Eastern Kentucky Coalfield


The Eastern Kentucky Coalfield is part of the Central Appalachian bituminous coalfield, including all or parts of 30 Kentucky counties and adjoining areas in Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee. It covers an area from the Allegheny Mountains in the east across the Cumberland Plateau to the Pottsville Escarpment in the west. The region is known for its coal mining; most family farms in the region have disappeared since the introduction of surface mining in the 1940s and 1950s.
The Daniel Boone National Forest is located on rough but beautiful terrain along and east of the Pottsville Escarpment. There are many natural arches and sandstone cliffs that are excellent for rock climbing and rappeling. The Red River Gorge, part of the National Forest, is known worldwide in rock climbing circles.
The Sheltowee Trace Trail runs north and south, through the region.
During the American Civil War most of this region leaned toward the Union due to its makeup at the time of mostly small farmers, but more than 2,000 men from this area formed the 5th. Kentucky Vol. Inf., known as the Army of Eastern Kentucky, under Gen. Humphrey Marshall, C.S.A.. During the Great Depression, New Deal programs and the organizing of the United Mine Workers of America made many of the eastern counties Democratic.
Eastern Kentucky has a rich musical heritage. Many nationally acclaimed country music singers and musicians are from the area. These include: Loretta Lynn, Crystal Gayle, The Judds, Ricky Skaggs, Keith Whitley, Patty Loveless, Dwight Yoakam, Tom T. Hall, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jean Ritchie, Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, Chris Stapleton, and George S. Davis.
As of the 1980s, the only counties in the United States where over half of the population cited "English" as their only ancestry group were in the hills of eastern Kentucky. In the 1980 census, 1,267,079 Kentuckians out of a total population of 2,554,359 cited that they were of English ancestry, making them 49 percent of the state at that time. Large numbers of people of Scottish and Irish ancestry settled the area as well.

Geography

The Eastern Kentucky Coalfield covers 31 counties with a combined land area of 13,370 sq mi, or about 33.1 percent of the state's land area. Its 2000 census population was 734,194 inhabitants, or about 18.2 percent of the state's population. The largest city, Ashland, has a population of 21,981. Other cities of significance in the region include Pikeville, London, and Middlesboro. The state's highest point, Black Mountain, is located in the southeastern part of the region in Harlan County.

Counties

Major cities

The following list consists of Eastern Kentucky cities with populations over 4,000 according to the U.S. Census estimates released in 2016:
RankCityPopulation 2016County
1Ashland21,038Boyd
2Middlesboro9,626Bell
3London8,157Laurel
4Morehead7,758Rowan
5Corbin7,398Whitley and Knox
6Flatwoods7,311Greenup
7Mount Sterling7,242Montgomery
8Pikeville7,106Pike
9Williamsburg5,313Whitley
10Hazard5,300Perry
11Paintsville4,203Johnson
12Grayson4,043Carter

Protected areas

Historical parks

The region's economy is centered around the vast amount of natural resources available, which includes coal, timber, natural gas, and oil. Recently, tourism has become a leading industry in the region, due to the region's unique cultural history and the creation of state parks.
Calgon Carbon constructed the Big Sandy Plant near Ashland in 1961 and it has since became the world's largest producer of granular activated carbon. The facility produces in over 100 million pounds of granular activated carbon annually.

Persistent poverty

Most of the counties in the Eastern Kentucky Coalfield are classified as "persistent poverty counties". The definition of a persistent poverty county by the Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture is that 20 percent or more of the total county population has been living in poverty since the 1980 census.
A June 2014 article in The New York Times identified six counties in the Kentucky Coal Field as among the "hardest places to live in the United States." The lowest-ranking counties were Breathitt, Clay, Jackson, Lee, Leslie, and Magoffin. They ranked among the bottom ten counties nationwide. The factors which accounted for the low ranking of those six counties were unemployment, prevalence of disabilities, obesity, income, and education. The Times declared Clay County the hardest place to live in the U.S.

