Montana County Distress Index
Financial distress scores for all 56 counties in Montana, scored 0–100 across five domains. A county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than; the average Montana county scores 28.9. 4 counties score high, very high, or extreme.
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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Glacier County is the most distressed of Montana's 56 counties
County Distress Index score for Montana's 56 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 Montana's 56 county scores are distributed across the 0–100 scale.
All Montana Counties
56 counties ranked by distress score. Click column headers to sort.
| State Rank | Nat'l Rank | County | Score | Score Label | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | — | Glacier County | 90 | extreme county distress | Labor |
| 2 | — | Big Horn County | 78 | high county distress | Labor |
| 3 | — | Roosevelt County | 74 | high county distress | Labor |
| 4 | — | Musselshell County | 71 | high county distress | Labor |
| 5 | — | Sanders County | 65 | moderate-high county distress | Labor |
| 6 | — | Rosebud County | 65 | moderate-high county distress | Labor |
| 7 | — | Lincoln County | 58 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 8 | — | Blaine County | 55 | moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 9 | — | Wheatland County | 53 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 10 | — | Silver Bow County | 53 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 11 | — | Mineral County | 48 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 12 | — | Lake County | 47 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 13 | — | Custer County | 40 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 14 | — | Deer Lodge County | 39 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 15 | — | Pondera County | 38 | low-moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 16 | — | Golden Valley County | 38 | low-moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 17 | — | Hill County | 38 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 18 | — | Chouteau County | 37 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 19 | — | Cascade County | 37 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 20 | — | Petroleum County | 31 | low-moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 21 | — | Sheridan County | 27 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 22 | — | Ravalli County | 26 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 23 | — | Yellowstone County | 26 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 24 | — | Granite County | 25 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 25 | — | Madison County | 25 | low county distress | Labor |
| 26 | — | Garfield County | 23 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 27 | — | Powell County | 22 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 28 | — | Toole County | 22 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 29 | — | Phillips County | 22 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 30 | — | Liberty County | 20 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 31 | — | Flathead County | 20 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 32 | — | Wibaux County | 19 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 33 | — | Missoula County | 18 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 34 | — | Fergus County | 18 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 35 | — | Dawson County | 16 | very low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 36 | — | Carter County | 15 | very low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 37 | — | Broadwater County | 15 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 38 | — | McCone County | 14 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 39 | — | Teton County | 14 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 40 | — | Meagher County | 14 | very low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 41 | — | Beaverhead County | 14 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 42 | — | Prairie County | 13 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 43 | — | Treasure County | 13 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 44 | — | Lewis and Clark County | 12 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 45 | — | Valley County | 11 | very low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 46 | — | Judith Basin County | 11 | very low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 47 | — | Park County | 11 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 48 | — | Richland County | 10 | very low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 49 | — | Carbon County | 9 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 50 | — | Gallatin County | 8 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 51 | — | Powder River County | 7 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 52 | — | Fallon County | 6 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 53 | — | Sweet Grass County | 6 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 54 | — | Daniels County | 5 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 55 | 3,082 | Stillwater County | 1 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 56 | 3,101 | Jefferson County | 1 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
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.