Lehigh County, Pennsylvania

County Distress Index: Elevated · 52.3 | 377,754 people · 17th most distressed in Pennsylvania

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Lehigh County, PA registers elevated household financial distress with a score of 52.3 — 1432nd 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 17th of 67 counties. Its score is in the middle of its 6 neighboring counties.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Lehigh County's primary driver is Housing Cost Burden at 88.6 — worse than roughly 89% of U.S. counties.

Housing Cost Burden Primary driver 88.6
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 95
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 93
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 89
Homeownership Rate 84
Rent-to-Income Ratio 83
Debt & Delinquency 57.3
Debt in Collections 55
Medical Debt 59
Student Loan Delinquency 57
Auto Loan Delinquency 67
Credit Card Delinquency 64
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 43
Employment & Wages 52.5
Unemployment Rate 55
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 70
Business Formation Rate 32
Income & Poverty 34.5
Poverty Rate 38
Income vs. State Median 16
Child Poverty Rate 49
Community Vulnerability 28.7
Uninsured Rate 32
Disability Rate 25

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

Neighbors and Peers

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

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Lehigh County
Lehigh County, PA 52.3 Elevated
Carbon County, PA 54.6 Elevated +2.3
Berks County, PA 53.7 Elevated +1.4
Schuylkill County, PA 52.7 Elevated +0.4
Northampton County, PA 44.5 Normal -7.8
Bucks County, PA 29.8 Healthy -22.5
Montgomery County, PA 26.9 Healthy -25.5

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Lehigh County
Union County, NJ 52.5 Elevated +0.2
Erie County, PA 52.1 Elevated -0.2
Bernalillo County, NM 52.8 Elevated +0.5
Gwinnett County, GA 52.8 Elevated +0.5
Hamilton County, TN 51.7 Elevated -0.6

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