Connecticut County Distress Index
Financial distress scores for all 9 counties in Connecticut, scored 0–100 across five domains. A county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than; the average Connecticut county scores 47.7.
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
Connecticut Snapshot
Connecticut County Map
Greater Bridgeport Planning Region is the most distressed of Connecticut's 9 counties
County Distress Index score for Connecticut's 9 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 Connecticut's 9 county scores are distributed across the 0–100 scale.
All Connecticut Counties
9 counties ranked by distress score. Click column headers to sort.
| State Rank | Nat'l Rank | County | Score | Score Label | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | — | Greater Bridgeport Planning Region | 61 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 2 | — | Naugatuck Valley Planning Region | 58 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 3 | — | South Central Connecticut Planning Region | 55 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 4 | — | Capitol Planning Region | 51 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 5 | — | Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region | 47 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 6 | — | Northwest Hills Planning Region | 42 | moderate-low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 7 | — | Western Connecticut Planning Region | 40 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 8 | — | Northeastern Connecticut Planning Region | 35 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 9 | — | Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region | 35 | low-moderate 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.