page_title: Rust Belt
hierarchical_section_title: Rust Belt
caption_attribution_description: English: Change in per capital personal income among metropolitan counties, in and around the midwestern and northeastern United States, 1980-2002. Figures are in relation to the average for metropolitan counties, 2002, which is higher than the national average. KEY: Dark green=above average income and faster-than-average growth Green=above average income, average growth Yellow-green=above-average income but decreasing Pink=below-average income but faster-than-average growth Red=below-average income, average or below-average growth Burgundy=below average income and further decrease Sources: National Atlas (www.nationalatlas.gov/mapmaker) and Economic Research page of the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis (http://research.stlouisfed.org/).
context_page_description: "Rust Belt" is an informal term for a region of the United States that has been experiencing industrial decline starting around 1980. It is made up largely of the Great Lakes Megalopolis, though definitions vary. Rust refers to the deindustrialization, or economic decline, population loss, and urban decay due to the shrinking of its once-powerful industrial sector. The term gained popularity in the U.S. in the 1980s.
  The Rust Belt begins in Central New York and traverses west through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Indiana, and the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, ending in northern Illinois, eastern Iowa, and southeastern Wisconsin. New England was also hard hit by industrial decline during the same era. Industry has been declining in the region, which was previously known as the industrial heartland of America, since the mid-20th century due to a variety of economic factors, such as the transfer of manufacturing overseas, increased automation, and the decline of the US steel and coal industries.
context_section_description: "Rust Belt" is an informal term for a region of the United States that has been experiencing industrial decline starting around 1980. It is made up largely of the Great Lakes Megalopolis, though definitions vary. Rust refers to the deindustrialization, or economic decline, population loss, and urban decay due to the shrinking of its once-powerful industrial sector. The term gained popularity in the U.S. in the 1980s.
  The Rust Belt begins in Central New York and traverses west through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Indiana, and the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, ending in northern Illinois, eastern Iowa, and southeastern Wisconsin. New England was also hard hit by industrial decline during the same era. Industry has been declining in the region, which was previously known as the industrial heartland of America, since the mid-20th century due to a variety of economic factors, such as the transfer of manufacturing overseas, increased automation, and the decline of the US steel and coal industries. While cities, towns, and communities have successfully managed to adapt by diversifying and or transforming their economies shifting focus towards sectors such as services, advanced manufacturing, and high-tech industries, etc. others have not fared as well, experiencing economic distress with poverty and as a result declining populations.
caption: Change in per capita personal income in metropolitan counties, 1980–2002, relative to the average for U.S. metropolitan areas. 
     income above average, growth faster than average   income above average, growth average or below average   income above average but decreasing   income below average, growth faster than average   income below average, growth average or below average   income below average and further decreasing
exif: {}