Appalachia is a geographic region of the Eastern United States. Home to over 25 million people, the region includes mountainous areas of 13 states: Mississippi, Alabama, Pennsylvania, New York, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Maryland, as well as the entirety of West Virginia.Hurst, Charles. (1992). Inequality in Appalachia. Social Inequality: Forms, Causes, and Consequences, 6th Edition. Pearson Education. pp 62-68.
Appalachia is often divided into three subregions: Southern Appalachia (portions of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, and Tennessee), Central Appalachia (portions of Kentucky, Southern West Virginia, Southern and Southeastern Ohio, Virginia, and Tennessee), and Northern Appalachia (parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Northern West Virginia, Maryland, and Northeastern Ohio). Further divisions can also be made, distinguishing Northern from North Central and Southern from South Central Appalachia. Though all areas of Appalachia face the challenges of rural poverty, some elements (particularly those relating to industry and natural resource extraction) are unique to each subregion. Central Appalachians, for example, experience the most severe poverty, which is partially due to the area's isolation from urban growth centers.Tickamyer, Ann; Cynthia, Duncan. (1990). Poverty and Opportunity Structure in Rural America. Annual Review of Sociology. 16:67-86. Retrieved November 28 from Academic Search Premier. The Appalachian region holds 423 counties and covers 206,000 square miles.
The area's rugged terrain and isolation from urban centers has also resulted in a distinct regional culture. Many natives of the region have a distinct pride for their Appalachian heritage regardless of financial status. Outsiders often hold incorrect and overgeneralized beliefs about the area and its inhabitants. These misperceptions, and their relationship to the culture and folklore of this near-isolated area, greatly impact the region's development.
Commerce within the region expanded widely in the 19th century with the advent of modern industries like agriculture, coal-mining, and logging. Many Appalachians sold their rights to land and minerals to large corporations, to the extent that ninety-nine percent of the residents control less than half of the land. Thus, though the area has a wealth of natural resources, its inhabitants are often poor. In addition, decreased levels of education and a lack of public infrastructure (such as highways, developed cities, businesses, and medical services) has perpetuated the region's poor economic standing.
Economics Coal mining corporations in 1880 to 1910 paid farm owners millions of dollars for mineral rights, but did not open mines until railroads were available. Coal mining corporations after 1910 began operations in remote areas by building railroads that provided freight service and lost-cost travel opportunities for residents. The operators built new towns, for their workers, with modern homes that were much better in terms of size, heat and sanitation than the squalid shacks without outhouses that served before the coal boom. They built and funded public schools and enforced state laws against child labor. They subsidized medical care and churches. Coal companies often paid workers in scrip, a private form of currency or wage credit that could be spent at company stores, keeping much of their earnings tied to the company and the company town. The goals were to discourage unionization and hostile civic action, and to keep the best workers.Grace Toney Edwards, et al. eds. A handbook to Appalachia: An introduction to the region (U. of Tennessee Press, 2006) pp. 10–15, 67–84, 102.
Towns closer to well-developed urban areas that fringe Appalachia (Pittsburgh, Wheeling, Columbus, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., etc.) are disproportionately better-off than rural regions in the mountainous interior, and lack of accessible transportation has greatly restricted the Appalachian economy. However, the issue has not generally been made a priority by regional political leaders, many of whom eschewed developments that would have been difficult and expensive to establish in the mountainous areas.
Power, politics, and poverty
Lower-class poorly educated community members developed a habit of compliance rather than support democratic institutions for social change. Middle class residents allied themselves with the elites rather than challenging the system that supported their everyday lives. Ambitious educated young people left Appalachia, widening the gap between the poor and those in power.Duncan, Cynthia Mildred. (1999). Civic Life in Gray Mountain. Connection: New England's Journal of Higher Education & Economic Development, Vol. 14, Issue 2, Retrieved November 29 From Academic Search Premier. Observers often report a fatalistic attitude on the part of the Appalachian poor people, because of their weak civic cultures and a sense of powerlessness.
Some residents live on land that cannot be traded outside of trusted circles or used as collateral because of inadequate records of ownership rights. This "dead" capital is a factor that contributes to the historical poverty of the region, limiting Appalachians' abilities to sell their investments in home and other land-related capital. The drastic socioeconomic divide has exacerbated violent feuds among Appalachians living in remote mountainous regions.
