Financial Exposure Check
Six questions. No data collected. See where you stand on the same scale that tracks national household financial distress.
How much do you have saved for emergencies?
Have you withdrawn from retirement savings to pay bills in the past year?
How many bills or loan payments are you currently behind on?
If you needed $2,000 for an emergency, how easy would it be to get?
Over the past year, have your essential costs (food, housing, healthcare) grown faster than your income?
How secure is your current income?
How This Works
This quiz weighs five dimensions of household financial stress: Debt Stress (missed payments, same share), Buffer Depletion (savings erosion, two half-shares), Financial Conditions (credit access, same share), Labor Market (income stability, same share), and Cost Pressure (essential expenses vs. income, same share).
Each question maps to one of those dimensions. Your result is a personal exposure score on a 0-100 scale.
The national American Distress Index currently reads 44.6, in its Typical band. On average, its inputs sit higher than in 45% of their own quarterly histories since 2005. Learn how the index is calculated.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is my data collected or shared?
No. The quiz runs entirely in your browser. No answers leave your device — there is no backend, no database, and no tracking. You can verify this in your browser's network tab.
How is my personal score calculated?
Each answer maps to a 0-10 distress score. These are weighted across five dimensions of household financial stress: Debt Stress (same share), Buffer Depletion (two half-shares), Financial Conditions (same share), Labor Market (same share), and Cost Pressure (same share). The weighted total is scaled to the quiz's own 0-100 score.
What do the zones mean?
The five zones describe your personal exposure score on this quiz's own 0-100 scale: Healthy (under 46), Normal (46-55), Elevated (55-71), Serious (71-86), and Crisis (86 and above). A higher score means more dimensions of financial stress are active in your situation. The national American Distress Index reports on a separate five-band scale.
Is this financial advice?
No. This is an educational tool that helps you understand where you stand relative to national household distress patterns. It is not a substitute for professional financial counseling. If you are in distress, call a HUD-approved housing counselor at 1-800-569-4287 (free).
How does my score compare to the national ADI?
The American Distress Index currently reads 44.6, in its Typical band. On average, its inputs sit higher than in 45% of their own quarterly histories since 2005. Your personal score uses its own five-part household exposure structure, while the national ADI reports its five domains separately.