Where is Appalachia?
While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Alabama to Maine and into Canada, the cultural region known as Appalachia is generally considered to be limited to the southern and central ranges, but also includes the surrounding foothills and valleys. Lacking any obvious physical or political boundaries, the geographic definition of Appalachia continues to be the subject of debate.
The Appalachian Regional Commission
The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is an economic development partnership between the US federal government and 13 states, established by an act of Congress in 1965. The ARC focuses their efforts on 423 counties, which they divide in 5 sub-regions based on similar socioeconomic conditions. This provides us with one potentially useful definition for the boundaries of Appalachia, as shown on this map.