FY 2006 Performance Budget Justification

Appendix B. Designated Distressed Counties and 1960 vs 2005 Comparison

The Commission uses the following rigorous set of criteria to designate counties as severely economically distressed.

(1) Distressed counties meet all three of the following economic indicators:

Per capita market income (total personal income less transfer payments) no greater than two-thirds (67 percent) of the US average;

Three-year unemployment rate at 150 percent of the US average or greater; and

Poverty rate which is at least 150 percent of the US average; or

(2) Distressed Counties have at least twice the national poverty rate and meet one other criterion for economic distress.

For FY 2005, 82 counties, or 20 percent of the 410 counties in the Appalachian Region, are designated as economically distressed. Designations for FY 2006 will be made in February of 2005. Counties designated for FY 2005 are as follows:

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

Kentucky (31) - 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, 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 (5) - Athens, Meigs, Pike, Scioto, and Vinton

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

Virginia (2) – Buchanan and Dickenson

West Virginia (19) - Barbour, Boone, Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Fayette, Gilmer, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, McDowell, Mingo, Nicholas, Ritchie, Roane, Webster, Wetzel, Wirt, and Wyoming

Map: Distressed Counties in the Appalachian Region, 1960 and FY 2005