Distressed Kentucky Areas

October 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Ky Distressed Areas

A GIS analysis

Socioeconomic and Environmental Distress by Block Group in Kentucky

A preliminary fact: Landsat Annual Timelapse 1984-2012 (from Google’s Earth Engine project) shows a glimpse of the vast impact of surface mining in the eastern Kentucky coal fields.

Kentucky’s population is nearly balanced between urban and rural. 52% of Kentucky’s population lives in rural census block groups¹. Economic and social distress² is more likely to occur in rural areas. 61% of Kentucky’s distressed population lives in rural areas.

Surface coal mining³ mostly occurs in rural areas and the highest rate of mine permits to population occurs in distressed rural areas. 99.3% of mine permits exist in rural areas.

The rate of mine permits to persons is 12.8 permits per thousand residents in all distressed areas, 4.24 permits per thousand residents in transitional areas, and .221 permits per thousand residents in non-distressed areas. In the most severely distressed rural areas, the rate is the highest at 32.0 permits per thousand residents.

61.2% of all distressed rural areas have mine permits.

Notes

¹ Rural and urban census lock groups are defined based on population density and proximity to other high density block groups. A block group is considered urban if its population density is greater than or equal to 1,000 persons per square mile. If an adjacent block group has a population density of 500 people per square mile, then it is considered urban. All other block groups are rural. Block groups are also referred to here as “areas.”

² Distressed is defined by census block group using the 2007-2011 American Community Survey 5-year estimates and comparing local rates to national rates in the following indicators (with U.S. averages): Poverty Rate (14.3%), Per Capita Income ($27,915), Unemployment Rate (8.7%), and No High School Educational Attainment Rate, for populations 25+ (6.1%).

A block group is defined distressed if it meets the following criteria: greater than 1.5*Poverty Rate, 1.5*Unemployment Rate, 1* No High School Educational Attainment Rate, and less than 0.66*PCI. It is also defined distressed if it has greater than 2*Poverty Rate, 1*No High School Educational Attainment Rate, and is greater than 1.5*Unemployment Rate or less than 0.66*PCI.

A block group is severely distressed if it meets the following criteria: greater than 2*Poverty Rate, 2*Unemployment Rate, 2*No High School Educational Attainment Rate, and less than 0.5*PCI. It is also defined distressed if it has greater than 2.5*Poverty Rate, 2*No High School Educational Attainment Rate, and is greater than 2*Unemployment Rate or less than 0.5*PCI

³ Division of Mine Permits, Kentucky Department for Natural Resources. Locations of surface mining permits (easternmost intersection of the access road with a public road) includes all permits from the DNR database accessed on October 15, 2013. The majority of permits are for mines no longer operational.

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