Since a landmark 1964 report, the region known as Appalachia has been characterized mostly by its economic hardship and its geographic isolation. However, the 13-state area is far from homogeneous, containing pockets of rural isolation and parts of fast-growing metropolitan areas. Using data from the decennial census, this report provides a demographic, economic, and social portrait in the 410-county Appalachian Region at the dawn of the 21st century. The new century found a region that grew 9 percent during the 1990s, and was approaching levels of the rest of country in some aspects (while continuing to lag behind in others). Moreover, these developments had some wide-ranging variations among Appalachia’s sub-regions and economic development categories.