Rowan County, Kentucky

County Distress Index: Elevated · 59.9 | 24,409 people · 40th most distressed in Kentucky

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Rowan County, KY registers elevated household financial distress with a score of 59.9 — 836th 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 40th of 120 counties. Among its 7 neighboring counties, 5 show more distress.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Rowan County's primary driver is Income & Poverty at 78.5 — worse than roughly 79% of U.S. counties.

Income & Poverty Primary driver 78.5
Poverty Rate 94
Income vs. State Median 67
Child Poverty Rate 74
Debt & Delinquency 69.1
Debt in Collections 84
Medical Debt 59
Student Loan Delinquency 53
Auto Loan Delinquency 81
Credit Card Delinquency 70
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 67
Housing Cost Burden 58.7
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 70
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 63
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 22
Homeownership Rate 88
Rent-to-Income Ratio 51
Employment & Wages 50.1
Unemployment Rate 64
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 25
Business Formation Rate 62
Community Vulnerability 43.1
Uninsured Rate 26
Disability Rate 61

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

Neighbors and Peers

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

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Rowan County
Rowan County, KY 59.9 Elevated
Carter County, KY 67.3 Serious +7.4
Morgan County, KY 65.7 Serious +5.8
Elliott County, KY 65.2 Serious +5.3
Menifee County, KY 62.0 Elevated +2.1
Lewis County, KY 59.9 Elevated +0.0
Fleming County, KY 57.3 Elevated -2.6
Bath County, KY 57.2 Elevated -2.7

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Rowan County
DeKalb County, TN 59.9 Elevated -0.0
Grayson County, VA 59.9 Elevated +0.0
Osceola County, MI 59.9 Elevated -0.0
Lewis County, KY 59.9 Elevated +0.0
Randolph County, AR 59.9 Elevated -0.0

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