Mercer County, West Virginia

County Distress Index: Elevated · 59.9 | 58,057 people · 13th most distressed in West Virginia

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Mercer County, WV registers elevated household financial distress with a score of 59.9 — 842nd 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 West Virginia, it ranks 13th of 55 counties. Among its 7 neighboring counties, 4 show more distress.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Mercer County's primary driver is Income & Poverty at 81.2 — worse than roughly 81% of U.S. counties.

Income & Poverty Primary driver 81.2
Poverty Rate 85
Income vs. State Median 78
Child Poverty Rate 81
Community Vulnerability 58.1
Uninsured Rate 26
Disability Rate 90
Debt & Delinquency 56.7
Debt in Collections 87
Medical Debt 60
Student Loan Delinquency 5
Auto Loan Delinquency 77
Credit Card Delinquency 88
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 23
Employment & Wages 51.8
Unemployment Rate 72
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 16
Business Formation Rate 68
Housing Cost Burden 51.5
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 67
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 45
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 7
Homeownership Rate 72
Rent-to-Income Ratio 66

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

Neighbors and Peers

How Mercer County compares to its 7 neighboring counties and population peers.

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Mercer County
Mercer County, WV 59.9 Elevated
McDowell County, WV 68.0 Serious +8.1
Tazewell County, VA 63.7 Elevated +3.8
Summers County, WV 62.5 Elevated +2.7
Wyoming County, WV 60.3 Elevated +0.5
Raleigh County, WV 55.0 Elevated -4.8
Giles County, VA 38.8 Normal -21.1
Bland County, VA 35.5 Normal -24.4

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Mercer County
Muskingum County, OH 59.9 Elevated +0.0
Pickens County, SC 59.8 Elevated -0.0
Salem County, NJ 59.9 Elevated +0.1
Tom Green County, TX 60.0 Elevated +0.1
Nash County, NC 59.7 Elevated -0.2

Download Data

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