Kentucky counties make DRA distressed list

DRA newsletter


Kentucky counties make DRA distressed list

Delta Regional Commission Ky counties

Delta Regional Commission’s list of distressed counties includes Kentucky counties.

“To be deemed distressed, counties and parishes must meet one of the following criteria:
An unemployment rate of one percent higher (9.8 percent) than the national average (8.8 percent) for the most recent 24-month period; or
Have a per capita income of 80 percent or less of the national per capita income.

Kentucky

Caldwell
Calloway
Carlisle
Christian
Crittenden
Fulton
Graves
Henderson
Hickman
Hopkins
Livingston
Lyon
Marshall
McLean
Muhlenberg
Todd
Trigg
Webster

 

From the DRA website:


"The 252 counties and parishes served by the Delta Regional Authority make up the most distressed area of the country. The disparities between the Delta region and the nation as a whole are stark. As defined by the Economic Development Administration, 80 percent of the counties and parishes in the region are distressed:

Life expectancy for men and women in every county and parish of the Delta region is below the national average;
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, when unemployment spiked across the nation in November 2010, the number of those out of jobs in rural counties was twice that of the national average;
96% of the 252 counties and parishes served have per capita income levels at or below the national average;
The rate of persistent poverty in the region is 370 percent higher than the national rate;
Compared with the national rates, deaths in the Delta from circulatory diseases are 16 percent higher, deaths from cancer are 12 percent higher and deaths from accidents are 39 percent higher; and
More than 32 percent of adults in the Delta report that they are obese (compared to 26 percent in non-Delta counties) and almost 12 percent report that they have Diabetes (compared to 8.9 percent in non-Delta counties)."