Centre County, Pennsylvania

County Distress Index: Normal · 42.7 | 157,795 people · 50th most distressed in Pennsylvania

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Centre County, PA falls within the normal range for household financial distress at 42.7 — 2161st nationally out of 3144 counties. The primary driver is Housing Cost Burden, where a large share of households spend more than 30% of income on housing. Within Pennsylvania, it ranks 50th of 67 counties. Among its 6 neighboring counties, 5 show more distress.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Centre County's primary driver is Housing Cost Burden at 87.3 — worse than roughly 87% of U.S. counties.

Housing Cost Burden Primary driver 87.3
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 96
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 99
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 76
Homeownership Rate 90
Rent-to-Income Ratio 75
Employment & Wages 56.1
Unemployment Rate 13
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 65
Business Formation Rate 90
Income & Poverty 36.8
Poverty Rate 73
Income vs. State Median 26
Child Poverty Rate 11
Debt & Delinquency 17.7
Debt in Collections 8
Medical Debt 31
Student Loan Delinquency 17
Auto Loan Delinquency 31
Credit Card Delinquency 16
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 5
Community Vulnerability 15.6
Uninsured Rate 24
Disability Rate 8

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

Neighbors and Peers

How Centre County compares to its 6 neighboring counties and population peers.

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Centre County
Centre County, PA 42.7 Normal
Clinton County, PA 58.4 Elevated +15.7
Blair County, PA 54.0 Elevated +11.3
Mifflin County, PA 53.8 Elevated +11.1
Clearfield County, PA 50.0 Normal +7.3
Huntingdon County, PA 46.0 Normal +3.3
Union County, PA 34.7 Healthy -8.0

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Centre County
Franklin County, KY 42.7 Normal +0.0
Coweta County, GA 42.8 Normal +0.1
Charles County, MD 42.6 Normal -0.1
Belknap County, NH 42.6 Normal -0.1
Miami County, OH 42.6 Normal -0.1

Download Data

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Find Help in Centre County

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Free Legal Aid

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