Cuyahoga County, Ohio
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Cleveland is the county that tells you what happens when the jobs stay but the wages don't follow. Unemployment in Cuyahoga County is just 3.4%. People are working. They're working at incomes that sit below the Ohio state median, a state where the median itself is already below the national figure. The overall score is 53.7, Elevated. The numbers compound in every direction. Credit card delinquency at 6.5%. Auto loans at 8.1%. Bankruptcy filings at 362.5 per 100,000, the highest in this entire batch by a wide margin and nearly five times Travis County's rate. One in four children lives in poverty. The Debt & Delinquency domain scores at the 69.7th percentile. Income & Poverty hits 68.0. Two domains in the upper third, reinforcing each other. The debt isn't building because people aren't working. It's building because the work doesn't cover the cost. Cuyahoga ranks 36th of 88 Ohio counties. Next door, Summit County (Akron) scores 49.0, Lorain 47.5, Lake County 42.1. Every neighbor is doing better. Cleveland anchors a region where the center is more distressed than the periphery, the opposite of the usual pattern.
The Numbers Behind the Score
The CDI measures five statistically derived factors of household financial distress, PCA-weighted. Cuyahoga County's primary driver is Legal Distress at 94.5 — worse than roughly 95% of U.S. counties.
Scores are percentile-based: 50 = national median, higher = more distressed.
Neighbors and Peers
Neighboring Counties
| County | Score | Zone | vs. Cuyahoga County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cuyahoga County, OH | 63.7 | Elevated | — |
| Summit County, OH | 56.9 | Elevated | -6.8 |
| Lorain County, OH | 54.9 | Elevated | -8.8 |
| Portage County, OH | 54.2 | Elevated | -9.4 |
| Lake County, OH | 47.6 | Normal | -16.0 |
| Medina County, OH | 30.7 | Healthy | -32.9 |
| Geauga County, OH | 22.4 | Healthy | -41.2 |
Population Peers
| County | Score | Zone | vs. Cuyahoga County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside County, CA | 62.8 | Elevated | -0.8 |
| Franklin County, OH | 62.4 | Elevated | -1.2 |
| Pima County, AZ | 61.5 | Elevated | -2.1 |
| Maricopa County, AZ | 60.7 | Elevated | -2.9 |
| Fresno County, CA | 67.1 | Serious | +3.4 |
Download Data
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