Pima County, Arizona
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Most counties in this batch have one pressure point. One domain scores high, the rest stay low. Pima County is different. Every single domain scores above 42. Housing burden at 80.9, debt at 59.1, community vulnerability at 50.1, employment at 48.9, income and poverty at 42.5. The distress is structural, diffuse, and moderate everywhere at once. The 15.1% disability rate is the highest in this group of ten. Unemployment runs at 4.1%, above the batch average but not alarming on its own. Median household income barely exceeds the Arizona statewide figure. Nearly half of renters and a quarter of homeowners are cost-burdened. The numbers don't produce a single dramatic headline. They produce a county where every dimension of financial life is slightly harder than it should be. Every neighbor scores higher. Santa Cruz hits 66.6 (Serious). Yuma, 64.0. Cochise, 63.0. Pinal, 55.9. Even Maricopa manages 50.1. Pima's 56.3 Elevated score ranks 10th of 15 Arizona counties. Tucson sits in a band of southern Arizona distress that stretches from the border counties through the desert. The difference between Pima and its neighbors isn't the type of distress. It's the degree.
The Numbers Behind the Score
The CDI measures five statistically derived factors of household financial distress, PCA-weighted. Pima County's primary driver is Housing Cost Burden at 84.8 — worse than roughly 85% of U.S. counties.
Scores are percentile-based: 50 = national median, higher = more distressed.
Neighbors and Peers
Neighboring Counties
| County | Score | Zone | vs. Pima County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pima County, AZ | 61.5 | Elevated | — |
| Santa Cruz County, AZ | 67.4 | Serious | +5.9 |
| Pinal County, AZ | 62.9 | Elevated | +1.4 |
| Maricopa County, AZ | 60.7 | Elevated | -0.8 |
| Yuma County, AZ | 59.1 | Elevated | -2.4 |
| Cochise County, AZ | 57.6 | Elevated | -3.9 |
| Graham County, AZ | 50.0 | Normal | -11.6 |
Population Peers
| County | Score | Zone | vs. Pima County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maricopa County, AZ | 60.7 | Elevated | -0.8 |
| Franklin County, OH | 62.4 | Elevated | +0.9 |
| Riverside County, CA | 62.8 | Elevated | +1.3 |
| Palm Beach County, FL | 59.5 | Elevated | -2.0 |
| Cuyahoga County, OH | 63.7 | Elevated | +2.1 |
Download Data
Export all distress indicators for Pima County as a CSV file.
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