West Virginia County Distress Index
Financial distress scores for all 55 counties in West Virginia, scored 0–100 across five domains. A county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than; the average West Virginia county scores 65.3. 23 counties score 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
West Virginia Snapshot
West Virginia County Map
Webster County is the most distressed of West Virginia's 55 counties
County Distress Index score for West Virginia's 55 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
Point to or tap a county for its rank and score. Click it, or tap it twice, to open its page.
Most & Least Distressed
Most Distressed
Least Distressed
Score Distribution
How West Virginia's 55 county scores are distributed across the 0–100 scale.
All West Virginia Counties
55 counties ranked by distress score. Click column headers to sort.
| State Rank | Nat'l Rank | County | Score | Score Label | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 91 | Webster County | 97 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 2 | — | Mingo County | 96 | extreme county distress | Labor |
| 3 | — | McDowell County | 95 | extreme county distress | Labor |
| 4 | — | Summers County | 94 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 5 | — | Wyoming County | 93 | extreme county distress | Labor |
| 6 | — | Boone County | 93 | extreme county distress | Labor |
| 7 | — | Clay County | 92 | extreme county distress | Labor |
| 8 | — | Logan County | 91 | extreme county distress | Labor |
| 9 | — | Lincoln County | 89 | very high county distress | Labor |
| 10 | — | Calhoun County | 88 | very high county distress | Labor |
| 11 | — | Fayette County | 87 | very high county distress | Labor |
| 12 | — | Raleigh County | 85 | very high county distress | Labor |
| 13 | — | Cabell County | 81 | very high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 14 | — | Randolph County | 77 | high county distress | Delinquency |
| 15 | — | Mercer County | 76 | high county distress | Delinquency |
| 16 | — | Hancock County | 75 | high county distress | Labor |
| 17 | — | Wayne County | 75 | high county distress | Delinquency |
| 18 | — | Nicholas County | 75 | high county distress | Labor |
| 19 | — | Marshall County | 72 | high county distress | Delinquency |
| 20 | — | Ohio County | 71 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 21 | — | Lewis County | 70 | high county distress | Labor |
| 22 | — | Barbour County | 70 | high county distress | Labor |
| 23 | — | Kanawha County | 70 | high county distress | Delinquency |
| 24 | — | Jackson County | 69 | moderate-high county distress | Labor |
| 25 | — | Roane County | 68 | moderate-high county distress | Labor |
| 26 | — | Pocahontas County | 67 | moderate-high county distress | Labor |
| 27 | — | Upshur County | 67 | moderate-high county distress | Labor |
| 28 | — | Greenbrier County | 65 | moderate-high county distress | Labor |
| 29 | — | Braxton County | 64 | moderate-high county distress | Labor |
| 30 | — | Gilmer County | 64 | moderate-high county distress | Delinquency |
| 31 | — | Brooke County | 62 | moderate-high county distress | Labor |
| 32 | — | Mason County | 61 | moderate-high county distress | Delinquency |
| 33 | — | Monroe County | 59 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 34 | — | Wirt County | 59 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 35 | — | Wood County | 58 | moderate county distress | Delinquency |
| 36 | — | Ritchie County | 56 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 37 | — | Tyler County | 56 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 38 | — | Marion County | 56 | moderate county distress | Delinquency |
| 39 | — | Wetzel County | 55 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 40 | — | Harrison County | 54 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 41 | — | Preston County | 54 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 42 | — | Hampshire County | 52 | moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 43 | — | Doddridge County | 52 | moderate county distress | Delinquency |
| 44 | — | Taylor County | 52 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 45 | — | Hardy County | 49 | moderate-low county distress | Delinquency |
| 46 | — | Grant County | 48 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 47 | — | Pleasants County | 47 | moderate-low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 48 | — | Mineral County | 45 | moderate-low county distress | Labor |
| 49 | — | Berkeley County | 44 | moderate-low county distress | Delinquency |
| 50 | — | Monongalia County | 37 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 51 | — | Tucker County | 37 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 52 | — | Putnam County | 30 | low-moderate county distress | Delinquency |
| 53 | — | Morgan County | 26 | low county distress | Labor |
| 54 | — | Pendleton County | 25 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 55 | — | Jefferson County | 17 | very low county distress | Default & Legal |
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.