Fulton County, Georgia
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Atlanta's core county has the highest business formation rate in this batch of ten. Nearly 44 new business applications per thousand residents. The Employment & Wages domain scores just 21.1, signaling a labor market that's generating jobs and opportunity. That's one version of Fulton County. The other version has a Debt & Delinquency score of 79.2. Thirty percent of residents carry debt in collections. The bankruptcy filing rate is 323 per 100,000. Nearly one in five children lives in poverty. Credit card delinquency, auto loan delinquency, and student loan delinquency all rank above the 82nd percentile. The most entrepreneurial county in this group is simultaneously the one where household balance sheets are deteriorating fastest. The surrounding ring tells the rest of the story. Clayton County to the south scores 71.5 (Serious). DeKalb to the east, 59.0. Douglas, 58.3. Gwinnett, 52.8. Fulton's 49.5 Normal score sits below all of its immediate neighbors except one. The economic engine generates growth. The growth generates housing costs. The housing costs generate debt. Homeownership in Fulton has dropped to 54.1%, the lowest in this batch. The county that builds the jobs can't build the stability that's supposed to follow.
The Numbers Behind the Score
The CDI measures five statistically derived factors of household financial distress, PCA-weighted. Fulton County's primary driver is Legal Distress at 92.7 — worse than roughly 93% of U.S. counties.
Scores are percentile-based: 50 = national median, higher = more distressed.
Neighbors and Peers
Neighboring Counties
| County | Score | Zone | vs. Fulton County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fulton County, GA | 68.0 | Serious | — |
| Clayton County, GA | 88.0 | Crisis | +20.0 |
| Douglas County, GA | 78.0 | Serious | +10.0 |
| Carroll County, GA | 76.9 | Serious | +9.0 |
| DeKalb County, GA | 75.7 | Serious | +7.7 |
| Gwinnett County, GA | 68.5 | Serious | +0.5 |
| Cobb County, GA | 61.0 | Elevated | -7.0 |
| Coweta County, GA | 55.3 | Elevated | -12.7 |
| Fayette County, GA | 52.1 | Elevated | -15.9 |
| Cherokee County, GA | 47.3 | Normal | -20.6 |
| Forsyth County, GA | 29.8 | Healthy | -38.2 |
Population Peers
| County | Score | Zone | vs. Fulton County |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Bernardino County, CA | 68.7 | Serious | +0.7 |
| Fresno County, CA | 67.1 | Serious | -0.9 |
| Broward County, FL | 69.5 | Serious | +1.5 |
| Harris County, TX | 70.6 | Serious | +2.7 |
| Miami-Dade County, FL | 70.7 | Serious | +2.8 |
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