County Economic Status Designations in the Appalachian Region, Fiscal Year 2006

Introduction

ARC uses a county economic classification system to target counties in need of special economic assistance. The system classifies counties into five economic status designations—distressed, at-risk, transitional, competitive, and attainment—based on a comparison of county and national averages for three economic indicators: three-year average unemployment rate, per capita market income, and poverty rate. Each fiscal year, using the most current data available, ARC determines each Appalachian county's economic status designation based on thresholds established for each level. The county's designation is then used in the distribution of funds for the fiscal year. The FY 2006 economic status designations for Appalachian counties are presented in this report. A description of each economic level is provided in Table 1 and in the text below.

**Table 1: Appalachian Regional Commission County Economic Status Classification System, FY 2006**
County Economic Level	County Economic Indicator Thresholds			Alternate Criteria
County Economic Level	Three-Year Average Unemployment Rate	Per Capita Market Income	Poverty Rate	Alternate Criteria
Distressed	150% or more of U.S. average	67% or less of U.S. average	150% or more of U.S. average	At least twice the U.S. poverty rate and meets the threshold of one other distressed-level indicator.
At-Risk	125% or more of U.S. average	67% or less of U.S. average	125% or more of U.S. average	Meets the threshold of two of the three distressed-level indicators.
Transitional	All counties that are worse than the national average for one or more indicator but do not meet the criteria for the distressed or at-risk levels.
Competitive	100% or less of U.S. average	80% or more of U.S. average	100% or less of U.S. average
Attainment	100% or less of U.S. average	100% or more of U.S. average	100% or less of U.S. average

County Economic Levels

Distressed
Distressed counties are the most economically depressed counties. These counties have three-year average unemployment rates at least 1.5 times the national average, per capita market income no greater than two-thirds of the national average, and poverty rates at least 1.5 times the national average; OR they have at least twice the national poverty rate and meet the criteria for either the unemployment or the income indicator.

At-Risk
At-risk counties are counties at risk of becoming economically distressed. These counties have three-year average unemployment rates at least 1.25 times the national average, per capita market income no greater than two-thirds of the national average, and poverty rates at least 1.25 times the national average; OR they meet the criteria for two of the three distressed-level indicators. This economic level was adopted in fiscal year 2006 for the purpose of monitoring economic change and planning for investments in potentially distressed counties.

Transitional
Transitional counties have rates worse than the national average for one or more of the three economic indicators (three-year average unemployment, per capita market income, and poverty) but do not meet the criteria for the distressed or at-risk levels.

Competitive
Competitive counties have three-year average unemployment rates and poverty rates equal to or better than the national average, and per capita market income equal to or greater than 80 percent, but less than 100 percent, of the national average.

Attainment
Attainment counties have economic indicators (three-year average unemployment, per capita market income, and poverty) equal to or better than the national averages.

Counties in each Economic Level

Below is list of the counties in each economic level for FY 2006. Summary counts for each state and for the Region as a whole are provided in Table 2. For the detailed economic indicator data used to determine each county's designation, see Appendix 1. Map 1 shows the geographic distribution of the county economic designations.

Distressed
There are 77 counties in the Appalachian Region designated as distressed in FY 2006:

Alabama (5) - Bibb, Franklin, Hale, Macon, and Pickens

Kentucky (32) - Bell, Breathitt, Carter, Casey, Clay, Clinton, Elliott, Estill, Floyd, Harlan, Jackson, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, Magoffin, Martin, McCreary, Menifee, Monroe, Morgan, Owsley, Perry, Powell, Russell, Wayne, Whitley, and Wolfe

Mississippi (13) - Benton, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Clay, Kemper, Marshall, Montgomery, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Panola, Webster, Winston, and Yalobusha

North Carolina (1) – Graham

Ohio (4) - Athens, Meigs, Pike, and Vinton

Tennessee (6) - Clay, Fentress, Grundy, Hancock, Johnson, and Scott

Virginia (1) - Dickenson

West Virginia (15) - Barbour, Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Gilmer, Lincoln, Mason, McDowell, Mingo, Ritchie, Roane, Webster, Wetzel, Wirt, and Wyoming

At-Risk
There are 81 counties in the Appalachian Region designated as at-risk in FY 2006:

Alabama (12) - Chambers, Colbert, Coosa, Fayette, Jackson, Lamar, Marion, Randolph, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Walker, and Winston

Kentucky (12) - Adair, Bath, Cumberland, Edmonson, Fleming, Hart, Laurel, Lincoln, Pike, Pulaski, Rockcastle, and Rowan

Mississippi (6) - Alcorn, Calhoun, Lowndes, Monroe, Tippah, and Tishomingo

North Carolina (6) - Cherokee, McDowell, Mitchell, Rutherford, Swain, and Yancey

Ohio (6) - Adams, Jackson, Lawrence, Morgan, Perry, and Scioto

Pennsylvania (5) - Cameron, Clearfield, Fayette, Forest, and Huntingdon

South Carolina (1) - Cherokee

Tennessee (10) - Bledsoe, Campbell, Claiborne, Cocke, Grainger, Jackson, Meigs, Morgan, Pickett, and Union

