Examination of available data shows that the state-of-stress in the Paleozoic sediments of the Appalachian Basin is dominated by NE-ENE compression, as is found over much of the Eastern US west of the Appalachian highlands. Locally, there is a tendency for maximum stress orientation to parallel the structural trend of the, basin. An Upper Silurian salt decollement extends southward from the Lakeshore region of Western New York and Ohio to northern West Virginia. Examination of commercial hydrofracture records in the northern and western parts of this region suggests that mechanical decoupling at the salt horizon has permitted different stress levels to develop in the overlying and underlying sections. Stress ratios, which express the least horizontal stress as a fraction of the overburden at the depth of the measurement, are found to approach or exceed unity in Devonian and younger sands and shales. In contrast stress ratios determined in the underlying Silurian and older sediments range between 0.5 - 0.7. The magnitude of the NE-ENE maximum horizontal stress in the Devonian section from the few measurements available suggest it is significantly greater than the least horizontal stress.