The most distressed county in every state
Every state has a county carrying the most household financial distress within its borders. This is that county for all 51 jurisdictions, scored on the County Distress Index — a 0 to 100 composite of delinquency, default and legal, debt burden, labor, and safety-net measures. Higher scores mean more distress.
| National rank | State | Most distressed county | Score | Distress label | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mississippi | Holmes County | 100 | extreme county distress | 15,777 |
| 3 | Georgia | Dougherty County | 99 | extreme county distress | 82,645 |
| 4 | Alabama | Dallas County | 99 | extreme county distress | 36,165 |
| 5 | Missouri | Pemiscot County | 99 | extreme county distress | 14,613 |
| 7 | Florida | Gadsden County | 99 | extreme county distress | 43,833 |
| 12 | Arkansas | Phillips County | 99 | extreme county distress | 14,961 |
| 13 | Louisiana | East Carroll Parish | 99 | extreme county distress | 6,829 |
| 14 | Virginia | Petersburg city | 99 | extreme county distress | 33,309 |
| 18 | Kentucky | Knox County | 99 | extreme county distress | 29,794 |
| 27 | South Carolina | Williamsburg County | 99 | extreme county distress | 29,891 |
| 30 | North Carolina | Edgecombe County | 99 | extreme county distress | 48,832 |
| 37 | Tennessee | Hardeman County | 98 | extreme county distress | 25,567 |
| 45 | New York | Bronx County | 98 | extreme county distress | 1,356,476 |
| 50 | Michigan | Wayne County | 98 | extreme county distress | 1,751,169 |
| 82 | Texas | Starr County | 97 | extreme county distress | 65,934 |
| 85 | Maryland | Baltimore city | 97 | extreme county distress | 565,239 |
| 92 | Oklahoma | Seminole County | 97 | extreme county distress | 23,565 |
| — | West Virginia | Webster County | 96 | extreme county distress | 8,045 |
| — | Wisconsin | Menominee County | 96 | extreme county distress | 4,226 |
| — | New Mexico | Cibola County | 95 | extreme county distress | 26,780 |
| — | New Jersey | Cumberland County | 93 | extreme county distress | 152,326 |
| — | California | Lake County | 92 | extreme county distress | 67,878 |
| — | Pennsylvania | Philadelphia County | 92 | extreme county distress | 1,550,542 |
| — | Colorado | Costilla County | 91 | extreme county distress | 3,628 |
| — | Ohio | Scioto County | 91 | extreme county distress | 71,969 |
| — | Montana | Glacier County | 90 | extreme county distress | 13,609 |
| — | Arizona | Apache County | 90 | extreme county distress | 65,036 |
| — | Nevada | Nye County | 90 | extreme county distress | 55,720 |
| — | Kansas | Wyandotte County | 89 | very high county distress | 165,281 |
| — | Illinois | Alexander County | 88 | very high county distress | 4,695 |
| — | North Dakota | Rolette County | 86 | very high county distress | 11,728 |
| — | Indiana | Delaware County | 85 | very high county distress | 112,321 |
| — | South Dakota | Oglala Lakota County | 84 | very high county distress | 13,434 |
| — | Oregon | Klamath County | 84 | very high county distress | 70,003 |
| — | Massachusetts | Hampden County | 77 | high county distress | 460,291 |
| — | Delaware | Kent County | 76 | high county distress | 189,789 |
| — | Washington | Grays Harbor County | 76 | high county distress | 77,290 |
| — | Idaho | Shoshone County | 74 | high county distress | 14,026 |
| — | Alaska | Northwest Arctic Borough | 74 | high county distress | 7,361 |
| — | Rhode Island | Providence County | 67 | moderate-high county distress | 660,615 |
| — | Iowa | Wapello County | 62 | moderate-high county distress | 35,166 |
| — | Minnesota | Mahnomen County | 62 | moderate-high county distress | 5,280 |
| — | Utah | San Juan County | 61 | moderate-high county distress | 14,358 |
| — | Connecticut | Naugatuck Valley Planning Region | 59 | moderate county distress | 456,128 |
| — | Maine | Washington County | 58 | moderate county distress | 31,555 |
| — | District of Columbia | District of Columbia | 58 | moderate county distress | 678,972 |
| — | New Hampshire | Coos County | 48 | moderate-low county distress | 31,372 |
| — | Nebraska | Johnson County | 46 | moderate-low county distress | 5,198 |
| — | Hawaii | Hawaii County | 44 | moderate-low county distress | 207,615 |
| — | Wyoming | Fremont County | 41 | moderate-low county distress | 39,815 |
| — | Vermont | Essex County | 37 | low-moderate county distress | 6,010 |
How to read this
Rank is the county's position among all 3,144 U.S. counties, most distressed first, shown for the 100 most and 100 least distressed counties; in between, ranks move between updates, so the score says where a county stands. A county can top its own state while sitting well down the national list — several states have no county in the national top 100. Holmes County, Mississippi carries the highest score of any state's worst county, at 100, 1st nationally. Counties with identical composite scores share a rank, marked T- for tied; a state whose top two counties tie shows one of them, marked (tied).
The score is the share of U.S. counties a county is more distressed than. Each input is converted to a distress-oriented percentile across the county cross-section, averaged within its domain, then averaged across the five equal-weighted domains, and that average is ranked against every county. Sort any column to reorder the table.
More distress rankings
Two more views of household distress, each from its own source. See bankruptcy filing rates by county from Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts data, and where the job market is strong and the bills go unpaid. The full national top 100 ranks every county.