Tennessee County Distress Index
Financial distress scores for all 95 counties in Tennessee, scored 0–100 across five domains. Mean score: 58.2. 17counties are in Serious or Crisis.
Data: Census, BLS, Urban Institute, HUD, US Courts | Scores as of 2026-03-26
Tennessee Snapshot
95 Counties Scored
58.2 Mean Score
57.6 Median Score
81.2 Shelby County Most Distressed
21.3 Williamson County Least Distressed
1 Crisis 16 Serious 63 Elevated 13 Normal 2 Healthy
Zone Distribution Tennessee County Map
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Healthy Normal Elevated Serious Crisis
All 95 Tennessee counties colored by distress zone. Hover for details; click released counties for full reports.
Most & Least Distressed
Most Distressed
Least Distressed
Score Distribution
How Tennessee's 95 county scores are distributed across the 0–100 scale.
All Tennessee Counties
95 counties ranked by distress score. Click column headers to sort.
| State Rank | Nat'l Rank | County | Score | Zone | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 49 | Shelby County | 81.2 | Crisis | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 2 | 70 | Haywood County | 79.6 | Serious | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 3 | 78 | Lauderdale County | 79.2 | Serious | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 4 | 107 | Hardeman County | 77.8 | Serious | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 5 | 108 | Sequatchie County | 77.8 | Serious | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 6 | 153 | Madison County | 76.1 | Serious | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 7 | 167 | Cocke County | 75.5 | Serious | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 8 | 279 | Hancock County | 72.7 | Serious | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 9 | 316 | Lake County | 72.0 | Serious | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 10 | 421 | Hamblen County | 69.4 | Serious | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 11 | 464 | Campbell County | 68.4 | Serious | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 12 | 468 | Montgomery County | 68.3 | Serious | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 13 | 481 | Dyer County | 68.1 | Serious | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 14 | 538 | Carroll County | 67.2 | Serious | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 15 | 596 | Bradley County | 66.1 | Serious | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 16 | 600 | Carter County | 65.9 | Serious | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 17 | 603 | Scott County | 65.8 | Serious | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 18 | 657 | Monroe County | 64.7 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 19 | 679 | Claiborne County | 64.4 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 20 | 689 | Macon County | 64.3 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 21 | 704 | Gibson County | 64.0 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 22 | 719 | Davidson County | 63.8 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 23 | 735 | Crockett County | 63.6 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 24 | 754 | Marion County | 63.4 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 25 | 771 | Bedford County | 63.0 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 26 | 779 | Grundy County | 62.9 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 27 | 815 | DeKalb County | 62.2 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 28 | 817 | Unicoi County | 62.1 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 29 | 829 | Tipton County | 61.9 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 30 | 833 | Hardin County | 61.8 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 31 | 866 | Polk County | 61.3 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 32 | 873 | McMinn County | 61.2 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 33 | 901 | Jackson County | 60.8 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 34 | 924 | Putnam County | 60.4 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 35 | 934 | Hamilton County | 60.3 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 36 | 952 | Meigs County | 59.9 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 37 | 964 | Rutherford County | 59.8 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 38 | 975 | Anderson County | 59.7 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 39 | 976 | Weakley County | 59.7 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 40 | 985 | Coffee County | 59.6 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 41 | 1,002 | Jefferson County | 59.3 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 42 | 1,004 | McNairy County | 59.3 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 43 | 1,018 | Bledsoe County | 59.0 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 44 | 1,021 | Rhea County | 59.0 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 45 | 1,022 | Henry County | 59.0 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 46 | 1,033 | Wayne County | 58.8 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 47 | 1,096 | Sullivan County | 57.7 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 48 | 1,109 | Warren County | 57.6 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 49 | 1,110 | Washington County | 57.6 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 50 | 1,111 | Henderson County | 57.6 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 51 | 1,112 | Hawkins County | 57.6 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 52 | 1,127 | Chester County | 57.5 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 53 | 1,130 | Morgan County | 57.4 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 54 | 1,148 | Robertson County | 57.0 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 55 | 1,152 | Union County | 56.9 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 56 | 1,160 | Obion County | 56.8 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 57 | 1,169 | Johnson County | 56.6 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 58 | 1,170 | Lawrence County | 56.6 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 59 | 1,177 | White County | 56.4 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 60 | 1,182 | Maury County | 56.3 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 61 | 1,206 | Lewis County | 56.0 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 62 | 1,207 | Sevier County | 56.0 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 63 | 1,228 | Greene County | 55.6 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 64 | 1,233 | Fentress County | 55.6 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 65 | 1,246 | Knox County | 55.4 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 66 | 1,275 | Benton County | 55.0 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 67 | 1,277 | Perry County | 55.0 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 68 | 1,288 | Clay County | 54.8 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 69 | 1,322 | Grainger County | 54.4 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 70 | 1,389 | Giles County | 53.2 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 71 | 1,391 | Lincoln County | 53.1 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 72 | 1,423 | Cannon County | 52.6 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 73 | 1,431 | Overton County | 52.5 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 74 | 1,479 | Van Buren County | 51.6 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 75 | 1,486 | Humphreys County | 51.5 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 76 | 1,524 | Hickman County | 51.0 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 77 | 1,530 | Fayette County | 50.8 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 78 | 1,531 | Trousdale County | 50.8 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 79 | 1,541 | Roane County | 50.6 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 80 | 1,562 | Houston County | 50.2 | Elevated | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 81 | 1,583 | Sumner County | 49.9 | Normal | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 82 | 1,602 | Franklin County | 49.5 | Normal | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 83 | 1,609 | Decatur County | 49.4 | Normal | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 84 | 1,615 | Blount County | 49.3 | Normal | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 85 | 1,634 | Cumberland County | 49.1 | Normal | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 86 | 1,647 | Marshall County | 49.0 | Normal | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 87 | 1,811 | Pickett County | 46.5 | Normal | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 88 | 1,863 | Dickson County | 45.7 | Normal | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 89 | 1,888 | Smith County | 45.2 | Normal | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 90 | 1,903 | Cheatham County | 44.9 | Normal | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 91 | 2,020 | Loudon County | 42.8 | Normal | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 92 | 2,024 | Wilson County | 42.8 | Normal | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 93 | 2,335 | Moore County | 37.6 | Normal | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 94 | 2,565 | Stewart County | 33.5 | Healthy | Consumer Credit Distress |
| 95 | 3,044 | Williamson County | 21.3 | Healthy | Housing Cost Burden |
How County Scores Work
Each county is scored 0–100 using PCA-weighted percentile-rank scoring across five statistically derived dimensions: Consumer Credit Distress, Housing Cost Burden, Structural Poverty, Economic Vitality, and Legal Distress. A score of 50 means the county falls at the national median. Higher scores indicate greater household financial distress.
Crisis (≥80) — Among the most distressed counties in the country
Serious (65–80) — More distressed than roughly 80% of counties
Elevated (50–65) — More distressed than roughly half of counties
Normal (35–50) — Near the national median
Healthy (<35) — Less distressed than most counties