Westchester County, New York

County Distress Index: Normal · 41.0 | 990,817 people · 47th most distressed in New York

Behind on your mortgage or facing eviction? Take a 2-minute assessment to see your options.

Westchester County is the purest version of a pattern that appears across every wealthy metro suburb in America. Remove the housing domain and the score would be roughly 23. With housing, it's 37.0. The 92.4 housing burden score is the second highest in this batch. Rent-to-income ratio sits at the 96th percentile. Nearly half of renters and a third of owners are cost-burdened. And yet debt is low, vulnerability is low, poverty is relatively contained. The county earns enough to absorb the cost. That's the difference between Westchester and a county like Fresno, which has comparable housing burden but none of the income buffer. The median household income is 1.7 times New York's statewide figure. The debt in collections rate ranks at the 15th percentile. Medical debt is effectively zero (the New York pattern). The numbers describe a county that pays its bills — and pays an extraordinary amount of its income to do it. But the gradient out of Westchester is steep. The Bronx, one county to the south, scores 77.7 (Serious). That's a 41-point gap. Rockland County to the west manages 42.4. Bergen County across the Hudson, 37.1. Nassau County on Long Island, 29.3. Westchester sits at the pivot point of the New York metro's distress gradient. Normal zone at 37.0, but one county away from the most distressed borough in the city.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five statistically derived factors of household financial distress, PCA-weighted. Westchester County's primary driver is Housing Cost Burden at 91.6 — worse than roughly 92% of U.S. counties.

Housing Cost Burden Primary driver 91.6
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 93
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 91
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 92
Homeownership Rate 90
Economic Vitality 75.3
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 94
Rent-to-Income Ratio 96
Business Formation Rate 19
House Price Change (YoY) 27
Legal Distress 30.5
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 31
Consumer Credit Distress 21.4
Debt in Collections 15
Medical Debt 7
Auto Loan Delinquency 29
Credit Card Delinquency 31
Uninsured Rate 18
Subprime Credit Population 25
Structural Poverty 9.1
Unemployment Rate 27
Poverty Rate 15
Income vs. State Median 1
Child Poverty Rate 15
Disability Rate 6
Transfer Income Dependency 1

Scores are percentile-based: 50 = national median, higher = more distressed.

Neighbors and Peers

Neighboring Counties

CountyScoreZonevs. Westchester County
Westchester County, NY 41.0 Normal
Bronx County, NY 79.7 Serious +38.7
Rockland County, NY 44.1 Normal +3.1
Bergen County, NJ 41.3 Normal +0.3
Nassau County, NY 36.0 Normal -5.0
Putnam County, NY 34.3 Healthy -6.7

Population Peers

CountyScoreZonevs. Westchester County
Snohomish County, WA 41.0 Normal +0.0
Anne Arundel County, MD 40.9 Normal -0.1
Santa Cruz County, CA 41.1 Normal +0.1
Larimer County, CO 40.7 Normal -0.3
St. Johns County, FL 40.7 Normal -0.3

Download Data

Export all distress indicators for Westchester County as a CSV file.

Find Help in Westchester County

HUD-Approved Housing Counselors

Free foreclosure prevention and financial counseling near Westchester County.

CAMBRIDGE CREDIT COUNSELING CORPORATION - NEW YORK BRANCH
HAWTHORNE
Foreclosure PreventionFinancial CounselingHome Improvement/RehabPost-Purchase
COMMUNITY HOUSING INNOVATIONS, INC
White Plains
Foreclosure PreventionMortgage HelpPre-PurchaseHomebuyer Education
HOUSING ACTION COUNCIL INC.
Tarrytown
Pre-Purchase
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SERVICES OF WESTCHESTER, INC.
Port Chester
Foreclosure PreventionMortgage HelpFinancial CounselingFinancial Counseling
THE PRESERVATION COMPANY
Peekskill
Rental Help

Find an Attorney

New York State Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service offers a lawyer referral service for bankruptcy, foreclosure defense, and consumer rights.

Self-Help Resources

NYCourts.gov Foreclosure Help Official court system page with information about the foreclosure process, settlement conferences, and available resources. Includes court forms and instructions for pro se litigants.
LawHelp NY — Foreclosure Resources Comprehensive self-help legal information portal for New York residents. Includes foreclosure guides, court form generators, and legal services finder organized by county.

American Default Research does not endorse, rate, or rank any provider. Verify attorney credentials with your state bar.