Idaho County Distress Index
Financial distress scores for all 44 counties in Idaho, scored 0–100 across five domains. A county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than; the average Idaho county scores 30.0. 1 county scores 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
Idaho Snapshot
Idaho County Map
Shoshone County is the most distressed of Idaho's 44 counties
County Distress Index score for Idaho's 44 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 Idaho's 44 county scores are distributed across the 0–100 scale.
All Idaho Counties
44 counties ranked by distress score. Click column headers to sort.
| State Rank | Nat'l Rank | County | Score | Score Label | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | — | Shoshone County | 76 | high county distress | Labor |
| 2 | — | Benewah County | 61 | moderate-high county distress | Labor |
| 3 | — | Washington County | 60 | moderate-high county distress | Labor |
| 4 | — | Clearwater County | 57 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 5 | — | Owyhee County | 56 | moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 6 | — | Bannock County | 48 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 7 | — | Lewis County | 42 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 8 | — | Canyon County | 41 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 9 | — | Custer County | 41 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 10 | — | Elmore County | 40 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 11 | — | Bonner County | 39 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 12 | — | Adams County | 39 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 13 | — | Clark County | 37 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 14 | — | Twin Falls County | 37 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 15 | — | Power County | 35 | low-moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 16 | — | Kootenai County | 32 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 17 | — | Jerome County | 32 | low-moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 18 | — | Lincoln County | 31 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 19 | — | Gooding County | 30 | low-moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 20 | — | Madison County | 30 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 21 | — | Lemhi County | 29 | low county distress | Labor |
| 22 | — | Cassia County | 28 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 23 | — | Minidoka County | 28 | low county distress | Delinquency |
| 24 | — | Butte County | 28 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 25 | — | Idaho County | 26 | low county distress | Labor |
| 26 | — | Payette County | 25 | low county distress | Labor |
| 27 | — | Boundary County | 24 | low county distress | Labor |
| 28 | — | Camas County | 24 | low county distress | Labor |
| 29 | — | Gem County | 24 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 30 | — | Boise County | 23 | low county distress | Labor |
| 31 | — | Latah County | 22 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 32 | — | Nez Perce County | 22 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 33 | — | Bonneville County | 21 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 34 | — | Caribou County | 20 | low county distress | Labor |
| 35 | — | Bingham County | 19 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 36 | — | Fremont County | 18 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 37 | — | Ada County | 14 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 38 | — | Valley County | 13 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 39 | — | Jefferson County | 9 | exceptionally low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 40 | — | Bear Lake County | 8 | exceptionally low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 41 | — | Franklin County | 6 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 42 | — | Teton County | 3 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 43 | 3,075 | Oneida County | 2 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 44 | 3,126 | Blaine County | 0 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
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.