Colorado County Distress Index
Financial distress scores for all 64 counties in Colorado, scored 0–100 across five domains. A county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than; the average Colorado county scores 37.2. 8 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
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Costilla County is the most distressed of Colorado's 64 counties
County Distress Index score for Colorado's 64 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 Colorado's 64 county scores are distributed across the 0–100 scale.
All Colorado Counties
64 counties ranked by distress score. Click column headers to sort.
| State Rank | Nat'l Rank | County | Score | Score Label | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | — | Costilla County | 93 | extreme county distress | Labor |
| 2 | — | Las Animas County | 90 | extreme county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 3 | — | Pueblo County | 87 | very high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 4 | — | Bent County | 82 | very high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 5 | — | Otero County | 81 | very high county distress | Labor |
| 6 | — | Huerfano County | 72 | high county distress | Labor |
| 7 | — | Saguache County | 72 | high county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 8 | — | Fremont County | 70 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 9 | — | Alamosa County | 66 | moderate-high county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 10 | — | Delta County | 63 | moderate-high county distress | Labor |
| 11 | — | Crowley County | 62 | moderate-high county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 12 | — | Prowers County | 62 | moderate-high county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 13 | — | Montezuma County | 60 | moderate-high county distress | Labor |
| 14 | — | Morgan County | 59 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 15 | — | Rio Grande County | 58 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 16 | — | Adams County | 57 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 17 | — | Conejos County | 57 | moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 18 | — | Sedgwick County | 57 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 19 | — | Baca County | 52 | moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 20 | — | Denver County | 46 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 21 | — | Mineral County | 44 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 22 | — | Arapahoe County | 43 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 23 | — | Logan County | 42 | moderate-low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 24 | — | Lincoln County | 41 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 25 | — | El Paso County | 41 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 26 | — | Dolores County | 40 | moderate-low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 27 | — | Montrose County | 40 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 28 | — | Weld County | 38 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 29 | — | San Juan County | 38 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 30 | — | Mesa County | 37 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 31 | — | Moffat County | 36 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 32 | — | Lake County | 34 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 33 | — | Kiowa County | 29 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 34 | — | Yuma County | 29 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 35 | — | Cheyenne County | 27 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 36 | — | Teller County | 26 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 37 | — | Jackson County | 25 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 38 | — | Larimer County | 24 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 39 | — | Washington County | 23 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 40 | — | Archuleta County | 23 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 41 | — | Custer County | 22 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 42 | — | La Plata County | 21 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 43 | — | Kit Carson County | 21 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 44 | — | Jefferson County | 20 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 45 | — | Boulder County | 18 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 46 | — | Park County | 17 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 47 | — | Rio Blanco County | 17 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 48 | — | Hinsdale County | 15 | very low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 49 | — | Ouray County | 15 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 50 | — | Chaffee County | 14 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 51 | — | Eagle County | 14 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 52 | — | Clear Creek County | 14 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 53 | — | Broomfield County | 12 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 54 | — | Garfield County | 12 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 55 | — | Pitkin County | 11 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 56 | — | Grand County | 10 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 57 | — | San Miguel County | 10 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 58 | — | Summit County | 10 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 59 | — | Routt County | 10 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 60 | — | Phillips County | 10 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 61 | — | Gunnison County | 9 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 62 | — | Gilpin County | 8 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 63 | — | Elbert County | 7 | exceptionally low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 64 | — | Douglas County | 5 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
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.