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Ranked: States Where Americans Are Struggling the Most Financially

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Ranked: Where Americans Are Struggling the Most Financially

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Key Takeaways

  • Southern states dominate the list of places where Americans are in the most financial distress.
  • Texas, Florida, and Louisiana rank highest due to high distress rates and rising bankruptcy filings.

Americans across the country are facing increasing financial pressure. This visualization ranks all 50 U.S. states by a composite score of financial distress indicators. The data includes number of accounts in distress, bankruptcy trends, and even online search behavior for debt-related terms between March 2024 and March 2025.

The data for this visualization comes from WalletHub.

The South Leads in Financial Struggles

Texas tops the list as the most financially distressed state, followed by Florida, Louisiana, Nevada, and South Carolina. These states consistently rank poorly across multiple indicators, particularly in the number and average count of distressed accounts.

Rank State People with Accounts in Distress Avg # of Accounts in Distress Change in Bankruptcy Filings (2025 vs. 2024) “Debt” Search Interest Index “Loans” Search Interest Index
1 Texas 8 7 6 13 5
2 Florida 1 2 5 32 25
3 Louisiana 7 1 31 22 2
4 Nevada 9 13 15 11 8
5 S. Carolina 2 4 34 22 5
6 Oklahoma 16 19 28 6 3
7 N. Carolina 4 8 20 32 20
8 Mississippi 14 15 35 46 1
9 Kentucky 3 3 43 27 10
10 Alabama 10 17 38 27 4
11 Arizona 26 25 14 6 16
12 California 5 6 8 42 47
13 Georgia 6 10 48 16 8
14 Delaware 18 23 16 22 12
15 Indiana 28 33 27 1 20
16 Ohio 29 26 18 10 12
17 Tennessee 11 16 41 22 12
18 Virginia 21 21 33 3 25
19 New York 27 29 37 4 10
20 Arkansas 12 14 45 16 12
21 Colorado 40 37 3 27 34
22 Iowa 19 11 13 38 23
23 Idaho 46 41 4 16 28
24 Connecticut 15 5 19 45 45
25 Missouri 17 22 46 13 7
26 Kansas 22 18 36 22 16
27 N. Hampshire 24 28 2 40 45
28 Minnesota 32 27 9 27 34
29 Montana 41 35 26 11 32
30 Massachusetts 20 12 10 42 47
31 Utah 35 32 21 9 28
32 Pennsylvania 30 34 24 27 23
33 Nebraska 13 9 42 42 38
34 North Dakota 47 45 40 2 19
35 Wyoming 49 48 11 6 22
36 Washington 44 49 7 13 41
37 Illinois 39 31 30 16 32
38 S. Dakota 23 20 50 4 30
39 Rhode Island 48 47 1 40 37
40 Michigan 45 42 39 16 18
41 Wisconsin 36 39 22 36 25
42 Maryland 33 36 29 32 41
43 Maine 34 44 12 38 41
44 New Jersey 31 30 32 36 44
45 West Virginia 25 24 44 32 38
46 New Mexico 38 43 17 49 30
47 Oregon 37 46 23 47 38
48 Alaska 43 38 49 16 34
49 Vermont 50 50 25 48 49
50 Hawaii 42 40 47 50 50

Texas, for example, ranks 8th for the number of people in distress and 7th for the average number of distressed accounts. Louisiana ranks 1st in average accounts in distress.

Western and Northeastern States Fare Better

In contrast, many northern and western states rank near the bottom of the distress scale. Hawaii, Vermont, Alaska, and Oregon round out the bottom five, indicating less financial stress overall.

These states tend to show lower bankruptcy increases, fewer accounts in distress, and less debt-related search interest. Notably, Vermont ranks last in the number of people and accounts in distress.

Averaging a distress rank of 32.95, Republican-leaning states are experiencing significantly more financial hardship than Democrat-leaning states, which average a much lower rank of 20.94.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Mapped: The Income Needed to Join the Top 1% in Every U.S. State on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

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