West Virginia
West Virginia exhibits extraction decline: coal jobs dropped from 100,000 to under 15,000 while opioids and population loss compound the post-industrial crisis.
West Virginia represents the human cost of energy transition. Coal mining employment has collapsed from over 100,000 jobs mid-century to fewer than 15,000 today, with no equivalent replacement emerging despite decades of economic development efforts. The opioid epidemic—fueled by pharmaceutical company practices that targeted Appalachian pain—devastated communities already struggling with unemployment and hopelessness.
The state's economy now depends heavily on healthcare (treating an aging, unhealthy population), government services, and what remains of extractive industries. Natural gas from the Marcellus Shale provides some employment and royalty income, but requires far fewer workers than coal mining did. Tourism around whitewater rafting and outdoor recreation offers modest growth without matching the wages mining once paid.
West Virginia's population has declined for decades as young people leave for employment elsewhere. The remaining population skews older and less educated, limiting workforce quality for industries that might otherwise locate in low-cost Appalachia. The state exemplifies how path dependence can trap regions: coal created infrastructure, culture, and skills suited for extraction, and those same factors impede adaptation to a post-coal economy.