This report analyzes the sources of income and the income problems of black families in the nonmetropolitan South based on 1980 data. It also describes some characteristics of family householders and adult family members related to income-earning capacity, such as age, education, work disability, labor force status, occupation, and weeks worked. To illustrate how the characteristics of these families differ from or coincide with those of the majority of southern nonmetropolitan families, the report compares blacks and whites by poverty status and family type. Black families are three times as likely to be poor as white families. Southern nonmetropolitan black families, especially female householder families, continue to have a high incidence of poverty. Black family members had much higher unemployment rates than did whites in all poverty status and family type categories. Factors associated with poverty among black families include low educational attainment, high unemployment rates, young or old age, low-wage occupations, lack of participation in the labor force, and lack of employment opportunities. Measures to help solve the poverty problem include: (1) increased and improved schooling; (2) economic development programs such as enterprise zones; (3) job training; (4) daycare for preschool children of single parents; and (5) improvements in public assistance programs. Statistical charts are included. (ETS)