban counties, how to foster improvements in well-being in poor 

counties and help rapidly growing areas monitor and manage their growth, and how to 

work with counties as diverse as those from the Northern Rust Belt, the formerly miningdependent region, and the now-booming urban Sun Belt. 

As unique as the histories and current conditions across these counties are, the 

goals of the citizens for the future are likely to be at least as diverse. Some are interested 

in economic and population growth, others would like improved jobs and income but not 

at the price of rapid population growth, suburbanization and changes in the natural 

environment. Others want things to stay as they are. Even if issues of desired outcomes 

can be resolved, the best strategy for reaching those outcomes often is not clear. 

For areas that have experienced declining population and employment levels, or 

that have high poverty and low income levels, development of human capital through 

improving educational opportunities and providing job-specific training and skills is one 
259 

avenue to encourage economic development. But, this strategy only works when the jobs 

that utilize the education and skills are available locally. If the jobs don’t exist in the 

local area, then the investment in human capital moves away. On the other hand, it is 

hard to encourage growth in jobs, especially good jobs, if the local workforce doesn’t 

have the requisite training or education levels. While we could argue about which comes 

first — jobs or workers, it seems that these two resources need to be developed 

simultaneously. 

Strategies for local economic development have moved away from a heavy 

reliance on attracting a single big employer to a more diversified strategy. This more 

diversified strategy usually involves creating an industrial park, but recruitment for 

tenants goes beyond attracting an outside company. Efforts also focus on encouraging 

development of new locally-owned businesses through helping local residents with good 

ideas by offering incubator-type services to get the business off the ground. Assistance to 

help existing local businesses expand their markets or production also is offered. 

Working with local community colleges or vo-tech schools to offer job-specific training 

skills or job-retraining can be part of a strategy for attracting existing employers as well 

as improving skills of the available work force. 

Unfortunately, many of the counties that most need this type of diverse 

development strategy do not have the resources to develop worker training/re-training 

programs, to establish an industrial park or to hire full-time development staff to put 

these programs in place. Human capital, especially individuals with leadership skills and 

the ability to encourage collaboration in support of community goals, may be limited. 
260 

The loss of better students as they attend colleges elsewhere, and the continued outmigration of higher-educated persons means that many persons who might take on 

leadership roles in the community have left. Those who remain and are willing to 

participate in community activities often are overwhelmed by the requests they receive 

and they become discouraged or burn-out. Programs that provide basic education and job 

training also should offer skills in leadership and how to become engaged in community 

activities to broaden the pool of people willing and able to become involved. These 

activities and the skills and confidence they can build are an important means of 

improving the human capital and the long-term viability of local communities. 

These more distressed communities lack not only the financial capital to invest in 

the development of human capital and business retention and expansion, but they often 

also lack basic infrastructure. Good highways linking communities to major 

transportation routes are important, as is the availability of water and sewer systems. 

Small airports also can provide an important linkage. While good ground transportation 

also makes retail stores and professional services in neighboring cities more accessible 

and may place local stores and professionals at risk of losing their clientele, it remains an 

important part of broad development strategies. 

The electronic super-highway was supposed to overcome the barriers introduced 

by physical space and isolation so that any area would have access to jobs and markets. 

But the proponents of this plan failed to recognize that even the electronic super-highway 

requires physical infrastructure. An infrastructure that is least likely to be found in the 

more isolated, rural, and poor parts of Appalachia. An additional problem is that 
261 

removing physical barriers to business means not only that rural areas might become 

more accessible, but that markets and workers in other countries become more accessible, 

as well. This places U.S. workers in more direct competition with workers in other 

countries for some types of jobs. 

Clearly, the Region has many problems to overcome and issues to face if it plans 

to close the gap between the poorest counties in the Region and the most wealthy. The 

conversion of reclaimed strip mines to industrial park sites and local airports offers one 

means of using what might otherwise be considered wasteland. Roadbeds to these sites 

often already are in place, and landowners can work with the coal companies, the county, 

and federal officials to develop water and sewer systems for these locations as part of the 

approved reclamation plan. 

Tourism is mentioned by many as part of a diversified economic development 

plan for the poorer parts of the Region. The natural beauty of these areas, the isolation of 

some parts, and the large tracts of federal forest lands lend themselves to tourism built 

around these assets. Other areas have a rich history that might form the basis for tourism. 

