Ohio Appalachia occupies 14,299 square miles Ohio Appalachia has a 1995 population of 1,436,723, making it the fourth largest city in Ohio.

The college-going rate for Ohio Appalachia is 30 percent, compared to 41 percent for the rest of Ohio and 62 percent for the U.S. Nearly one-fifth of Ohio's population is poor in Ohio's southern and southeastern Appalachian counties.

The 1995 percentage of Ohio's adults who have college degrees is 17.0 percent. The 1994 median income for a person with a bachelor's degree is twice as much as a person who is only a high school graduate.

According to the Ohio Poverty Indicators, Volume 10-1995, increased levels of education are associated with a substantially reduced risk of poverty in the United States, regardless of race.