Wayne County, West Virginia

County Distress Index: Elevated · 58.8 | 37,686 people · 16th most distressed in West Virginia

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Wayne County, WV registers elevated household financial distress with a score of 58.8 — 919th 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 16th of 55 counties. It scores lower than all 7 of its neighboring counties.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Wayne County's primary driver is Income & Poverty at 68.1 — above the national median.

Income & Poverty Primary driver 68.1
Poverty Rate 79
Income vs. State Median 58
Child Poverty Rate 67
Debt & Delinquency 62.5
Debt in Collections 76
Medical Debt 74
Student Loan Delinquency 5
Auto Loan Delinquency 89
Credit Card Delinquency 79
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 51
Community Vulnerability 62.0
Uninsured Rate 29
Disability Rate 95
Employment & Wages 60.7
Unemployment Rate 82
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 7
Business Formation Rate 94
Housing Cost Burden 40.5
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 42
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 44
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 19
Homeownership Rate 33
Rent-to-Income Ratio 64

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

Neighbors and Peers

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

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Wayne County
Wayne County, WV 58.8 Elevated
Mingo County, WV 68.3 Serious +9.6
Lawrence County, KY 68.0 Serious +9.3
Lincoln County, WV 64.9 Elevated +6.1
Martin County, KY 64.0 Elevated +5.3
Cabell County, WV 63.5 Elevated +4.8
Lawrence County, OH 63.0 Elevated +4.2
Boyd County, KY 59.1 Elevated +0.4

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Wayne County
Saline County, MO 58.8 Elevated +0.0
Jefferson County, IL 58.7 Elevated -0.0
Baxter County, AR 58.8 Elevated +0.1
Benton County, TN 58.8 Elevated +0.1
Sabine Parish, LA 58.7 Elevated -0.1

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