Fourth District Almanac 2026

Executive Summary

The Fourth District Almanac explores the structure and history of the Fourth District’s economy, which extends across Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia. Since the early 1900s, the cities and rural regions of the Fourth District have undergone profound economic transformations. At times, the firms and workers in the District’s regions have led the advancement of new industries and new technologies. National and global trends have also prompted distinct regional responses across key measures such as employment, productivity, and demographics. The Almanac can help business leaders, policymakers, and the public better understand and contextualize this shifting regional landscape, thus supporting the Federal Reserve's mission to promote a healthy economy.

The Fourth District is large and diverse enough that aggregated measures of economic activity often closely resemble those of the broader United States, making local variations difficult to identify. Thus, the Almanac uses a granular approach by dividing the Fourth District into 11 economic areas: nine combined statistical areas, or CSAs (including Cleveland–Akron–Canton, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Columbus) and two rural regions (Appalachia and Plains). By presenting economic data at this level, the Almanac sheds light on the diverse economic stories that have unfolded across communities within our District over more than a century.

The Almanac includes economic data based on productivity measures, employment patterns, demographic shifts, educational attainment, housing markets, and more. Unlike the Beige Book, which focuses on the recent past and near future, and our District Data Brief reports, which generally focus on a single topic, the Almanac serves as an expansive reference in which readers can find long time series related to most economically important measures. Economic research has demonstrated that regional economies often stay on long-term growth paths unless a major shock, such as a new technology or major policy change, shifts their trajectory up or down.  Knowing a region’s history helps us understand whether current conditions are normal or unusual and how one’s region is likely to respond to macroeconomic trends.

Most charts in the Almanac situate Fourth District communities within national percentile distributions, highlighting whether a region is above or below other regions of the country on the measure. By providing this context, the Almanac equips Fourth District policymakers, business leaders, community organizations, and residents with a deeper understanding of their local economies. The Almanac will be updated annually and expanded with additional data series.