Story County, Iowa

County Distress Index: Healthy · 34.7 | 98,566 people · 39th most distressed in Iowa

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Story County, IA ranks among the least distressed counties in the country at 34.7 — 2663rd nationally out of 3144 counties. The primary driver is Housing Cost Burden, where a large share of households spend more than 30% of income on housing. Within Iowa, it ranks 39th of 99 counties. Its score is in the middle of its 6 neighboring counties.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Story County's primary driver is Housing Cost Burden at 78.2 — worse than roughly 78% of U.S. counties.

Housing Cost Burden Primary driver 78.2
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 89
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 96
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 79
Homeownership Rate 96
Rent-to-Income Ratio 32
Income & Poverty 36.3
Poverty Rate 61
Income vs. State Median 40
Child Poverty Rate 8
Employment & Wages 35.9
Unemployment Rate 6
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 22
Business Formation Rate 80
Debt & Delinquency 15.1
Debt in Collections 11
Medical Debt 21
Student Loan Delinquency 18
Auto Loan Delinquency 19
Credit Card Delinquency 6
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 17
Community Vulnerability 8.2
Uninsured Rate 13
Disability Rate 3

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

Neighbors and Peers

How Story County compares to its 6 neighboring counties and population peers.

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Story County
Story County, IA 34.7 Healthy
Marshall County, IA 41.0 Normal +6.2
Jasper County, IA 39.1 Normal +4.4
Polk County, IA 35.8 Normal +1.1
Hardin County, IA 33.5 Healthy -1.2
Hamilton County, IA 26.0 Healthy -8.7
Boone County, IA 23.2 Healthy -11.5

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Story County
Kendall County, IL 34.8 Healthy +0.0
McLean County, IL 34.8 Healthy +0.0
Eau Claire County, WI 34.7 Healthy -0.0
Kendall County, TX 34.8 Healthy +0.1
Gallatin County, MT 34.6 Healthy -0.1

Download Data

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