The Hillbilly Highway is a term used to describe the outward migration of poor whites from the Appalachian Highlands region of the United States to industrialized cities in the Northern United States, the Midwestern United States, and the Western United States, starting in the years following World War II. Many of those who left were looking for better-paying industrial jobs and higher standards of living. Many of these migrants were formerly in the coal mining industry, which started to decline in 1940s. The word hillbilly refers to a negative stereotype of poor whites from Appalachia.