Indiana County Distress Index
Financial distress scores for all 92 counties in Indiana, scored 0–100 across five domains. A county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than; the average Indiana county scores 41.4. 9 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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Indiana County Map
Delaware County is the most distressed of Indiana's 92 counties
County Distress Index score for Indiana's 92 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
Least Distressed
Score Distribution
How Indiana's 92 county scores are distributed across the 0–100 scale.
All Indiana Counties
92 counties ranked by distress score. Click column headers to sort.
| State Rank | Nat'l Rank | County | Score | Score Label | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | — | Delaware County | 85 | very high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 2 | — | Wayne County | 84 | very high county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 3 | — | Vigo County | 82 | very high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 4 | — | Grant County | 82 | very high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 5 | — | Marion County | 82 | very high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 6 | — | Lake County | 81 | very high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 7 | — | Fayette County | 81 | very high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 8 | — | Howard County | 80 | very high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 9 | — | Madison County | 76 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 10 | — | Crawford County | 69 | moderate-high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 11 | — | Scott County | 68 | moderate-high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 12 | — | St. Joseph County | 63 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 13 | — | LaPorte County | 63 | moderate-high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 14 | — | Vermillion County | 62 | moderate-high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 15 | — | Jay County | 62 | moderate-high county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 16 | — | Switzerland County | 61 | moderate-high county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 17 | — | Fulton County | 60 | moderate-high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 18 | — | Miami County | 60 | moderate-high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 19 | — | Randolph County | 58 | moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 20 | — | Cass County | 58 | moderate county distress | Delinquency |
| 21 | — | Vanderburgh County | 57 | moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 22 | — | Jennings County | 56 | moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 23 | — | Washington County | 56 | moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 24 | — | Elkhart County | 56 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 25 | — | Starke County | 56 | moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 26 | — | Ohio County | 55 | moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 27 | — | Blackford County | 55 | moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 28 | — | Benton County | 52 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 29 | — | Newton County | 51 | moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 30 | — | Greene County | 51 | moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 31 | — | Sullivan County | 51 | moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 32 | — | Henry County | 50 | moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 33 | — | Shelby County | 49 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 34 | — | Allen County | 49 | moderate-low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 35 | — | Morgan County | 49 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 36 | — | Clark County | 48 | moderate-low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 37 | — | Jefferson County | 48 | moderate-low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 38 | — | Parke County | 48 | moderate-low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 39 | — | Rush County | 47 | moderate-low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 40 | — | Knox County | 46 | moderate-low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 41 | — | Lawrence County | 45 | moderate-low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 42 | — | Orange County | 43 | moderate-low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 43 | — | Tippecanoe County | 42 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 44 | — | Clay County | 41 | moderate-low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 45 | — | Perry County | 40 | moderate-low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 46 | — | Bartholomew County | 39 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 47 | — | Jackson County | 39 | low-moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 48 | — | Owen County | 37 | low-moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 49 | — | Montgomery County | 36 | low-moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 50 | — | Monroe County | 35 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 51 | — | Floyd County | 34 | low-moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 52 | — | Decatur County | 34 | low-moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 53 | — | Porter County | 33 | low-moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 54 | — | White County | 33 | low-moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 55 | — | Kosciusko County | 32 | low-moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 56 | — | Pulaski County | 32 | low-moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 57 | — | Jasper County | 32 | low-moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 58 | — | Brown County | 31 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 59 | — | Clinton County | 30 | low-moderate county distress | Default & Legal |
| 60 | — | Wabash County | 29 | low county distress | Delinquency |
| 61 | — | Steuben County | 28 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 62 | — | Noble County | 28 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 63 | — | Ripley County | 27 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 64 | — | Marshall County | 27 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 65 | — | Daviess County | 27 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 66 | — | Huntington County | 25 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 67 | — | Dearborn County | 25 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 68 | — | Johnson County | 24 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 69 | — | Pike County | 24 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 70 | — | Tipton County | 24 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 71 | — | Adams County | 23 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 72 | — | Union County | 23 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 73 | — | Martin County | 23 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 74 | — | Harrison County | 23 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 75 | — | Fountain County | 22 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 76 | — | Gibson County | 21 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 77 | — | DeKalb County | 20 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 78 | — | Hendricks County | 20 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 79 | — | Putnam County | 19 | very low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 80 | — | Carroll County | 18 | very low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 81 | — | LaGrange County | 17 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 82 | — | Wells County | 17 | very low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 83 | — | Whitley County | 15 | very low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 84 | — | Warrick County | 14 | very low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 85 | — | Posey County | 13 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 86 | — | Hancock County | 12 | very low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 87 | — | Franklin County | 12 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 88 | — | Warren County | 11 | very low county distress | Delinquency |
| 89 | — | Spencer County | 6 | exceptionally low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 90 | — | Boone County | 5 | exceptionally low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 91 | — | Dubois County | 4 | exceptionally low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 92 | 3,070 | Hamilton County | 2 | exceptionally low county distress | Default & Legal |
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.