Financial Stress Index · USInsights · 2,278 counties

Which US Counties Are Under the Most Financial Stress?

The Financial Stress Index (FSI) is the first county-level composite measure combining housing cost burden, eviction rates, and debt in collections into a single score from 0 to 100. It identifies where financial pressure has become structural — not temporary.

Severe stress

61

counties scoring 85+

High stress

337

counties scoring 70–84

Elevated stress

735

counties scoring 50–69

Low stress

216

counties scoring below 25

Counties covered

2,278

with all 3 inputs present

Top 10 — Most Financially Stressed Counties

Where financial pressure is most severe

These counties simultaneously score in the upper percentiles for renter cost burden, eviction rates, and debt in collections. They are not just expensive — they are places where housing stress, displacement, and financial distress have become mutually reinforcing. Many are concentrated in the Deep South, Appalachia, South Texas border counties, and Virginia's independent cities.

What the data reveals

Three distinct patterns of financial collapse

The top of the Financial Stress Index isn't a random scatter. Three geographic patterns dominate.

The rental trap (Deep South + Appalachian cities): Counties like Clayton County, Georgia (FSI 99) and Petersburg, Virginia (FSI 95) combine extremely high eviction rates with debt in collections above 40%. These are not high-cost markets — they are low-income markets where wages never kept pace with rents. The affordability crisis here is not about prices being too high; it is about incomes being too low.

The border debt belt (South Texas): Counties like Brooks County, TX (56.3% of adults with debt in collections — the highest rate in the United States) show extreme debt stress with lower eviction rates. These are predominantly homeowner communities with no formal rental market, so evictions are rare — but debt burdens are catastrophic. The FSI partially understates their distress because one component (eviction rate) is structurally low.

The post-industrial Midwest: Counties across Ohio, Michigan, and West Virginia combine moderate rent burden with high eviction rates and above-average debt stress. Manufacturing job losses created long-tail financial hardship that persists decades later in debt collection rates.

Bottom 10 — Least Financially Stressed Counties

Where financial resilience is strongest

The lowest FSI scores concentrate in the Mountain West, Great Plains, and upper Midwest — areas characterised by low housing costs relative to incomes, very low eviction rates, and debt in collections well below the national average of 22.7%. Several Colorado ski resort counties appear here, illustrating that high absolute housing costs do not automatically translate into financial stress when incomes are high enough to absorb them.

Methodology

How the Financial Stress Index is calculated

The FSI is a percentile rank composite. Each county is ranked nationally on three indicators, producing a percentile score from 0 (lowest stress nationally) to 100 (highest). The final FSI score is a weighted average of those three percentile ranks. Counties missing any one of the three inputs receive no FSI score rather than a partial one — full coverage is required.

40%

Renter Cost Burden

Share of renters spending 30%+ of income on rent.
Source: ACS 5-Year (B25070) · 2024

30%

Eviction Rate

Evictions per 100 renter households per year.
Source: Princeton Eviction Lab · 2018

30%

Debt in Collections

Share of adults with any debt in collections.
Source: Urban Institute Debt in America · July 2024

Coverage note: The FSI is computed for all counties where renter cost burden, eviction rate, and debt in collections data are simultaneously available. Counties missing any input are excluded rather than assigned a partial score. Princeton Eviction Lab data is the primary coverage constraint — some rural counties lack sufficient filings data.

Common questions

About the Financial Stress Index

What is the Financial Stress Index? +

The Financial Stress Index (FSI) is a composite score from 0 to 100 measuring accumulated financial stress at the county level. It combines renter cost burden (40%), eviction rate (30%), and debt in collections (30%) into a single score. Higher scores mean more stress. A score of 100 means a county ranks at or near the top nationally on all three measures simultaneously.

Why use three indicators instead of one? +

No single indicator captures the full picture of financial stress. High rent burden without evictions might reflect a stable but stretched renter population. High debt in collections without evictions often signals a homeowner community with income stress. The FSI identifies counties where pressure is structural across multiple dimensions simultaneously.

How is this different from other poverty or distress indices? +

Existing indices like the Distressed Communities Index (EIG) or WalletHub's financial distress rankings typically operate at the ZIP code or state level, and focus on economic output metrics. The FSI focuses specifically on housing-adjacent financial stress — the pressure of housing costs feeding into debt and displacement — at the county level, with full geographic coverage and a free interactive map.

Are the data sources up to date? +

Renter cost burden uses the ACS 5-Year Estimates (2024 release, covering 2020–2024). Debt in collections uses the Urban Institute Debt in America dataset (July 2024). Eviction rate data from the Princeton Eviction Lab covers through 2018 — this is the most recent publicly available county-level dataset with national coverage.

Explore financial stress county by county on the map

Pan and zoom to any US county. Switch between FSI score, debt in collections, eviction rate, and renter cost burden. Compare alongside income, demographics, and election results.

Open the FSI map