SOCIOECONOMIC HETEROGENEITY OF MINING-DEPENDENT COUNTIES

Recent typologies of U.S. counties differentiated by sustenance base s uggest that mining-dependent counties are characterized by levels of s ocioeconomic well-being slightly above national averages. However, str iking regional differences in well-being among mining-dependent counti es are masked when such counties are considered as a single category. Comparison with nonmetropolitan nonmining-dependent counties in the sa me states reveals that the differences are only partly accounted for b y overall regional effects. Further disaggregation demonstrates substa ntial effects of mining subsector and of subsector-region interaction on well-being. Of particular concern is the disadvantage associated wi th coal mining dependence in the South and Great Lakes regions contras ted with the advantage associated with such dependence in the West.