Minnesota County Distress Index
Financial distress scores for all 87 counties in Minnesota, scored 0–100 across five domains. A county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than; the average Minnesota county scores 21.3.
Data: U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Urban Institute, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts | Scores as of Aug 2026
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Mahnomen County is the most distressed of Minnesota's 87 counties
County Distress Index score for Minnesota's 87 counties, from green (least distressed, 0–29) to red (most distressed, 80–100). Data from 2024 to Aug 2026.
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County Distress Index score · data from 2024 to Aug 2026
Point to or tap a county for its rank and score. Click it, or tap it twice, to open its page.
Most & Least Distressed
Most Distressed
Least Distressed
Score Distribution
How Minnesota's 87 county scores are distributed across the 0–100 scale.
All Minnesota Counties
87 counties ranked by distress score. Click column headers to sort.
| State Rank | Nat'l Rank | County | Score | Score Label | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | — | Mahnomen County | 64 | moderate-high county distress | Labor |
| 2 | — | Beltrami County | 54 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 3 | — | Wadena County | 50 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 4 | — | Pine County | 46 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 5 | — | Ramsey County | 45 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 6 | — | Swift County | 44 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 7 | — | Lake County | 38 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 8 | — | Itasca County | 37 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 9 | — | Mower County | 37 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 10 | — | Aitkin County | 37 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 11 | — | Isanti County | 36 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 12 | — | Kanabec County | 36 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 13 | — | St. Louis County | 35 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 14 | — | Mille Lacs County | 35 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 15 | — | Clearwater County | 35 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 16 | — | Faribault County | 33 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 17 | — | Freeborn County | 32 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 18 | — | Benton County | 29 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 19 | — | Hubbard County | 29 | low county distress | Labor |
| 20 | — | Stearns County | 28 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 21 | — | Crow Wing County | 28 | low county distress | Labor |
| 22 | — | Carlton County | 28 | low county distress | Labor |
| 23 | — | Cass County | 27 | low county distress | Labor |
| 24 | — | Koochiching County | 27 | low county distress | Labor |
| 25 | — | Grant County | 26 | low county distress | Labor |
| 26 | — | Renville County | 25 | low county distress | Labor |
| 27 | — | Chisago County | 25 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 28 | — | Meeker County | 25 | low county distress | Labor |
| 29 | — | Martin County | 25 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 30 | — | Nobles County | 25 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 31 | — | Steele County | 24 | low county distress | Labor |
| 32 | — | Becker County | 24 | low county distress | Labor |
| 33 | — | Redwood County | 24 | low county distress | Labor |
| 34 | — | Blue Earth County | 24 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 35 | — | Hennepin County | 24 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 36 | — | Anoka County | 23 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 37 | — | Norman County | 23 | low county distress | Labor |
| 38 | — | Chippewa County | 21 | low county distress | Labor |
| 39 | — | Traverse County | 20 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 40 | — | Big Stone County | 20 | low county distress | Labor |
| 41 | — | Clay County | 19 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 42 | — | Todd County | 19 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 43 | — | Pennington County | 17 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 44 | — | Lincoln County | 17 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 45 | — | Rice County | 17 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 46 | — | Polk County | 16 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 47 | — | Dakota County | 16 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 48 | — | Pipestone County | 16 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 49 | — | Lyon County | 16 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 50 | — | Dodge County | 16 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 51 | — | Kandiyohi County | 16 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 52 | — | McLeod County | 16 | very low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 53 | — | Cottonwood County | 16 | very low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 54 | — | Pope County | 16 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 55 | — | Sherburne County | 15 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 56 | — | Wilkin County | 15 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 57 | — | Morrison County | 15 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 58 | — | Brown County | 14 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 59 | — | Waseca County | 13 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 60 | — | Sibley County | 13 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 61 | — | Lake of the Woods County | 13 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 62 | — | Watonwan County | 12 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 63 | — | Otter Tail County | 12 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 64 | — | Wright County | 12 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 65 | — | Goodhue County | 12 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 66 | — | Winona County | 11 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 67 | — | Cook County | 11 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 68 | — | Washington County | 10 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 69 | — | Le Sueur County | 10 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 70 | — | Lac qui Parle County | 10 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 71 | — | Houston County | 10 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 72 | — | Yellow Medicine County | 10 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 73 | — | Red Lake County | 9 | exceptionally low county distress | Labor |
| 74 | — | Roseau County | 9 | exceptionally low county distress | Labor |
| 75 | — | Scott County | 7 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 76 | — | Jackson County | 7 | exceptionally low county distress | Labor |
| 77 | — | Murray County | 7 | exceptionally low county distress | Labor |
| 78 | — | Marshall County | 7 | exceptionally low county distress | Labor |
| 79 | — | Olmsted County | 7 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 80 | — | Stevens County | 6 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 81 | — | Kittson County | 6 | exceptionally low county distress | Labor |
| 82 | — | Fillmore County | 6 | exceptionally low county distress | Labor |
| 83 | — | Nicollet County | 5 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 84 | — | Douglas County | 4 | exceptionally low county distress | Labor |
| 85 | — | Rock County | 4 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 86 | — | Wabasha County | 3 | exceptionally low county distress | Labor |
| 87 | 3,059 | Carver County | 2 | exceptionally low county distress | Default & Legal |
How County Scores Work
Each county is scored 0–100 using five equal-weighted domains. Each domain averages its member indicators' county ranks, the domains are averaged, and that average is ranked against every U.S. county. So a county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than. National ranks are shown only for the 100 most and 100 least distressed counties, because ranks in between move between updates. Counties with identical composite scores share a rank, marked T- for tied.
Urban Institute data: Breno Braga, Signe-Mary McKernan, Samantha Atherton, and Kassandra Martinchek, "Debt in America," last updated November 20, 2025, https://datacatalog.urban.org/dataset/debt-america-2025. Licensed under ODC-By 1.0. The County Distress Index is American Default Research's own calculation; the Urban Institute does not produce or endorse it.