Appalachian Kentucky Fact Sheet

This information was compiled from data provided by the Appalachian Regional Commission website (http://www.arc.gov), the University of Kentucky Appalachian Center website (www.appalachiancenter.org), the US Census Bureau QuickFacts website (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/21000.html).

 

 

Income

  • Median income in the region is $27,017 (ARC-2004)
  • Per capita income for residents of Appalachian Kentucky is $19,467 (ARC-2002)
  • 24.4% of residents in this region live below the poverty level (compared to the national level of 12.4%) (ARC-2000)
  • 13% of children in the area live below the poverty level (Quickfacts-2000)

 

Education

  • 37.5% of Appalachian Kentucky residents 25 and older do not have a high school diploma or GED (compared to 19.6% for the US as a whole) (ARC-2000)
  • Only 10.5% of adults in the region have a college degree (compared to the nation level of 24.4%) (ARC-2000)

 

Employment

  • Unemployment in the region has grown for a number of years, rising from a 6.8% unemployment rate in 2001 to 7.4% in 2003. The national unemployment rate in 2003 was 6.0%. (ARC-2000)
  • 31.8% of residents age 21-64 have a disability (Quickfacts-2000)
  • Average travel time to work for Appalachian Kentucky residents is 28.9 minutes (Quickfacts-2000)
  • 78.7% of Appalachian Kentuckians drive to work and do not carpool (Quickfacts-2000)
  • 14.5% drive to work and do carpool (Quickfacts-2000)
  • 3.3% walk or bike to work (Quickfacts-2000)
  • Less than 1% of Appalachian Kentuckians travel to work via public transportation (Quickfacts-2000)

 

Race / Ethnicity

  • 97% of Kentucky residents are Caucasian (compared to 80.1% of the total U.S. population) (Quickfacts-2006)
  • 1.6% of residents are African American (compared to 12.8% of the total U.S. population) (Quickfacts-2006)
  • Less than 1% of residents are Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander or of Hispanic origin (Quickfacts-2006)
  • Less than 1% of Kentucky residents were born in another country (compared to 11.1% of the total U.S. population) (Quickfacts-2006)

 

Housing

  • 75.5% of inhabited homes in Appalachian Kentucky are owner-occupied (Univ. of Kentucky-2000)
 

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