Hale County, Alabama

County Distress Index: Serious · 66.6 | 14,888 people · 8th most distressed in Alabama

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Hale County, AL shows significant household financial distress with a score of 66.6 — 405th nationally out of 3144 counties. The primary driver is Income & Poverty, where poverty rates are high and household incomes lag well behind state and national medians. Within Alabama, it ranks 8th of 67 counties. Among its 5 neighboring counties, 3 show less distress.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Hale County's primary driver is Income & Poverty at 92.1 — worse than roughly 92% of U.S. counties.

Income & Poverty Primary driver 92.1
Poverty Rate 93
Income vs. State Median 90
Child Poverty Rate 94
Debt & Delinquency 82.4
Debt in Collections 91
Medical Debt 36
Student Loan Delinquency 95
Auto Loan Delinquency 89
Credit Card Delinquency 88
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 95
Community Vulnerability 63.6
Uninsured Rate 32
Disability Rate 95
Housing Cost Burden 49.5
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 53
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 49
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 15
Homeownership Rate 35
Rent-to-Income Ratio 95
Employment & Wages 45.3
Unemployment Rate 41
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 74
Business Formation Rate 21

Scores are percentile-based: 50 = national median, higher = more distressed. The median line is shown on each bar.

Neighbors and Peers

How Hale County compares to its 5 neighboring counties and population peers.

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Hale County
Hale County, AL 66.6 Serious
Greene County, AL 73.0 Serious +6.5
Perry County, AL 67.1 Serious +0.5
Bibb County, AL 66.0 Serious -0.6
Marengo County, AL 63.9 Elevated -2.7
Tuscaloosa County, AL 55.5 Elevated -11.1

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Hale County
Lawrence County, MS 66.6 Serious 0.0
Santa Cruz County, AZ 66.5 Serious -0.0
Van Buren County, AR 66.6 Serious +0.0
Aransas County, TX 66.6 Serious +0.0
Upson County, GA 66.6 Serious +0.0

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