Washington County Distress Index
Financial distress scores for all 39 counties in Washington, scored 0–100 across five domains. A county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than; the average Washington county scores 43.6. 1 county scores 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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Washington County Map
Grays Harbor County is the most distressed of Washington's 39 counties
County Distress Index score for Washington's 39 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
Least Distressed
Score Distribution
How Washington's 39 county scores are distributed across the 0–100 scale.
All Washington Counties
39 counties ranked by distress score. Click column headers to sort.
| State Rank | Nat'l Rank | County | Score | Score Label | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | — | Grays Harbor County | 77 | high county distress | Labor |
| 2 | — | Yakima County | 69 | moderate-high county distress | Labor |
| 3 | — | Adams County | 68 | moderate-high county distress | Labor |
| 4 | — | Grant County | 62 | moderate-high county distress | Labor |
| 5 | — | Okanogan County | 60 | moderate-high county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 6 | — | Lewis County | 56 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 7 | — | Mason County | 53 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 8 | — | Columbia County | 52 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 9 | — | Pierce County | 51 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 10 | — | Cowlitz County | 51 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 11 | — | Garfield County | 50 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 12 | — | Pacific County | 50 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 13 | — | Klickitat County | 46 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 14 | — | Franklin County | 46 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 15 | — | Clallam County | 45 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 16 | — | Kittitas County | 44 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 17 | — | Asotin County | 44 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 18 | — | Ferry County | 43 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 19 | — | Pend Oreille County | 43 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 20 | — | Thurston County | 42 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 21 | — | Stevens County | 41 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 22 | — | Spokane County | 40 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 23 | — | Lincoln County | 39 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 24 | — | Walla Walla County | 39 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 25 | — | Wahkiakum County | 39 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 26 | — | Benton County | 39 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 27 | — | Whitman County | 38 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 28 | — | Clark County | 37 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 29 | — | Snohomish County | 36 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 30 | — | Douglas County | 35 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 31 | — | Whatcom County | 34 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 32 | — | Skagit County | 34 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 33 | — | Jefferson County | 30 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 34 | — | Island County | 29 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 35 | — | Skamania County | 27 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 36 | — | Kitsap County | 27 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 37 | — | King County | 23 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 38 | — | San Juan County | 21 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 39 | — | Chelan County | 20 | 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.