What seems important is for the existing assets and resources to be evaluated (human, 

physical, and financial), for citizens to become involved in deciding on the type of 

development they desire and how to attain it, and for neighboring areas to work together 

to achieve common goals. 
Rapidly growing communities face an entirely different set of problems. Growth 

in communities usually is welcomed for bringing new jobs, better shopping, more people 

and greater tax revenues. Unfortunately, its negative consequences often occur before the 

community has time to recognize what is happening, plunging the community into battles 

over land use, zoning and planning, and how to pay for building new schools, roads, 

water and sewer systems to meet the demands of the increasing population. Urban 

sprawl, suburbanization, and loss of farm land, forest land, and open space have been 

identified as critical problems nationwide and in parts of Appalachia. The problems 

facing these rapidly growing counties and how they are resolved, provide residents, local 

and state governments in the Appalachian Region with a totally different challenge. In 

contrast to declining areas, however, these growing areas have many more human and 

financial resources on which they can draw to solve their problems. The difficulty will 

be in starting the process soon enough and in working to resolve the conflict inherent in 

determining land use and who will pay for needed services and infrastructure. 

The challenges facing Appalachia are as diverse as the counties in the Region. 

Fortunately, there are similarities across groups of counties that can form the basis for 

broad strategies to help solve particular types of problems. These broad strategies must 

be flexible, however, so that the unique needs of each county can be met and available 

resources capitalized upon as the residents of these counties attempt to solve their own 

problems. Some strive to share fully in the nation’s economic growth and high standards 

of living, while others struggle with minimizing the negative consequences of that 

economic and population growth. 
 

i. Caudill, Harry M. 1963. Night Comes to the Cumberlands. Boston: Little, Brown, and 

Durwood Dunn. 1988. Cades Cove: The Life and Death of a Southern Appalachian 

Community, 1818-1937. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press. 

ii. See Caudill (1963) above. Also see Eller, Ron. 1982. Miners, Millhands and 

Mountaineers. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press; Billings, Dwight, and Ann 

Tickamyer. 1993. “Uneven Development in Appalachia.” Pp. 7-29 in Thomas A. Lyson and 

William W. Falk (eds.) Forgotten Places: Uneven Development in Rural America. Lawrence, 

KS: University of Kansas Press; Lewis, Helen Matthews, Linda Johnson, and Donald 

Askins. 1978. Colonialism in Modern America: The Appalachian Case. Boone, NC: 

Appalachian Consortium Press. 

iii. Edwards, Richard. 1979. Contested Terrain: The Transformation of the Workplace in the 

Twentieth Century. New York: Basic Books, and David M. Gordon, Richard Edwards and 

Michael Reich. 1982. Segmented Work, Divided Workers: The Historical Transformation of 

Labor in the United States. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. 

iv.Gaventa, John. 1980. Power and Powerlessness: Quiescence and Rebellion in an 

Appalachian Valley. Urbana: University of Illinois Press; Erickson, Kai T. 1976. Everything 

In It’s Path: Destruction of Community in the Buffalo Creek Flood. New York: Simon& 

Schuster; Also see Seitz, Virginia Rinaldo. 1995. Women, Development, and Communities 

for Empowerment in Appalachia. Albany: State University of New York Press, and Byerly, 

Victoria. 1986. Hard times Cotton Mill Girls: Personal Histories of Womanhood and Poverty 

in the South. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press. 

v. See the various readings in D. Stanley Eitzen and Maxine Baca Zinn. 1989. The Reshaping 

of America: Social Consequences of the Changing Economy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice 

Hall; Gaventa, John, Barbara Ellen Smith, and Alex Willingham (eds.) 1990. Communities 

in Economic Crisis: Appalachia and the South. Philadelphia, Temple University Press. 

vi. Liaw, Kao-Lee, and William H. Frey. 1998. “Destination Choices of the 1985-90 Young 

Adult Immigrants to the United States: Importance of Race, Educational Attainment, and 

Labour Market Forces.” International Journal of Population Geography 4:49-61; Massey, 

Douglas S. 1995. “The New Immigration and Ethnicity in the United States.” Population 

and Development Review 21:631-652; Smith, James P., and Barry Edmonston (eds.). 1998. 

