The original Rust Belt story was about physical capital becoming obsolete. From steel plants to auto facilities, it was about the declining usefulness of mid-century industrial production infrastructure. The new version is different. The jobs at risk this time aren't on factory floors. They're in the office parks and research triangles and government contractor clusters that define the post-industrial American economy.
The above graphic shows AI-driven income exposure by metro, based on recent work from Anthropic and Tufts. They flag the most exposed occupations, like legal, financial analysis, software development, and government administration. Bubble size is the projected aggregate annual household income loss in dollar terms; color is the share of local jobs at risk. The combination shows how skewed this episode is to high-wage job loss at the top of the skills distribution.