The small town of Madison, West Virginia, used to be a tale of the coal miner's dream. High schoolers could collect their diplomas and head straight to the mines to make $70,000 a year with no higher education, as their parents and grandparents had done for years.

Madison and the rest of Boone County was once the top coal producer in the country.

Now, with many mines shut down, the town's main street is lined with shuttered shops, their insides falling apart with nothing to replace them. The county pool, which used to be spilling over with kids and teenagers, and a hot-spot for live bands on hot summer days, sits drained and forgotten all year long.

Some middle school students sit on the gym floor for two class periods a day because there aren't enough teachers to fill the classrooms. Houses, which miners built during their prime working years, sit behind for-sale signs that aren't budging.

Since the coal trains have stopped rolling by as often, Boone County lost 60 percent of its coal mining jobs between 2009 and 2015 and is struggling to get by, as unemployment and drug addiction plague its residents.

"If I got blocked by a train two years ago, I'd sit there and cuss and all that stuff, and now I say a little prayer because it's there," says Steve Byus, Madison's emergency management coordinator.

What's left of the town's population has aged rapidly, as young people leave the area and miners search for jobs at other plant locations.

Madison is symbolic of the state's population, which saw the largest percentage drop in the nation in 2016. What used to be a thriving state where job-seekers would travel by railroad in the 1950s to find opportunities at coal mines, is now a place of largely forgotten towns, an aging population, drug addiction, lack of medical services and economic hardship–what some might call a "dying state."

Demographers at West Virginia University's Bureau of Business and Economic Research predicted a dreary future for West Virginia in March when they estimated the dwindling population will lose more than 46,000 people , or 2.5 percent, between 2010 and 2030. The prime working age population, ages 25-54, will see the largest decline of more than 13 percent, says Dr. Christiadi, who co-authored the study. The state's population 65 years and older, on the other hand, is expected to increase by 43.5 percent.

The state already lost nearly 12,000 people from April 2010 to July 2015, a decrease of 0.6 percent.

West Virginia's population decline is largely a result of its aging population, since more people are dying than are being born. The state has the fourth highest median age in the country, 41.8, compared to the national median age of 37.6. What's worse, young people are leaving and people aren't moving in as the economy continues to struggle. And with a population that is 92 percent white, some populations are deterred from moving there.

Click to explore the population trends in the U.S. back to 1790. Lindsey Cook for USN&WR

Unless West Virginia's population sees a drastic surge in residents, the state is set to lose a congressional seat for the 2022 election year, dropping from three electors to only two.

Though many have counted on President Donald Trump's promises to revive the coal industry– which residents hope would replenish jobs and therefore the population– the prospect that he will fulfill them continues to grow more grim. West Virginia's coal production has decreased nearly 50 percent from 2008 to 2016, according to the Energy Information Administration. The industry has seen some improvement over the past year, but it's still nothing close to what it used to be. Even if Trump were to relieve the industry of certain regulations, coal would face other obstacles.

Coal is threatened by alternative forms of energy like wind and solar energy, but mainly by cheap and abundant natural gas. Natural gas surpassed coal as the nation's main electricity fuel for the first time in 2016, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration . Even more, the nation's coal industry faces strong competition from countries like Australia and Indonesia, where the fossil fuel is cheaper to produce.

"There will likely not be a rebound in the coal industry to the levels of what was observed prior to 2014, especially with what is going on with electric power service generation going even more on the side of natural gas and also just the fact that international demand for coal is very weak with conditions in China," says Brian Lego, an economic forecaster at West Virginia University's Bureau of Business and Economic Research.

China drives the coal market because it is by far the largest consumer. Now that the country's economy is growing at a much slower pace than around 2012, it is not producing as much steel or building as many power plants, therefore reducing demand for the product.

(Lindsey Cook for USN&WR)

Without a stable economic backbone, West Virginians are left to wonder if and how their towns will see a revival. The state is currently around $100 million behind in revenue for the current fiscal year in addition to a projected nearly $500 million deficit for the 2018 fiscal year and doesn't seem to be crawling out of its hole of debt anytime soon. West Virginia placed No. 49 for its economy, and last for employment and business environment, in a recent Best States ranking by U.S. News .

When key industries in other cities or states have suffered, they have been able to change their economies. Take Detroit, a city that relied almost solely on its auto industry , which started to collapse during the late 1900s. Like West Virginia, it faced a population decline and financial crisis, but it's now seeking a road to recovery thanks to a government bailout, philanthropic support and a new economy based on entrepreneurship and business.

But for West Virginia, it isn't that simple. For one, the government isn't likely to bail out an entire state. Also, West Virginia's largely uneducated population prevents it from switching to a knowledge-based economy that doesn't rely on coal.

West Virginians, like those in Madison, have long relied on jobs in the mines instead of pursuing higher education. Others can't afford to attend college or didn't receive a proper k-12 education–including a lack of broadband access– to prepare them for an advanced degree. And without an educated workforce to attract businesses, those who actually are educated have nowhere to work. The state hasn't seen business growth since 2003 and has the second lowest business birth rate.

"You have a vicious cycle where people don't get educated because they feel like they can work in the coal industry or work in the gas industry and then they can't [get a job]," says Ted Boettner, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.

"That leads to a cycle where few people get a higher education degree and if they do [they still can't find a job when] businesses don't come because there's not a labor supply for them to invest in." This means that young people aren't moving to the state, and educated millennials are leaving it.