Appalachian Regional Commission

The Appalachian Regional Commission was formed in 1965 to aid economic development in the Appalachian region, which was lagging far behind the rest of the nation on most economic indicators. The Appalachian region currently defined by the Commission includes 420 counties in 13 states, including all counties in Kentucky's Eastern Coalfield. The Commission gives each county one of five possible economic designations—distressed, at-risk, transitional, competitive, or attainment—with "distressed" counties being the most economically endangered and "attainment" counties being the most economically prosperous. These designations are based primarily on three indicators—three-year average unemployment rate, market income per capita, and poverty rate.
From 2012 to 2014, "Appalachian" Kentucky—which includes all of the Eastern Coalfield and several counties in South Central Kentucky and a few in the eastern part of the Bluegrass region—had a three-year average unemployment rate of 9.8%, compared with 7.6% statewide and 7.2% nationwide. In 2014, Appalachian Kentucky had a per capita market income of $18,889, compared with $28,332 statewide and $38,117 nationwide. From 2010 to 2014, Appalachian Kentucky had an average poverty rate of 25.4%—the highest of any of the ARC regions—, compared to 18.9% statewide and 15.6% nationwide. Twenty-five Eastern Mountain Coal Field counties—Bell, Breathitt, Carter, Clay, Elliott, Floyd, Harlan, Jackson, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Magoffin, Martin, McCreary, Menifee, Morgan, Owsley, Powell, Rowan, Whitley, and Wolfe—were designated "distressed," while four - Laurel, Montgomery, Perry, and Pike — were designated "at-risk." Two Eastern Coalfield counties were designated "transitional" — Boyd and Greenup. No counties in the Eastern Coalfields region were given the "attainment" designation or were designated "competitive."
The following table illustrates the economic status of each county.
CountyPopulation Unemployment Rate Per Capita
Market Income 		Poverty Rate Status
Bell28,69111.9%$14,64432.7%Distressed
Boyd49,5428.6%$24,33719.1%Transitional
Breathitt13,87813.7%$14,38631.5%Distressed
Carter27,72012.0%$18,01418.7%Distressed
Clay21,73013.3%$11,53135.7%Distressed
Elliott7,85213.5%$10,52939.6%Distressed
Floyd39,45111.7%$18,47329.5%Distressed
Greenup36,9109.3%$23,87918.0%Transitional
Harlan29,27815.4%$13,62032.1%Distressed
Jackson13,49415.4%$13,49631.7%Distressed
Johnson23,35610.1%$19,00825.3%Distressed
Knott16,34613.5%$14,27126.5%Distressed
Knox31,88311.9%$15,54933.8%Distressed
Laurel58,8499.2%$21,05123.3%At-Risk
Lawrence15,86010.5%$15,39923.5%Distressed
Lee7,88711.7%$11,75033.4%Distressed
Leslie11,31015.0%$15,35723.9%Distressed
Letcher24,51914.2%$15,95524.5%Distressed
Magoffin13,33316.3%$11,13926.8%Distressed
Martin12,9299.4%$14,82633.9%Distressed
McCreary18,30612.4%$9,76337.7%Distressed
Menifee6,30611.2%$15,65628.8%Distressed
Montgomery26,4998.2%$23,09325.2%At-Risk
Morgan13,92310.3%$13,45129.7%Distressed
Owsley4,75511.9%$10,52839.2%Distressed
Perry28,71212.3%$20,13126.6%Distressed
Pike68,73610.6%$21,28524.1%At-Risk
Powell12,61310.1%$18,40327.5%Distressed
Rowan23,3337.8%$18,64226.0%At-Risk
Whitley35,63710.0%$17,32124.1%Distressed
Wolfe7,35513.3%$10,53244.3%Distressed

Health

Most of the counties in the Eastern Kentucky Coalfield rank in the lowest ten percent of U.S. counties in average life expectancy. Both men and women have average life spans that are several years less than the average life span in the United States. Moreover, many counties have seen a decline in the life expectancy of men and/or women since 1985. Factors influencing the health of residents include a high prevalence of smoking and obesity and a low level of physical activity.

Post-secondary education

Public universities