Report: Westmoreland County one of the ‘transitional’ counties in Appalachia

Stephen Huba
Tuesday, June 25, 2019 3:32 p.m. | Tuesday, June 25, 2019 3:32 p.m.

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Stephen Huba | Tribune-Review

The former Advance Furniture building on South Main Street, one of three blighted buildings in downtown Greensburg recently viewed by Gov. Tom Wolf. The six-story building sits within a “distressed” section of Greensburg, according to the Appalachian Regional Commission.

A new federal government report places Westmoreland County among the 217 economically “transitional” counties in Appalachia, based on levels of unemployment, per capita income and poverty.

The Appalachian Regional Commission report, titled “County Economic Status Designations for Fiscal Year 2020,” ranks all 420 counties in Appalachia using national census, labor and economic data.

Appalachia comprises all of West Virginia and portions of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, New York, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.

“Parts of the Appalachian region face significant economic challenges compared to the rest of the country, and by releasing this data publicly in an accessible format, ARC is seeking to ensure awareness of these challenges, and to inform policymakers at all levels,” said ARC Federal Co-Chairman Tim Thomas.

The report placed most of Pennsylvania’s Appalachian counties, including Westmoreland, in the transitional category, meaning they rank somewhere between the worst 25% and the best 25% of counties in the country.

Allegheny County is one of only 10 “competitive” counties in Appalachia, meaning it ranks between the best 10-25% of counties in the nation. Fayette County is considered “at-risk.”

To determine the economic status of each county, ARC drew on the latest data available on: per capita market income, the previous three-year average unemployment rate and the previous five-year poverty rate. With that data, each county was placed into one of the five economic designations — distressed, at-risk, transitional, competitive and attainment.

Only three Appalachian counties are classified at the “attainment” level — Bath County, Va., Shelby County, Ala., and Forsyth County, Ga.

Westmoreland County’s ranking is based on the fact that it had an average unemployment rate of 5.5% for 2015-2017, a per capita income of $37,944 in 2017 and a poverty rate of 10.3% for 2013-2017, according to ARC.

Although Westmoreland County qualifies as transitional, portions of the county are defined as distressed areas — based on a median family income no greater than 67% of the U.S. average and a poverty rate 150% of the U.S. average or greater, according to ARC.

The distressed areas include the city of Arnold and portions of New Kensington, Vandergrift, Jeannette, Greensburg and Monessen, according to ARC.