Many students at West Virginia University who grew up in the state want to stay, but say they will probably have to move elsewhere upon graduation to find a decent job.

"I love it here. I don't know if I could live anywhere else," says Matthew Biggins, a rising sophomore from Preston County, near the university. Still, he says he'll be forced to move if there's an opportunity for more money.

"A lot more corporations [will have to] move in-state for people to have a job to go to and see a future in making money and a career," says Biggins.

In 2013, only a little over 47 percent of students who graduated from West Virginia public universities between 2003 and 2012 were working in-state, according to the state's Bureau of Business and Economic Research. And the longer they've been out of school, the more likely they are to be working elsewhere.

Savannah Lusk, a rising senior exercise physiology major who grew up in a holler south of Beckley and has a full ride scholarship to WVU, plans to stay in West Virginia after pursuing a medical degree, but only to provide her hometown with services it's missing. Many people in West Virginia have to travel hours to find a hospital to meet their needs, which is especially detrimental to such an old population.

Lusk, the daughter of a coal miner and one of few to attend college from her high school, says she originally wanted to volunteer for Doctors Without Borders. Though she still hopes to volunteer for the organization at some point, she says her ultimate goal is to stay in West Virginia because "some portions of the little holler I live in, this one section, you could take it, you could copy and paste it into a third-world country, and I don't think you could tell the difference," she says.

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Although a knowledge-based economy seems difficult with West Virginia's uneducated workforce, legislators argue the state could draw in new businesses with proper state regulations.

"It's been the policies of the legislature [including criminal justice and tax laws] for the last 50-60 years that have driven away business and opportunity such that there are no jobs and people must leave to find work," says state Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael.

For the first time in over 80 years, Republicans gained control of the state House of Delegates and Senate in 2014. Republicans, who retained control in the 2016 election, say they are changing the state's tax structure, giving more local control in the education system and continuing to build infrastructure to attract employers, says House Speaker Tim Armstead.

But Boettner says there's no evidence to show that these new laws are actually bringing more business to West Virginia.

"A lot of the policies are low road policies that could potentially drive wages down in the state…[which] can hurt the state's economic growth," he says.

Another critical factor in attracting businesses is broadband service, says Natalie Roper, executive director of Generation West Virginia, an organization that works with legislators to attract and retain millennials.

"In order to attract this generation of entrepreneurs we need to be a place that supports small business and invests in innovative startups," Roper says. "I think technology is a really big key to this conversation since this generation is more connected to technology than any other previous generation."

Roper also says she thinks West Virginia has the potential to attract young people who want to make a large impact on their community and who want to have a lower cost of living in a largely untapped entrepreneurial market.

For Hillary Harrison, 36, and Dan Davis, 33, who own a brand of apparel, accessories and home goods called Kin Ship Goods, their business has allowed them to make a difference in Charleston by providing hope for young people.

"We've had young people say to us, you give us hope and we're staying here now," says Davis, who adds that 90 percent of the people they meet are "dying to leave." They mainly have younger friends and not friends their age, he adds, because they haven't given up yet.

(Lindsey Cook for USN&WR)

"You hear about this morose Appalachian mindset, like fatalism, and it's probably one of the most honest things I've ever witnessed because there's just not a lot of fight in people," says Davis, who moved with West Virginia native Harrison to be near her family.

Harrison and Davis add that the community has been very supportive of Kin Ship Goods – a good sign for other entrepreneurs – though they also have a large online presence. But they also say that finding a building to house their business was a nightmare, with expensive spaces that would make it difficult to persuade others to choose the city over more exciting ones.

A few other industries offer a glimpse of hope for West Virginia's economy, including tourism. With its rugged landscape and copious destinations for adventure-goers, the industry brought the state $4.5 billion in travel spending and employed 46,000 people in 2014, according to an annual report.

"So to say we are a powerhouse for the state of West Virginia during these times is really accurate," says Amy Goodwin, former commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Tourism.

To be sure, state lawmakers see such potential in the tourism industry that they knocked the budget up 186 percent, from $2.8 million to $8 million for the 2016 fiscal year.

"We reign supreme in outdoor adventure, and that's what we're known for. We're called the mountain state for a reason," Goodwin adds.

But Lego says "in terms of jobs, [the tourism industry] is not going to be the jobs engine that a higher value industry like oil, natural gas and coal, are.

Lego sees natural gas as a high value industry with substantial potential. Though it's "not likely the natural gas industry will get as big as coal was in the past," he says he doesn't want to rule out what its contributions could be.

Companies have also made plans to build downstream processing facilities (ethane cracker facilities) – and other facilities that intensively use natural gas – in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, just outside the Northern Panhandle, Lego says.

Even with all of these possible advancements, Lego says he doesn't expect an upturn in the population, though he expects it to level out. "If you look at the next year and the next five years, probably what we'll see...is going to be a stabilization," he says.

"Conditions will continue to improve just enough to keep people from leaving and some of the growing parts of the state will group enough to add enough people to the state and offset decline going on in other parts of the state."

The Eastern Panhandle, which is close to the Washington, D.C., area and offers a lower cost of living, has been doing particularly well in attracting new residents, Lego says.

Boettner doesn't see a very positive outlook, either.

"I don't see any reasons to be optimistic right now. We don't really have high population centers," he says.