Appalachia

[⛄]

In reference to the poverty thread, I ultimately want to find out the delineation of the geographic zone of Appalachia.
According to Wikipedia, its definition is vague.

For this reason I'm asking you for your personal definition of Appalachia; what states/counties do you refer to when you're talking about that region?

[Padfoot]

In general I would say it covers most counties south of New York that are in or adjacent to the Appalachian Mountains.  Counties should have a history of poverty and strong local ties to the coal mining industry.

Specifically, I think it is hard to pin down a hard border.  There are some counties on the fringes that are arguably not really Appalachian but get included in official government definitions because politicians wanted to bring home the bacon for their district or state.