Alabama County Distress Index
Financial distress scores for all 67 counties in Alabama, scored 0–100 across five domains. A county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than; the average Alabama county scores 77.3. 45 counties score high, very high, or extreme.
Data: U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Urban Institute, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts | Scores as of Aug 2026
Alabama Snapshot
Alabama County Map
Dallas County is the most distressed of Alabama's 67 counties
County Distress Index score for Alabama's 67 counties, from green (least distressed, 0–29) to red (most distressed, 80–100). Data from 2024 to Aug 2026.
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County Distress Index score · data from 2024 to Aug 2026
Point to or tap a county for its rank and score. Click it, or tap it twice, to open its page.
Most & Least Distressed
Most Distressed
Least Distressed
Score Distribution
How Alabama's 67 county scores are distributed across the 0–100 scale.
All Alabama Counties
67 counties ranked by distress score. Click column headers to sort.
| State Rank | Nat'l Rank | County | Score | Score Label | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Dallas County | 99 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 2 | 6 | Wilcox County | 99 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 3 | 25 | Greene County | 99 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 4 | 26 | Perry County | 99 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 5 | 50 | Russell County | 98 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 6 | 71 | Conecuh County | 97 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 7 | 73 | Lowndes County | 97 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 8 | 75 | Macon County | 97 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 9 | 92 | Sumter County | 97 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 10 | — | Hale County | 96 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 11 | — | Bullock County | 96 | extreme county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 12 | — | Pike County | 95 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 13 | — | Monroe County | 95 | extreme county distress | Labor |
| 14 | — | Barbour County | 95 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 15 | — | Butler County | 94 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 16 | — | Choctaw County | 93 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 17 | — | Montgomery County | 93 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 18 | — | Bibb County | 93 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 19 | — | Marengo County | 92 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 20 | — | Pickens County | 92 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 21 | — | Clarke County | 91 | extreme county distress | Labor |
| 22 | — | Chambers County | 90 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 23 | — | Calhoun County | 90 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 24 | — | Mobile County | 90 | extreme county distress | Default & Legal |
| 25 | — | Escambia County | 89 | very high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 26 | — | Talladega County | 89 | very high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 27 | — | Crenshaw County | 88 | very high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 28 | — | Geneva County | 86 | very high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 29 | — | Etowah County | 85 | very high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 30 | — | Randolph County | 83 | very high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 31 | — | Covington County | 83 | very high county distress | Delinquency |
| 32 | — | Jefferson County | 82 | very high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 33 | — | Marion County | 81 | very high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 34 | — | Fayette County | 79 | high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 35 | — | Dale County | 79 | high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 36 | — | Coosa County | 77 | high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 37 | — | Houston County | 77 | high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 38 | — | Lamar County | 76 | high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 39 | — | Clay County | 76 | high county distress | Delinquency |
| 40 | — | Walker County | 75 | high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 41 | — | Tuscaloosa County | 74 | high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 42 | — | Colbert County | 73 | high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 43 | — | Chilton County | 72 | high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 44 | — | DeKalb County | 71 | high county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 45 | — | Tallapoosa County | 71 | high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 46 | — | Winston County | 68 | moderate-high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 47 | — | Jackson County | 67 | moderate-high county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 48 | — | Washington County | 66 | moderate-high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 49 | — | Cherokee County | 66 | moderate-high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 50 | — | Franklin County | 65 | moderate-high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 51 | — | Henry County | 62 | moderate-high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 52 | — | Lee County | 61 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 53 | — | Morgan County | 60 | moderate-high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 54 | — | Blount County | 60 | moderate-high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 55 | — | Lawrence County | 59 | moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 56 | — | Cleburne County | 58 | moderate county distress | Delinquency |
| 57 | — | Marshall County | 58 | moderate county distress | Delinquency |
| 58 | — | Cullman County | 58 | moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 59 | — | Coffee County | 55 | moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 60 | — | Lauderdale County | 55 | moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 61 | — | Autauga County | 53 | moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 62 | — | St. Clair County | 48 | moderate-low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 63 | — | Elmore County | 44 | moderate-low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 64 | — | Baldwin County | 43 | moderate-low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 65 | — | Limestone County | 38 | low-moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 66 | — | Madison County | 36 | low-moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 67 | — | Shelby County | 21 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
How County Scores Work
Each county is scored 0–100 using five equal-weighted domains. Each domain averages its member indicators' county ranks, the domains are averaged, and that average is ranked against every U.S. county. So a county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than. National ranks are shown only for the 100 most and 100 least distressed counties, because ranks in between move between updates. Counties with identical composite scores share a rank, marked T- for tied.
Urban Institute data: Breno Braga, Signe-Mary McKernan, Samantha Atherton, and Kassandra Martinchek, "Debt in America," last updated November 20, 2025, https://datacatalog.urban.org/dataset/debt-america-2025. Licensed under ODC-By 1.0. The County Distress Index is American Default Research's own calculation; the Urban Institute does not produce or endorse it.