Wise County, Virginia

County Distress Index: Elevated · 63.5 | 35,174 people · 21st most distressed in Virginia

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Wise County, VA registers elevated household financial distress with a score of 63.5 — 594th 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 Virginia, it ranks 21st of 133 counties. Among its 8 neighboring counties, 5 show more distress.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Wise County's primary driver is Income & Poverty at 77.5 — worse than roughly 78% of U.S. counties.

Income & Poverty Primary driver 77.5
Poverty Rate 79
Income vs. State Median 93
Child Poverty Rate 61
Community Vulnerability 67.0
Uninsured Rate 36
Disability Rate 98
Debt & Delinquency 66.7
Debt in Collections 83
Medical Debt 31
Student Loan Delinquency 75
Auto Loan Delinquency 55
Credit Card Delinquency 83
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 74
Employment & Wages 63.7
Unemployment Rate 61
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 34
Business Formation Rate 96
Housing Cost Burden 42.5
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 27
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 41
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 36
Homeownership Rate 52
Rent-to-Income Ratio 56

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

Neighbors and Peers

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

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Wise County
Wise County, VA 63.5 Elevated
Lee County, VA 73.2 Serious +9.7
Norton city, VA 70.0 Serious +6.5
Harlan County, KY 69.3 Serious +5.8
Pike County, KY 66.8 Serious +3.3
Scott County, VA 63.6 Elevated +0.2
Letcher County, KY 60.5 Elevated -2.9
Dickenson County, VA 58.3 Elevated -5.2
Russell County, VA 57.6 Elevated -5.9

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Wise County
Morgan County, MO 63.4 Elevated -0.0
Vinton County, OH 63.4 Elevated -0.1
Upshur County, TX 63.4 Elevated -0.1
Caldwell County, TX 63.6 Elevated +0.1
Vernon Parish, LA 63.6 Elevated +0.1

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