Estill County, Kentucky

County Distress Index: Serious · 67.0 | 13,936 people · 20th most distressed in Kentucky

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Estill County, KY shows significant household financial distress with a score of 67.0 — 376th nationally out of 3144 counties. The primary driver is Income & Poverty, where poverty rates are high and household incomes lag well behind state and national medians. Within Kentucky, it ranks 20th of 120 counties. Among its 5 neighboring counties, 3 show more distress.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Estill County's primary driver is Income & Poverty at 88.0 — worse than roughly 88% of U.S. counties.

Income & Poverty Primary driver 88.0
Poverty Rate 92
Income vs. State Median 89
Child Poverty Rate 83
Debt & Delinquency 70.8
Debt in Collections 84
Medical Debt 77
Student Loan Delinquency 5
Auto Loan Delinquency 90
Credit Card Delinquency 82
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 86
Community Vulnerability 63.0
Uninsured Rate 31
Disability Rate 95
Employment & Wages 61.5
Unemployment Rate 78
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 24
Business Formation Rate 82
Housing Cost Burden 51.8
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 33
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 43
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 56
Homeownership Rate 60
Rent-to-Income Ratio 67

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

Neighbors and Peers

How Estill County compares to its 5 neighboring counties and population peers.

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Estill County
Estill County, KY 67.0 Serious
Lee County, KY 70.7 Serious +3.7
Jackson County, KY 69.0 Serious +2.0
Powell County, KY 67.2 Serious +0.1
Clark County, KY 45.5 Normal -21.5
Madison County, KY 43.1 Normal -23.9

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Estill County
Tattnall County, GA 67.1 Serious +0.0
Levy County, FL 67.1 Serious +0.0
Haskell County, OK 67.0 Serious -0.0
Franklin County, FL 67.1 Serious +0.0
Stephens County, GA 67.1 Serious +0.1

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