Madison County, Iowa

County Distress Index: Healthy · 29.6 | 16,971 people · 65th most distressed in Iowa

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Madison County, IA ranks among the least distressed counties in the country at 29.6 — 2901st nationally out of 3144 counties. The primary driver is Employment & Wages, where employment and wage conditions show moderate stress. Within Iowa, it ranks 65th of 99 counties. Among its 7 neighboring counties, 4 show more distress.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Madison County's primary driver is Employment & Wages at 55.0 — above the national median.

Employment & Wages Primary driver 55.0
Unemployment Rate 27
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 84
Business Formation Rate 54
Debt & Delinquency 39.5
Debt in Collections 24
Medical Debt 27
Student Loan Delinquency 80
Auto Loan Delinquency 45
Credit Card Delinquency 32
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 30
Housing Cost Burden 34.3
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 14
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 24
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 95
Homeownership Rate 13
Rent-to-Income Ratio 25
Community Vulnerability 10.7
Uninsured Rate 16
Disability Rate 5
Income & Poverty 8.2
Poverty Rate 5
Income vs. State Median 15
Child Poverty Rate 5

Scores are percentile-based: 50 = national median, higher = more distressed. The median line is shown on each bar.

Neighbors and Peers

How Madison County compares to its 7 neighboring counties and population peers.

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Madison County
Madison County, IA 29.6 Healthy
Union County, IA 45.0 Normal +15.4
Clarke County, IA 40.9 Normal +11.4
Polk County, IA 35.8 Normal +6.2
Adair County, IA 31.1 Healthy +1.5
Guthrie County, IA 28.0 Healthy -1.6
Warren County, IA 24.3 Healthy -5.2
Dallas County, IA 19.1 Healthy -10.4

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Madison County
Routt County, CO 29.5 Healthy -0.0
York County, NE 29.4 Healthy -0.1
Mahaska County, IA 29.4 Healthy -0.2
Williams County, ND 29.4 Healthy -0.2
Platte County, NE 29.3 Healthy -0.2

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