The Immigration Debate: Studies on the Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of 

Immigration. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. 

vii. Falk, William W., Clarence R. Talley, and Bruce H. Rankin, with the assistance of 

Kathleen Little. 1993. “Life in the Forgotten South: The Black Belt.” Pp. 53-75 in Thomas A. 

Lyson and William W. Falk (eds.) Forgotten Places: Uneven Development in Rural America. 

Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press; Lyson, Thomas A. and William W. Falk. (eds.) 

1993. Forgotten Places: Uneven Development in Rural America. Lawrence, KS: University 

of Kansas Press. 
 

viii. Massey, Douglas S. 1996. “The Age of Extremes: Concentrated Affluence and Poverty 

in the Twenty-First Century.” Demography 33:395-412. 

ix. Frey, William H. 1995. “The New Geography of Population Shifts: Trends Toward 

Balkanization.” In State of the Union (ed. R. Farley). New York: Russell Sage Foundation; 

Zelinsky, Wilbur. 1990. “Is the Rural-Urban Dichotomy Withering Away? The American 

Case.” Presented at the 14th Congress of Rural Sociology, Giessen, West Germany. 

x. Farley, Reynolds. 1988. “After the Starting Line: Blacks and Women in an Uphill Race.” 

Demography 25:477-497. 

xi. Frey, William H. 1990. “Metropolitan America: Beyond the Transition.” Population 

Bulletin 45(No. 2): 1-51. 

xii. Farley, Reynolds. 1988. “After the Starting Line: Blacks and Women in an Uphill 

Race.” Demography 25:477-497; Fossett, Mark, and Gray Swicegood. 1982. 

“Rediscovering City Differences in Racial Occupational Inequality.” American Sociological 

Review 47:681-689. 

xiii. Nielsen, Francois, and Arthur S. Alderson. 1997. “Income Inequality in U.S. Counties, 

1970 to 1990.” American Sociological Review 62:12-33. 

xiv.Mencken, F. Carson, and Joachim Singelmann. 1998. “Socioeconomic Performance in 

Metropolitan and Non-metropolitan Areas During the 1980s.” Sociological Quarterly

39:215-238. 

xv. Brown, David L., and Mildred E. Warner. 1991. “Persistent low-Income Nonmetropolitan Areas in the United State: Some Conceptual Challenges for Development 

Policy.” Policy Studies Journal 19;22-41; Davidson, Osha Gray. 1996. Broken Heartland: 

The Rise of America’s Rural Ghetto. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press. 

xvi. Duncan, Cynthia M., and Nita Lamborghini. 1994. “Poverty and Social Context in 

Remote Rural Communities.” Rural Sociology 59:437-461; Fitchen, Janet M. 1991. 

Endangered Spaces, Enduring Places. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 

xvii. Beale, Calvin L., and Kenneth Johnson. 1988. “The Identification of Recreational 

Counties in Non-metropolitan Areas in the United States.” Population Research and Policy 

Review 17:35-53. 

xviii. Fuguitt, Glenn V., David L. Brown, and Calvin L. Beale. 1989. Rural and Small Town 

America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 

xix. Tolbert, Charles, and Thomas A. Lyson. 1992. “Earnings Inequality in the Nonmetropolitan U.S.”: 1967-1990.” Rural Sociology 57:494-511. 
 

xx. Aponte, Robert. 1996. “Urban Employment and the Mismatch Dilemma: Accounting 

for The Immigration Exception.” Social Problems 43:268-283; Smith, James P., and Barry 

Edmonston (eds.). 1998. The Immigration Debate: Studies on the Economic, Demographic, 

and Fiscal Effects of Immigration. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. 

xxi. McLaughlin, Diane K., Erica L. Gardner, and Daniel T. Lichter. Forthcoming. 

“Economic Restructuring and Changing Prevalence of Female-headed Households in 

America.” Rural Sociology. 

xxii. Fossett, Mark A. and M. Therese Seibert. 1997. Long Time Coming. Boulder, CO: 

Westview Press. 

xxiii. Bluestone, Barry, and Bennett Harrison. 1982. The Deindustrialization of America. 

