Pennsylvania County Distress Index
Financial distress scores for all 67 counties in Pennsylvania, scored 0–100 across five domains. A county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than; the average Pennsylvania county scores 40.8. 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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Philadelphia County is the most distressed of Pennsylvania's 67 counties
County Distress Index score for Pennsylvania's 67 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
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Score Distribution
How Pennsylvania's 67 county scores are distributed across the 0–100 scale.
All Pennsylvania Counties
67 counties ranked by distress score. Click column headers to sort.
| State Rank | Nat'l Rank | County | Score | Score Label | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | — | Philadelphia County | 91 | extreme county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 2 | — | Fayette County | 86 | very high county distress | Labor |
| 3 | — | Monroe County | 79 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 4 | — | Luzerne County | 72 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 5 | — | Greene County | 66 | moderate-high county distress | Delinquency |
| 6 | — | Carbon County | 63 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 7 | — | Lackawanna County | 63 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 8 | — | Pike County | 60 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 9 | — | Lawrence County | 59 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 10 | — | Lehigh County | 58 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 11 | — | Crawford County | 57 | moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 12 | — | Dauphin County | 57 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 13 | — | McKean County | 57 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 14 | — | Mercer County | 54 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 15 | — | Erie County | 54 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 16 | — | Berks County | 54 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 17 | — | Lycoming County | 52 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 18 | — | Schuylkill County | 51 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 19 | — | Cambria County | 51 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 20 | — | Venango County | 51 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 21 | — | Indiana County | 51 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 22 | — | Cameron County | 50 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 23 | — | Delaware County | 49 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 24 | — | Wayne County | 48 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 25 | — | Northumberland County | 48 | moderate-low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 26 | — | Clearfield County | 46 | moderate-low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 27 | — | Beaver County | 45 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 28 | — | Forest County | 44 | moderate-low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 29 | — | Clinton County | 43 | moderate-low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 30 | — | Columbia County | 43 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 31 | — | Potter County | 43 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 32 | — | Blair County | 42 | moderate-low county distress | Delinquency |
| 33 | — | Susquehanna County | 41 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 34 | — | Northampton County | 40 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 35 | — | Armstrong County | 39 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 36 | — | Bedford County | 38 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 37 | — | Clarion County | 36 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 38 | — | Bradford County | 36 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 39 | — | Jefferson County | 36 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 40 | — | Lebanon County | 35 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 41 | — | Tioga County | 35 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 42 | — | Allegheny County | 34 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 43 | — | Mifflin County | 34 | low-moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 44 | — | Westmoreland County | 33 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 45 | — | Wyoming County | 33 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 46 | — | Franklin County | 32 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 47 | — | Somerset County | 32 | low-moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 48 | — | Washington County | 31 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 49 | — | Warren County | 31 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 50 | — | York County | 29 | low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 51 | — | Perry County | 29 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 52 | — | Huntingdon County | 28 | low county distress | Labor |
| 53 | — | Sullivan County | 22 | low county distress | Labor |
| 54 | — | Juniata County | 22 | low county distress | Labor |
| 55 | — | Snyder County | 21 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 56 | — | Lancaster County | 19 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 57 | — | Centre County | 18 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 58 | — | Elk County | 17 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 59 | — | Fulton County | 17 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 60 | — | Cumberland County | 16 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 61 | — | Adams County | 15 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 62 | — | Montour County | 14 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 63 | — | Bucks County | 12 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 64 | — | Union County | 11 | very low county distress | Labor |
| 65 | — | Montgomery County | 9 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 66 | — | Butler County | 9 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 67 | — | Chester County | 3 | 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.