New Jersey County Distress Index
Financial distress scores for all 21 counties in New Jersey, scored 0–100 across five domains. A county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than; the average New Jersey county scores 47.5. 6 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
New Jersey Snapshot
New Jersey County Map
Cumberland County is the most distressed of New Jersey's 21 counties
County Distress Index score for New Jersey's 21 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
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Most & Least Distressed
Most Distressed
Least Distressed
Score Distribution
How New Jersey's 21 county scores are distributed across the 0–100 scale.
All New Jersey Counties
21 counties ranked by distress score. Click column headers to sort.
| State Rank | Nat'l Rank | County | Score | Score Label | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | — | Cumberland County | 92 | extreme county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 2 | — | Essex County | 82 | very high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 3 | — | Salem County | 78 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 4 | — | Atlantic County | 77 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 5 | — | Passaic County | 72 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 6 | — | Camden County | 70 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 7 | — | Hudson County | 61 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 8 | — | Union County | 56 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 9 | — | Mercer County | 50 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 10 | — | Ocean County | 44 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 11 | — | Cape May County | 43 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 12 | — | Gloucester County | 42 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 13 | — | Middlesex County | 38 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 14 | — | Warren County | 35 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 15 | — | Burlington County | 34 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 16 | — | Sussex County | 28 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 17 | — | Bergen County | 25 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 18 | — | Monmouth County | 23 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 19 | — | Somerset County | 18 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 20 | — | Hunterdon County | 11 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 21 | — | Morris County | 7 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
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.