New York: Basic Books; Lyson, Thomas A. 1989. Two Sides to the Sunbelt: the Growing 

Divergence Between the Rural and Urban South. New York: Praeger; Harrison, Bennett and 

Barry Bluestone. 1988. The Great U-Turn: Corporate Restructuring and the Polarizing of 

America. New York: Basic Books. 

xxiv. Elliot, James R. and Marc J. Perry. 1996. “Metropolitanizing Nonmetro Space: 

Population Redistribution and Emergent Metropolitan Areas, 1965-90.” Rural Sociology

61(3):497-512 

xxv. Beale Codes are based on classifications of counties by metropolitan status, population 

size, and for Non-metropolitan counties whether or not they are adjacent to metropolitan 

counties. Beale Codes were first developed by Calvin Beale at the Economic Research 

Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and are updated as new population data 

become available. These are 1993 Beale Code classifications. 

xxvi. Charles Longino developed a classification of all U.S. counties based on retirement 

in-migration. The details can be found in Longino, Charles F. 1995. Retirement Migration 

in America. Houston: Vacation Publications. 

xxvii.The Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture developed 

typologies of Non-metropolitan counties in 1983 and again in 1995. One of the county 

types identified was retirement destination counties. These were counties that had the 

population in the county age 60 and over increase by 15 percent or more from 1970 to 1980 

(or from 1980 to 1990). The 1983 Policy Impact Codes are described in Peggy J. Ross and 

Bernal L. Green. 1985. Procedures for Developing a Policy-Oriented Classification of Nonmetropolitan Counties. Staff Report No. AGES850308. Economic Research Service, 

USDA, September 1985. 

1. Pickard, Jerome (1981) Appalachia’s decade of change: a decade of in-migration. Appalachia

15(1), 24-28. 
 

xxix. Elliot, James R. and Marc J. Perry. 1996. “Metropolitanizing Nonmetro Space: Population 

Redistribution and Emergent Metropolitan Areas, 1965-90.” Rural Sociology 61(3):497-512. 

xxx. Fulton, John A., Glenn V. Fuguitt, and Richard M. Gibson. 1997. “Recent Changes in 

Metropolitan-Non-metropolitan Migration Streams.” Rural Sociology 62(3):363-384; Johnson, 

Kenneth M. and Calvin L. Beale. 1994. “The Recent Revival of Widespread Population Growth 

in Non-metropolitan Areas of the United States.” Rural Sociology 59(4):655-667; and Nord, 

Mark, A.E. Luloff, and Leif Jensen. 1995. “Migration and the Spatial Concentration of Poverty.” 

Rural Sociology 60:399-415. 

xxxi. Lyson, Thomas A. 1989. Two Sides to the Sunbelt: The Growing Divergence Between the 

Rural and Urban South. New York: Praeger. 

xxxii. We use the County-to-County migration files of the 1990 census to obtain the age and 

education specific migration rates. Note that we use the mid-period population for that 

particular group as the denominator in calculating the migration rates. 

xxxiii. See Table 20. U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1999. Geographical Mobility: March 1996 

to March 1997 (Update). Current Population Report, P20-510. Washington, DC: Government 

Printing Office. Between March 1996 and March 1997, the South on balance imported 8,000 

more highly educated adults (with college degrees) than they exported to other regions of the 

country. 

xxxiv. See Lichter, Daniel T., Gretchen T. Cornwell, and David J. Eggebeen. 1993. 

"Harvesting Human Capital: Family Structure and Education Among Rural Youth." Rural 

Sociology 58:53-75; and Lichter, Daniel T., Lionel J. Beaulieu, Jill L. Findeis, and Ruy 

Teixeira. 1993. "Human Capital, Labor Supply, and Poverty in Rural America." Pp. 39-67 in 

Gene Summers (ed.), Persistent Rural Poverty. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 

xxxv. See Isaac Shapiro. 1989. Laboring for Less: Working But Poor in Rural America. 

Washington, DC: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 

xxxvi.Source: http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hh-fam/98pplb.txt 

xxxvii. Mark Fossett and Theresa Seibert. 1997. Long Time Coming: Racial Inequality in the 

Non-metropolitan South, 1940-1990. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.. 

xxxviii. Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census (1997). 

xxxix. Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census (1993). 

xl. The Gini Coefficient and Theil Index vary between 0 and 1, with higher scores indicating 

greater average within-county inequality. The Gini has a straightforward interpretation: A 

coefficient of zero means that income is evenly across households (i.e., all households have the 

same income), while a Gini of 1 indicates that all income in concentrated in one family. In 
 

1997, the top 20 percent of households in the United States accounted for 49.4 percent of all 

family income.