Rust Belt
The Rust Belt, formerly the Steel Belt, is a region of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States, as well as a small section of the Southern United States. It includes Western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, southeastern Wisconsin, small parts of Kentucky, Baltimore, and the St. Louis metropolitan area in Missouri.[1][2] Cities in the Rust Belt include Allentown, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Gary, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Rochester, Toledo, Trenton, and Youngstown.
"Steel Belt" redirects here. For type of conveyor belt, see Steel belt.
The term "Rust Belt" refers to the impact of deindustrialization, economic decline, population loss, and urban decay on these regions attributable to the shrinking industrial sector especially including steelmaking, automobile manufacturing, and coal mining. The term gained popularity in the U.S. beginning in the 1980s[3] when it was commonly contrasted with the Sun Belt, which was surging.
The Rust Belt experienced industrial decline starting in the 1950s.[4] The U.S. manufacturing sector as a percentage of the U.S. GDP peaked in 1953 and has been declining since. In the late 20th century, the Rust Belt began experiencing the elimination or outsourcing of manufacturing jobs, which in some cases continues in the 21st century. The region, which previously was the nation's industrial heartland, has experienced economic distress and a resulting decline in population.[5]
New England was also hit hard by industrial decline during the same era, but cities closer to the East Coast, including the New York metropolitan area and Greater Boston adapted by diversifying or transforming their economies to shift focus towards services, advanced manufacturing, and high-tech industries.
In popular culture[edit]
The Rust Belt is depicted in various films, television shows, and songs. It is the subject of the popular Billy Joel song, "Allentown," originally released on The Nylon Curtain album in 1982. The song uses Allentown as a metaphor for the resilience of working-class Americans in distressed industrial cities during the recession of the early 1980s.
The Rust Belt is the setting for Philipp Meyer's 2009 novel American Rust and its 2021 television adaptation. A core plot device of both is the economic, social, and population decline[56] facing the fictional Western Pennsylvanian town of Buell, itself brought about by thorough de-industrialization typical of the region.[57]
The 21st century evolution of this region of the United States is also depicted through the fictional town of New Canaan, Ohio, in Stephen Markley's 2018 bestseller novel, "Ohio". The town is described through both the teenage glamour of high-school lens in the early 2000s and the harsh reality lens of what the town became 10 years later.