Editing Sumter County, Alabama (section)

==Economy==
Sumter County is part of the so-called [[Black Belt (region of Alabama)|Black Belt]] region of central Alabama. The region has suffered significant economic depression in recent years, but in April 2008, [[United States Steel]] announced plans to build at $150 million alloy plant near the community of [[Epes, Alabama|Epes]] about {{convert|50|mi|km}} southwest of [[Tuscaloosa, Alabama]].

The plant would require 250 workers to construct in a town of only 206. Up to 235 full-time jobs would be created when completed, with jobs paying about $50,000 annually. The state of Alabama offered $28 million in incentives to get the plant located in Sumter County.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Johnson |first=Bob |title=U.S. Steel announces plant for Alabama's Black Belt region  |newspaper=Press-Register |location=Mobile|pages=6B |date=April 19, 2008 }}</ref> The plant would make use of a new technology that produces a carbon alloy for use in steel making at the U.S. Steel plant in [[Fairfield, Alabama]] near [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]].<ref name=BHAM>{{cite web |last=Kent |first=Dawn |title=U.S. Steel to invest in Alabama Black Belt with first-of-its-kind coke alternative plant |work=The Birmingham News |url=http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1208592940164040.xml&coll=2 |access-date=April 19, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423002718/http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?%2Fbase%2Fnews%2F1208592940164040.xml&coll=2 |archive-date=April 23, 2008 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> 
At the time of the announcement, the unemployment rate in Sumter County was 6.1%.<ref name="BHAM" />

In November 2008, U.S. Steel spokesman D. John Armstrong announced that plans to build the Epes facility had been placed on hold.  “We’ve adjusted the timing of it, and we don’t know what the new timeline will be,” he said. “We’ve delayed construction, but we have not cancelled it.“<ref name='Tuscaloosa-US-Steel'>{{cite news |last=Morton |first=Jason |date=December 15, 2008 |title=Plant delay has some losing hope |url=https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/DA/20081215/News/606127902/TL |work=Tuscaloosa News |location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama |access-date=August 5, 2020 }}</ref>

To date, the Epes facility has not been built.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

From 2009 to 2013, the county had a [[median household income]] of $22,186 compared to a state figure of $45,253, making it the poorest county in the state.<ref name="Poorest247 Frohlich">{{cite web|last1=Frohlich|first1=Thomas C.|title=The Poorest County in Each State|url=http://247wallst.com/special-report/2015/01/07/the-poorest-county-in-each-state/2/|website=247wallst.com|publisher=24/7 Wall St., LLC|access-date=August 31, 2017|date=January 7, 2015}}</ref> By 2015, Sumter County remained the poorest county in Alabama, with a median household income of $19,501 in comparison to the state median household income of $43,623.<ref name="Poorest247 Stebbins et al">{{cite web|last1=Stebbins|first1=Samuel|last2=Frohlich|first2=Thomas C.|last3=Sauter|first3=Michael B.|title=The Poorest County in Every State|url=http://247wallst.com/special-report/2017/01/05/the-poorest-county-in-every-state/2/|website=247wallst.com|publisher=24/7 Wall St., LLC|access-date=August 31, 2017|date=January 5, 2017}}</ref>