County

Low education counties are those where 20% or more of county residents age 25-64 did not have a high school diploma or equivalent, determined by the American Community Survey 5 Year average data for 2008-12.

Persistent poverty counties are those where 20% or more of county residents were poor, measured by the 1980, 1990, and 2000 censuses, and the 2007-11 American Community Survey.

Mining dependent counties are those where 13% or more of the county’s average annual labor and proprietors’ earning were derived from mining, or 8% or more of jobs were in mining, as measured by 2010-12 Bureau of Economic Analysis, Local Area Personal Income and Employment data.

Population loss counties are those where the number of county residents declined between the 1990 and 2000 censuses and also between the 2000 and 2010 censuses.

Farming dependent counties are those where 25% or more of the county’s average annual labor and proprietors’ earning were derived from farming, or 16% or more of jobs were in farming, as measured by 2010-12 Bureau of Economic Analysis, Local Area Personal Income and Employment data.

Retirement destination counties are those where the number of residents age 60 and older grew by 15% or more between the 2000 and 2010 censuses due to net migration.

Persistent poverty counties are those where 20% or more of county residents were poor, measured by the 1990 and 2000 Decennial Censuses and in the 2007–11 and 2017–21 5-year American Community Surveys.

Mining dependent counties are those where at least 11 percent of the county’s annual average earnings came from mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction or at least 7 percent of the annual average number of jobs in the county were in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction over the 3-year average of 2019, 2021, and 2022.

Retirement destination counties are those where the number of residents ages 55 to 74 increased by at least 15 percent from 2010 to 2020 because of migration. Based on data from the Applied Population Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Non-specialized counties are those that did not have a high concentration of earnings or jobs in any one of farming, mining, manufacturing, or Federal and State Government and did not have a high concentration of economic activity (as measured using a weighted index) in recreation. Metropolitan and non metropolitan areas are based on the U.S. Office of Management and Budget 2023 delineation of core based statistical areas.