In North Carolina going southeast from Charlotte, south of the Triangle, around the SC Stateline, and ending near Wilmington, I-74 meets this definition, the towns/small cities of Lumberton, Maxton, Pembroke, and Laurinburg meets this criteria. It is called the "Rot Belt" as all of these towns/small cities have lost population in the 2020 census, and farming used to be the major industry in these towns. The only significant cities by these areas is Florence, SC, or Fayetteville, NC as Wilmington is about 80-100 miles from most of the places in this belt. I-95, US/I-74 is the only major interstates/freeways in that area
Another unofficial belt in America that I could talk about is the Farm Belt in Southern New Jersey. 3 counties Salem, Cumberland, and Cape May are mostly rural as you get more and more inland, you were expecting more Philly suburbia but it is similar to the Eastern Shoreline of MD/Southern Delaware than New Jersey itself. Even Essex County which is the only true rural county in the NYC Metro BTW is starting to see growth of Transplants from NYC, and the easternmost parts of this county is more exurban than rural itself, Cape May County has the Jersey shore highway, while Cumberland county does not has a major highway, only state/county roads.
Now any other unofficial belts in America?
Essex = Sussex?
