Glossary Q, R

Rust Belt

The Rust Belt is the region in the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, and (maybe) New Jersey, which at one time was the industrial heartland, but then deteriorated as industry moved to other states and foreign countries.  The name gained prominence and notoriety in the 1970s as this formerly dominant manufacturing and mining region became noted for the abandonment of factories and mines, increased unemployment, emmigration, and the loss of electoral votes in the Congress.   Since the 1960s, manufacturing cities throughout these states lost businesses to the Sun Belt (Florida, Texas, Arizona, California, Virginia, etc.), overseas, and Mexico.   Typical city declines occurred in Milwaukee, WI, Detroit, MI, Gary, IN, Cleveland, Youngstown and Akron, OH, Pittsburgh and Scranton, PA, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Syracuse, Utica, Albany, and Troy, NY, and Wheeling and the mining cities of WV.   Other big cities, such as St. Louis, MO, and Cincinnatti, OH, might be included as well.   By the 1990s, the economy of most Rust Belt cities had improved after the introduction of service industries.