Malheur County, Oregon

County Distress Index: Elevated · 64.0 | 32,044 people · 4th most distressed in Oregon

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Malheur County, OR registers elevated household financial distress with a score of 64.0 — 564th 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 Oregon, it ranks 4th of 36 counties. It scores higher than all 8 of its neighboring counties.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Malheur County's primary driver is Income & Poverty at 84.7 — worse than roughly 85% of U.S. counties.

Income & Poverty Primary driver 84.7
Poverty Rate 85
Income vs. State Median 93
Child Poverty Rate 76
Employment & Wages 70.3
Unemployment Rate 78
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 63
Business Formation Rate 70
Housing Cost Burden 62.6
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 35
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 46
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 69
Homeownership Rate 88
Rent-to-Income Ratio 75
Community Vulnerability 52.9
Uninsured Rate 63
Disability Rate 43
Debt & Delinquency 49.5
Debt in Collections 62
Medical Debt 49
Student Loan Delinquency 65
Auto Loan Delinquency 38
Credit Card Delinquency 53
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 30

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

Neighbors and Peers

How Malheur County compares to its 8 neighboring counties and population peers.

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Malheur County
Malheur County, OR 64.0 Elevated
Owyhee County, ID 58.1 Elevated -5.8
Grant County, OR 57.6 Elevated -6.3
Washington County, ID 57.6 Elevated -6.4
Harney County, OR 56.4 Elevated -7.5
Baker County, OR 55.2 Elevated -8.8
Canyon County, ID 51.1 Elevated -12.9
Payette County, ID 42.3 Normal -21.7
Humboldt County, NV 41.5 Normal -22.5

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Malheur County
Gallia County, OH 64.0 Elevated 0.0
Chester County, SC 64.0 Elevated +0.0
Wayne County, TN 64.0 Elevated +0.0
Cross County, AR 64.0 Elevated +0.0
San Juan County, UT 64.0 Elevated +0.0

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