This reports analyzes 1990 census data on populations, race, rurality, poverty, education, unemployment, and economic dependence for the Northeast, Midwest, West, and South. Special emphasis is placed on the South, its subregion the Black Belt, and Appalachia. The Black Belt region encompasses 623 counties in 11 southern states; these counties are characterized by a higher-than-average percentage of African American residents. Appalachia consists of 404 counties in 11 states. Tables and figures present socioeconomic data that indicate regional concentrations of various types of socioeconomic distress. Over half of the southern population and nearly a fifth of U.S. residents live in the Black Belt. The percentage of people who are poor is notably higher in the South. This trend is intensified in the Black Belt counties, where the poverty rate is the highest in the country and where poverty rates are highest for African Americans, metro and nonmetro residents, and nonmetro Blacks. The highest rate of individuals not completing high school occurs in the Black Belt, with Appalachia and the South following. Although unemployment rates for the South and Black Belt are about the same as those for other regions, Black and nonmetro Black unemployment rates are worse than those of other racial groups in every region and subregion. Additionally, nonmetro dependence ratios run higher than metro ratios, and African American dependence ratios are higher than those for Whites. Specifically, the data indicate that poverty and high school graduation rates are worse in the South and Black Belt where nonmetro Black dependence rates are especially high. To sum up, the South and Black Belt are home to nonmetro and racial subpopulations that suffer the worst rates on socioeconomic indicators, and these rates and the large size of at-risk subpopulations interact to produce disproportionately large concentrations of poor quality-of-life conditions in the South and Black Belt. Contains 20 references and numerous data tables and figures. (LP)