List of Appalachian Regional Commission counties

It also gives the following four variables: The national 3-year average unemployment rate for the United States was 5.0% in the period 2006–2008.

The area has been largely unaffected by the Great Recession and has seen economic growth due to recent activity in the Marcellus Formation.

[2] In Virginia, all municipalities incorporated as "cities" are legally separate from the counties in which they are located.

As of the 2000 Census, nine cities were part of the federally designated Appalachia region.

This number was reduced to eight in 2001, when Clifton Forge relinquished its city charter and reincorporated as a town within Alleghany County.