Financial distress, county by county.
3,144 U.S. counties scored across 21 economic indicators.
How stressed is your county?
498 counties in Serious or Crisis. See all rankings →
County Stories
All 3,144 counties →
"The Drainage"
The most distressed county in America. Population peaked at 46,857 in 1940. Fourteen thousand remain. The drainage never stopped.
"The Line"
The second most distressed county in America sits inside the Richmond metro. Its neighbor scores 44 points lower. The boundary is the mechanism.
"The Shade"
In 1896, someone discovered tobacco grown under cloth shade was worth ten times the price. The shade left. The county is still under it.
"The Rebuilding County"
Wayne County keeps being unmade. The town was drowned for a dam. The courthouse burned three times. An EF-3 tornado killed six people in 2025. Each time, people rebuilt. The score stayed 80.2.
"The Gin"
A county that produces $293 million in cotton and soybeans, exports four professional musicians from one town of 10,000, and hasn’t had a hospital in nearly eight years. The gin separates what’s valuable from where it was grown.
"The Patron"
George Parr ran Duval County for thirty-three years. They called him El Patron. He's been dead since 1975. The poverty he managed is still here, managed now by a different patron.
"The Record"
The most documented poor county in America. Ninety-five years of songs, films, and television. The documentation changed nothing.
"The Extraction County"
Sugar, prisoners, clean water. Everything Glades County produces is for somewhere else. There is no hospital.
"The Runway"
A $400 million Navy facility and 3.5% unemployment exist five miles from the most distressed census tract in North Carolina.
"The Bypass"
The name Tucumcari likely derives from a Comanche word meaning ‘to lie in wait.’ The town that took that name is still waiting.
"The Fallow"
The county is writing an ordinance for what happens when vineyards die. Not buildings. Not businesses. The land itself.
"The Irrigation"
Yakima County produces $2.3 billion in crops on Bureau of Reclamation water and sustains its workforce on Medicaid, SNAP, and a federally qualified health center network. Both irrigation systems are external. Both are politically vulnerable.
"The Residual"
A clinic screened 8,900 patients for the disease a mine left in their lungs. The clinic just closed.
"The Arithmetic"
Burlington made backhoes for 87 years. The plant closed. The arithmetic that held the county together stopped working.
"The Foundry"
Three bronze foundries in a county of 7,674 people. Fifty-six percent national forest. The decisions about it are made in Portland.
"The Seat"
The seat of federal power scores Normal. Housing Cost Burden scores Serious. FHA borrowers are defaulting at the highest rate of any large-volume county in the country, eleven miles from the agency that insures their mortgages.
"The Filter"
Housing scores in the 96th percentile. The composite reads Healthy. The price filter decides who gets counted.
"The Hill"
The least distressed of 3,144 counties. Twenty miles downhill, child poverty is in the 85th percentile. Prosperity doesn’t descend.
Most Distressed Counties
Full rankings → 1
Pemiscot County, MO Income & Poverty
82.9 2 Petersburg city, VA Housing Cost Burden
82.0 3 Gadsden County, FL Debt & Delinquency
80.3 4 Wayne County, MO Income & Poverty
80.2 5 Dunklin County, MO Debt & Delinquency
79.7 6 Mitchell County, GA Debt & Delinquency
79.6 7 Phillips County, AR Income & Poverty
79.2 8 Sequoyah County, OK Community Vulnerability
79.2 9 Starr County, TX Income & Poverty
79.2 10 Dougherty County, GA Income & Poverty
79.0 Browse by State
All 51 states →Mississippi
62.3 mean score
32 of 82 counties Serious or Crisis
Florida
61.6 mean score
30 of 67 counties Serious or Crisis
Arkansas
61.3 mean score
30 of 75 counties Serious or Crisis
Georgia
61.3 mean score
74 of 159 counties Serious or Crisis
South Carolina
60.6 mean score
17 of 46 counties Serious or Crisis
Oklahoma
60.4 mean score
32 of 77 counties Serious or Crisis
New Mexico
60.2 mean score
11 of 33 counties Serious or Crisis
Arizona
59.9 mean score
6 of 15 counties Serious or Crisis
Louisiana
59.8 mean score
24 of 64 counties Serious or Crisis
Tennessee
57.7 mean score
21 of 95 counties Serious or Crisis
Texas
57.5 mean score
78 of 254 counties Serious or Crisis
Alabama
56.2 mean score
12 of 67 counties Serious or Crisis
North Carolina
55.9 mean score
21 of 100 counties Serious or Crisis
California
55 mean score
14 of 58 counties Serious or Crisis
Nevada
54.9 mean score
4 of 17 counties Serious or Crisis
Latest Analysis
All articles →Research
What If We'd Been Watching Savings Instead of Delinquencies?
How the personal savings rate predicts debt delinquency 9 quarters in advance.
Analysis
ADI Backtest: 84 Quarters of Validation (2005–2025)
The American Distress Index backtested across 84 quarters (2005-2025) correctly identifies the GFC crisis, COVID shock, and recovery periods. Quarter-by-quarter component analysis validates the five-component methodology.
Analysis
When AI Takes the Job, Who Misses the Mortgage Payment?
AI displacement is accelerating, but nobody is tracking what happens when displaced workers miss mortgage and debt payments. The occupations most exposed to AI overlap heavily with FHA borrowers and subprime cardholders.
Analysis
The FHA Signal: 11.52% and Climbing
FHA delinquency reached 11.52% in Q4 2025 while conventional mortgages held at 1.78%. This 4x divergence mirrors the subprime-to-prime gap that preceded the 2008 crisis. The American Distress Index tracks it as a leading signal of broader mortgage distress.
Analysis
Q1 2026 ADI Update: The Slow March Upward
A component-by-component breakdown of where household financial distress stands entering 2026: financial conditions tightening, buffer depletion reaccelerating, and a new tariff cost shock not yet in the data.
Analysis
Americans Are Eating Their Retirement at Triple the Pre-Pandemic Rate
Vanguard's 2026 data shows 401(k) hardship withdrawals hit 6.0%, triple the pre-pandemic rate. Combined with a 3.6% savings rate and rising debt service, this signals a household buffer crisis the ADI has been tracking.
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Free assessment →American Distress Index
64.0 ElevatedThe national composite tracking household financial distress across five dimensions.
Explore the ADI →County Distress Index
0 – 100 score per county21 indicators across 3,144 counties, weighted by principal component analysis.
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