Somerset County, Maryland

County Distress Index: Serious · 65.5 | 24,910 people · 2nd most distressed in Maryland

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Somerset County, MD shows significant household financial distress with a score of 65.5 — 474th 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 Maryland, it ranks 2nd of 24 counties. It scores higher than all 6 of its neighboring counties.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Somerset County's primary driver is Income & Poverty at 92.0 — worse than roughly 92% of U.S. counties.

Income & Poverty Primary driver 92.0
Poverty Rate 92
Income vs. State Median 100
Child Poverty Rate 84
Debt & Delinquency 76.0
Debt in Collections 83
Medical Debt 40
Student Loan Delinquency 92
Auto Loan Delinquency 81
Credit Card Delinquency 80
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 80
Housing Cost Burden 75.3
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 87
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 90
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 36
Homeownership Rate 75
Rent-to-Income Ratio 88
Employment & Wages 55.0
Unemployment Rate 55
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 41
Business Formation Rate 68
Community Vulnerability 29.0
Uninsured Rate 4
Disability Rate 54

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

Neighbors and Peers

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

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Somerset County
Somerset County, MD 65.5 Serious
Dorchester County, MD 62.7 Elevated -2.8
Wicomico County, MD 59.3 Elevated -6.2
Accomack County, VA 57.6 Elevated -7.9
Worcester County, MD 47.8 Normal -17.7
Northumberland County, VA 44.8 Normal -20.7
St. Mary's County, MD 33.5 Healthy -32.0

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Somerset County
Leake County, MS 65.5 Serious 0.0
Berrien County, GA 65.4 Serious -0.1
Franklin County, IL 65.6 Serious +0.1
Grenada County, MS 65.6 Serious +0.1
Oglala Lakota County, SD 65.6 Serious +0.1

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