Nicholas County, West Virginia

County Distress Index: Elevated · 56.4 | 24,169 people · 20th most distressed in West Virginia

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Nicholas County, WV registers elevated household financial distress with a score of 56.4 — 1118th 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 20th of 55 counties. Among its 6 neighboring counties, 5 show more distress.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Nicholas County's primary driver is Income & Poverty at 75.8 — worse than roughly 76% of U.S. counties.

Income & Poverty Primary driver 75.8
Poverty Rate 83
Income vs. State Median 71
Child Poverty Rate 73
Debt & Delinquency 61.3
Debt in Collections 73
Medical Debt 51
Student Loan Delinquency 82
Auto Loan Delinquency 67
Credit Card Delinquency 86
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 8
Employment & Wages 61.1
Unemployment Rate 93
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 11
Business Formation Rate 80
Community Vulnerability 60.5
Uninsured Rate 31
Disability Rate 90
Housing Cost Burden 23.2
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 9
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 27
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 17
Homeownership Rate 10
Rent-to-Income Ratio 54

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

Neighbors and Peers

How Nicholas County compares to its 6 neighboring counties and population peers.

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Nicholas County
Nicholas County, WV 56.4 Elevated
Webster County, WV 70.3 Serious +14.0
Clay County, WV 68.1 Serious +11.8
Fayette County, WV 63.6 Elevated +7.2
Greenbrier County, WV 57.3 Elevated +0.9
Braxton County, WV 57.2 Elevated +0.8
Kanawha County, WV 53.2 Elevated -3.2

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Nicholas County
Crenshaw County, AL 56.4 Elevated -0.0
Cherokee County, NC 56.3 Elevated -0.0
Jasper County, GA 56.4 Elevated +0.1
Macon County, TN 56.3 Elevated -0.1
Baker County, FL 56.5 Elevated +0.1

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