Recently, with the decline of the coal-mining industry, even fewer jobs have become available in the region. In 2024, Appalachian coal mining employed 27,829 workers, down from a recent peak of 60,224 in 2011.https://www.arc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Coal-Production-and-Employment-in-the-Appalachian-Region-2025.pdf
Creation of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) As of the 1960s, Appalachia had the highest poverty rate and percentage of working poor in the nation. According to research, roughly one third of the region's population was living in poverty.
Having witnessed the region's hardship during his 1960 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, President John F. Kennedy talked about improving the living standard for Appalachians. In 1963, Kennedy formally convened the President's Appalachian Regional Commission (PARC), which developed a comprehensive program for the region's economic development. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Appalachian Regional Development Act, formally establishing the permanent Appalachian Regional Commission. Robert F. Kennedy made Appalachia a high personal priority in his campaign against Johnson for the Democratic nomination in 1968.Edward R. Schmitt, "The Appalachian Thread in the Antipoverty Politics of Robert F. Kennedy." Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 107.3 (2009): 371–400. online
The ARC was established to address regional economic disparities and promote economic development in Appalachia. Looking to identify the roots of the region's problems, the ARDA stated: "Congress finds and declares that the Appalachian region of the United States, while abundant in natural resources and rich in potential, lags behind the rest of the Nation in its economic growth and that its people have not shared properly in the Nation's prosperity."
Though the ARC has made improvements, the Appalachian region continues to face socioeconomic hardships. As of 1999, roughly twenty-five percent of Appalachian counties still qualified as "distressed," the commission's lowest socioeconomic ranking.
Economic impact of prisons The late 20th century saw a large spike in prison development in Appalachia. between 1990 and 1999, 245 prisions were built in rural and small-town communities across the United States; Appalachian coalfield communities were among the places affected by this rural prison-building boom. Many of these prison were established in rural counties and areas. Though the prisons created jobs, the counties with prisons were found to have lower incomes and more poverty compared to counties without prisons.
Educational disadvantages In 2000, 80.49 percent of all adults in the United States were high school graduates, as opposed to 76.89 in Appalachia.Shaw, Thomas; DeYoun, Allan; Redemacher, Eric. (2005). Educational Attainment in Appalachia: Growing with the Nation, but Challenges Remain. Journal of Appalachian Studies. Volume 10 Number 3. Retrieved November 29, 2007, from Academic Search Premier. An early 1980s Appalachian Regional Commission estimate put adult functional illiteracy in Appalachia around 30 percent. Education differences between men and women are greater in Appalachia than the rest of the nation, tying into a greater trend of gender inequalities.
Education in Appalachia has historically lagged behind average literacy levels of United States. At first, education in this region was largely nurtured through religious institutions. Children who found time away from family work were often taught to read about the Bible and Christian morality. Then, after the Civil War, some districts established primary schools and high schools. People began to access standard education during this period, and higher education in large communities was expanded at that time. Lately, in the late 19th century and early 20th century, education in rural areas has been advanced; some settlement schools and sponsored schools were established by organizations. In the 20th century, the national policy has begun affecting education in Appalachia. Those schools were trying to meet the demands which federal and state settled. Some public schools were facing the problem of gathering funds because of government's No Child Left Behind policy.
Historically, logging, coal mining and farming were important sources of employment in Appalachia. None of these jobs need a high education, and employers don't decide the jobs based on their education level. A diploma has not been a priority in job finding. Many children of school age dropped school to help their family work. Women in Appalachia have less opportunity in access of jobs. Many kinds of jobs in this area require a strong body, so that men are preferred than women by employers when they are seeking jobs.
The New Opportunity School for Women (NOSW) was founded by Jane Stephenson in 1987 to provide educational and career-development opportunities for women in Appalachia, which has been deprived of what other parts of the nation take for granted. The region is primarily utilized for mining, coal, and its other natural resources and farmland. Families that live in these parts have become accustomed to a certain way of life whether it involve school or working. Many kids are not given the opportunity to be successful, only to remain in the family business surrounding one of the many natural resources from their land. NOSW's first residential program in 1987 lasted three weeks and enrolled 14 women; in 2018, it's Berea residential program was shortened to two weeks. The NOSW also offers a residential housing opportunity to those with low-income after their participation in the course and thereafter.