Virginia (7) - Buchanan, Carroll (including the city of Galax), Grayson, Lee, Montgomery (including the city of Radford), Smyth, and Wise (including the city of Norton

West Virginia (16) - Boone, Doddridge, Fayette, Grant, Greenbrier, Lewis, Logan, Mercer, Nicholas, Pleasants, Pocahontas, Summers, Taylor, Tucker, Upshur, and Wayne

Transitional
There are 222 counties in the Appalachian Region designated as transitional in FY 2006:

Alabama (18) - Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Chilton, Clay, Cleburne, Cullman, De Kalb, Elmore, Etowah, Jefferson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Marshall, Morgan, St. Clair, and Tuscaloosa

Georgia (29) - Banks, Barrow, Carroll, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Elbert, Fannin, Floyd, Franklin, Gilmer, Gordon, Habersham, Hall, Haralson, Hart, Heard, Jackson, Lumpkin, Madison, Murray, Paulding, Polk, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, Union, Walker, and White

Kentucky (7) - Boyd, Clark, Garrard, Green, Greenup, Madison, and Montgomery

Maryland (2) - Allegany and Garrett

Mississippi (5) - Itawamba, Lee, Pontotoc, Prentiss, and Union

New York (14) - Allegany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Otsego, Schoharie, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga, and Tompkins

North Carolina (17) - Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Burke, Caldwell, Clay, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Madison, Stokes, Surry, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yadkin

Ohio (18) - Belmont, Brown, Carroll, Columbiana, Coshocton, Gallia, Guernsey, Harrison, Highland, Hocking, Holmes, Jefferson, Monroe, Muskingum, Noble, Ross, Tuscarawas, and Washington

Pennsylvania (41) - Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Bradford, Cambria, Carbon, Centre, Clarion, Clinton, Columbia, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Fulton, Greene, Indiana, Jefferson, Juniata, Lackawanna, Lawrence, Luzerne, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Mifflin, Monroe, Northumberland, Potter, Schuylkill, Snyder, Somerset, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Union, Venango, Warren, Washington, Wayne, and Wyoming

South Carolina (4) - Anderson, Oconee, Pickens, and Spartanburg

Tennessee (32) - Anderson, Blount, Cannon, Carter, Coffee, Cumberland, De Kalb, Franklin, Greene, Hamblen, Hawkins, Jefferson, Knox, Loudon, Macon, Marion, McMinn, Monroe, Overton, Polk, Putnam, Rhea, Roane, Sequatchie, Sevier, Smith, Sullivan, Unicoi, Van Buren, Warren, Washington, and White

Virginia (13) - Alleghany (including the cities of Clifton Forge and Covington), Bland, Craig, Floyd, Giles, Highland, Pulaski, Rockbridge (including the cities of Buena Vista and Lexington), Russell, Scott, Tazewell, Washington (including the city of Bristol), and Wythe

West Virginia (22) - Berkeley, Brooke, Cabell, Hampshire, Hancock, Hardy, Harrison, Jackson, Kanawha, Marion, Marshall, Mineral, Monongalia, Monroe, Morgan, Ohio, Pendleton, Preston, Raleigh, Randolph, Tyler, and Wood

Competitive
There are 22 counties in the Appalachian Region designated as competitive in FY 2006:

Georgia (5) - Bartow, Dawson, Douglas, Pickens, and Whitfield

Maryland (1) - Washington

North Carolina (4) - Buncombe, Davie, Henderson, and Polk

Ohio (1) - Clermont

Pennsylvania (5) - Butler, Montour, Perry, Pike, and Westmoreland

South Carolina (1) - Greenville

Tennessee (2) - Bradley and Hamilton

Virginia (1) - Bath

West Virginia (2) - Jefferson and Putnam

Attainment
There are 8 counties in the Appalachian Region designated as attainment in FY 2006:

Alabama (2) - Madison and Shelby

Georgia (3) - Cherokee, Forsyth, and Gwinnett

North Carolina (1) - Forsyth

Pennsylvania (1) - Allegheny

Virginia (1) – Botetourt

**Table 2: Number of Counties per Economic Level in FY 2006, by State**
State	Distressed	At-Risk	Transitional	Competitive	Attainment	Total
Alabama	5	12	18	0	2	37
Georgia	0	0	29	5	3	37
Kentucky	32	12	7	0	0	51
Maryland	0	0	2	1	0	3
Mississippi	13	6	5	0	0	24
New York	0	0	14	0	0	14
North Carolina	1	6	17	4	1	29
Ohio	4	6	18	1	0	29
Pennsylvania	0	5	41	5	1	52
South Carolina	0	1	4	1	0	6
Tennessee	6	10	32	2	0	50
Virginia	1	7	13	1	1	23
West Virginia	15	16	22	2	0	55
Total	77	81	222	22	8	410

Additional Materials

Appendix 1: County Economic Status in the Appalachian Region, FY 2006
PDF file (40 KB) | Excel file (69 KB)

County Economic Status by State, FY 2006
PDF file (61 KB) | Excel file (103 KB)

Criteria for County Economic Levels, FY 2006
PDF file (21 KB) | Excel file (20 KB)

Map 1: County Economic Status in Appalachia, FY 2006 (PDF file—612 KB)

A complete copy of this information is available in PDF format (622 KB).