| State | Poverty Rate |
| Illinois | 7.9% |
| Indiana | 7.3% |
| Michigan | 8.0% |
| Missouri | 8.4% |
| New York | 11.9% |
| Ohio | 7.3% |
| Pennsylvania | 7.7% |
| West Virginia | 10.01 |
| Wisconsin | 5.1% |
History of the Rust Belt
Before being known as the Rust Belt, the area was generally known as the country’s Factory, Steel, or Manufacturing Belt. This area, once a booming hub of economic activity, represented a great portion of U.S. industrial economic growth and development.
The natural resources that were found in the area—namely coal and iron ore—led to its prosperity, along with labor and ready access to transport by available waterways. This led to the rise in coal and steel plants, which later spawned the weapons, automotive, and auto parts industries. People seeking employment began moving to the area, which was dominated by the coal and steel industries. This changed the region's overall landscape.
But that began to change from the 1950s to the 1970s. Many manufacturersused expensive and outdated equipment and machinery. As such, they were saddled with the high costs of domestic labor and materials. To compensate, many of them began looking elsewhere for cheaper steel and labor (namely from foreign sources) which would ultimately lead to the collapse of the region.
There is no definitive boundary for the Rust Belt, but it generally includes the area from New York through the Midwest.
Decline of the Rust Belt
Most research suggests that the Rust Belt started to falter in the late 1970s, but the decline may have started earlier, notably in the 1950s, when the region’s dominant industries faced minimal competition.
The area accounted for more than half of all manufacturing jobs in the country in 1950. Powerful labor unions in the automotive and steel manufacturing sectors ensured minimum labor competition. As a result, many established companies had very little incentive to innovate or expand as they operated like monopolies. This came back to haunt the region when the U.S. opened trade overseas, resulting in a flood of imports and shifting production to the South.
From 1950 to 1980, the Rust Belt faced competitive pressure domestically and overseas. This led to lower wages and prices, as well as the shuttering of many manufacturing jobs. As such, almost two-thirds of the region's employment share declined. This shows that competitive pressure in productivity and labor markets is important to incentivize firms to innovate. However, weak incentives can drive resources to more prosperous regions.
The region’s population also showed a rapid decline. What was once a hub for immigrants from the rest of the country and abroad led to an exodus of people out of the area, as jobs were no longer readily available. Thousands of well-paying blue-collar jobs were eliminated, forcing people to move away in search of employment and better living conditions.
Detroit, one of the hardest-hit cities in the Rust Belt, had its population decline from a peak of 1,849,568 in 1950 to 633,218 in 2023.
Politics and the Rust Belt
The term Rust Belt is generally attributed to Walter Mondale, who referred to this part of the country in that way when he was the Democratic presidential candidate in 1984. Attacking then-President Ronald Reagan, Mondale claimed that his opponent’s policies were ruining what he called the Rust Bowl. He was misquoted by the media as saying the Rust Belt, and the term stuck. Since then, the term has consistently been used to describe the area’s economic decline.
The Rust Belt is still mostly dominated by older, non-college-educated white voters, who traditionally lean toward the Republican Party. However, many Rust Belt states have historically voted Democrat. In an unexpected turn of events in the 2016 election, Donald Trump was able to turn Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin red—states that voted Democrat for a long time, and that Barack Obama won in 2012.
In the 2020 election, Joe Biden was able to flip back Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. However, there continues to be a population shift from the Rust Belt states toward the Sun Belt states, which would leave the Rust Belt states a Republican stronghold, due to the older, non-college-educated white voters.
Rust Belt and COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic hit the Rust Belt hard. White-collar workers throughout the country were able to work from home; however, this was not possible for most blue-collar workers. One study reported on 13 American cities that were particularly vulnerable to the twin crises of the pandemic and declines in mental health. Nine of these 13 cities were in the Rust Belt.
The lack of business during the pandemic shuttered many factories in the Rust Belt, exasperating the already-dire situation. Many of the industries that were hit hard during the pandemic, such as timber, have large operations in Rust Belt states.
For example, job losses due to the shuttering of manufacturing jobs amid the pandemic wiped out all the gains in Wisconsin between March and July of 2020 that the manufacturing sector experienced in the state since 2011.
According to Politico, the “region has been devastated by job losses amid pandemic-induced economic shutdowns, in some cases far outpacing the national average in terms of the proportion of their workforces that have applied for unemployment benefits since mid-March [2020].” In Pennsylvania, only a few months into the pandemic, 29.6% of the workforce filed for unemployment, the report added.
What Are the Rust Belt States?
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin are considered to be part of the Rust Belt. These states were part of the manufacturing center of the United States, employing a large part of the population in manufacturing jobs. As manufacturing jobs started moving to the South and overseas, the area witnessed large-scale unemployment, decay, and decreases in population as people left to find employment elsewhere.
Why Is It Called the Midwest?
It is called the Midwest because of the location of those states in the 1800s before the U.S. expanded to the Pacific Coast. These states were part of the Northwest Ordinance. This term became obsolete once the U.S. expanded westward, resulting in these states becoming the Midwest.
What Is the Steel Belt?
The Steel Belt is one of the former nicknames of the Rust Belt before the region fell into decline. The area was one of the largest steel-producing regions of the country, being home to U.S. Steel, which at one point produced more than 60% of the steel in the country.
What Is the Sun Belt?
The Sun Belt is a region of the U.S. that extends from the Southeast across to the Southwest. It begins in southern Virginia, going down to Florida, and then across to Southern California. It is termed the Sun Belt because of the region's warm and sunny climate. The primary states of the Sun Belt are Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.
The Bottom Line
The term Rust Belt denotes a region of the U.S. that was once a booming hub of industrial and manufacturing jobs, due to the companies located there, such as automotive and steel companies. After the 1950s, as manufacturing moved overseas and to the South, and as the country opened up to imports, the region lost many jobs.
This resulted in a large-scale exodus of the population to look for employment elsewhere, resulting in urban decay and poverty. In the last decade, however, many of these regions are pivoting away from manufacturing and attracting new service-related jobs. Detroit, for example, has seen a revitalization of its downtown.
