Florida County Distress Index
Financial distress scores for all 67 counties in Florida, scored 0–100 across five domains. A county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than; the average Florida county scores 74.1. 44 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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Gadsden County is the most distressed of Florida's 67 counties
County Distress Index score for Florida'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
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Most & Least Distressed
Most Distressed
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Score Distribution
How Florida's 67 county scores are distributed across the 0–100 scale.
All Florida Counties
67 counties ranked by distress score. Click column headers to sort.
| State Rank | Nat'l Rank | County | Score | Score Label | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | Gadsden County | 99 | extreme county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 2 | 51 | Hamilton County | 98 | extreme county distress | Labor |
| 3 | — | Putnam County | 95 | extreme county distress | Labor |
| 4 | — | Highlands County | 94 | extreme county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 5 | — | DeSoto County | 93 | extreme county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 6 | — | Hendry County | 92 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 7 | — | Madison County | 92 | extreme county distress | Labor |
| 8 | — | Dixie County | 91 | extreme county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 9 | — | Polk County | 91 | extreme county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 10 | — | Hardee County | 91 | extreme county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 11 | — | Lafayette County | 90 | extreme county distress | Labor |
| 12 | — | Calhoun County | 89 | very high county distress | Labor |
| 13 | — | Marion County | 89 | very high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 14 | — | Osceola County | 88 | very high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 15 | — | Escambia County | 88 | very high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 16 | — | Jackson County | 88 | very high county distress | Delinquency |
| 17 | — | Citrus County | 87 | very high county distress | Labor |
| 18 | — | Levy County | 87 | very high county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 19 | — | Okeechobee County | 87 | very high county distress | Labor |
| 20 | — | Taylor County | 87 | very high county distress | Labor |
| 21 | — | Columbia County | 87 | very high county distress | Delinquency |
| 22 | — | Glades County | 86 | very high county distress | Labor |
| 23 | — | Suwannee County | 86 | very high county distress | Labor |
| 24 | — | Hernando County | 86 | very high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 25 | — | Duval County | 84 | very high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 26 | — | Holmes County | 83 | very high county distress | Delinquency |
| 27 | — | Bradford County | 83 | very high county distress | Delinquency |
| 28 | — | St. Lucie County | 82 | very high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 29 | — | Volusia County | 80 | very high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 30 | — | Union County | 78 | high county distress | Delinquency |
| 31 | — | Orange County | 77 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 32 | — | Franklin County | 76 | high county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 33 | — | Leon County | 76 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 34 | — | Liberty County | 76 | high county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 35 | — | Pasco County | 75 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 36 | — | Gilchrist County | 75 | high county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 37 | — | Jefferson County | 74 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 38 | — | Gulf County | 74 | high county distress | Labor |
| 39 | — | Hillsborough County | 73 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 40 | — | Broward County | 72 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 41 | — | Washington County | 72 | high county distress | Labor |
| 42 | — | Lake County | 72 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 43 | — | Lee County | 71 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 44 | — | Miami-Dade County | 70 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 45 | — | Flagler County | 69 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 46 | — | Brevard County | 68 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 47 | — | Alachua County | 68 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 48 | — | Charlotte County | 67 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 49 | — | Bay County | 64 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 50 | — | Pinellas County | 64 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 51 | — | Clay County | 62 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 52 | — | Palm Beach County | 62 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 53 | — | Baker County | 61 | moderate-high county distress | Delinquency |
| 54 | — | Manatee County | 61 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 55 | — | Indian River County | 57 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 56 | — | Seminole County | 57 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 57 | — | Okaloosa County | 51 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 58 | — | Walton County | 50 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 59 | — | Sarasota County | 49 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 60 | — | Nassau County | 48 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 61 | — | Collier County | 47 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 62 | — | Monroe County | 46 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 63 | — | Martin County | 45 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 64 | — | Santa Rosa County | 44 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 65 | — | Wakulla County | 43 | moderate-low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 66 | — | Sumter County | 42 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 67 | — | St. Johns County | 21 | 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.