Lea County, New Mexico

County Distress Index: Elevated · 53.9 | 72,101 people · 26th most distressed in New Mexico

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Lea County, NM registers elevated household financial distress with a score of 53.9 — 1295th nationally out of 3144 counties. The primary driver is Debt & Delinquency, where residents carry heavy debt burdens with elevated delinquency and collections rates. Within New Mexico, it ranks 26th of 33 counties. Among its 9 neighboring counties, 6 show less distress.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Lea County's primary driver is Debt & Delinquency at 76.8 — worse than roughly 77% of U.S. counties.

Debt & Delinquency Primary driver 76.8
Debt in Collections 95
Medical Debt 98
Student Loan Delinquency 92
Auto Loan Delinquency 87
Credit Card Delinquency 87
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 3
Housing Cost Burden 55.9
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 53
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 56
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 12
Homeownership Rate 72
Rent-to-Income Ratio 86
Community Vulnerability 53.7
Uninsured Rate 86
Disability Rate 21
Income & Poverty 50.5
Poverty Rate 73
Income vs. State Median 18
Child Poverty Rate 61
Employment & Wages 32.7
Unemployment Rate 41
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 30
Business Formation Rate 27

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

Neighbors and Peers

How Lea County compares to its 9 neighboring counties and population peers.

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Lea County
Lea County, NM 53.9 Elevated
Chaves County, NM 68.5 Serious +14.6
Roosevelt County, NM 64.4 Elevated +10.4
Cochran County, TX 64.0 Elevated +10.0
Eddy County, NM 44.0 Normal -10.0
Andrews County, TX 41.5 Normal -12.4
Yoakum County, TX 40.6 Normal -13.3
Gaines County, TX 38.7 Normal -15.3
Winkler County, TX 34.8 Healthy -19.2
Loving County, TX 30.8 Healthy -23.1

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Lea County
Barrow County, GA 54.0 Elevated +0.0
Vanderburgh County, IN 54.0 Elevated +0.0
Blair County, PA 54.0 Elevated +0.0
Coffee County, TN 54.0 Elevated +0.1
Yavapai County, AZ 54.0 Elevated +0.1

Download Data

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