Mapped: U.S. States With the Most Financial Distress
Key Takeaways
- Kansas, Louisiana, and Florida rank as the three states facing the highest levels of financial distress in 2026.
- Eight of the 11 highest-scoring states are in the South.
- Maine has the lowest financial distress score in the country at 14.8 out of 100.
This map ranks all 50 states by financial distress in 2026, highlighting sharp differences in household financial pressure across the country.
The data for this visualization comes from WalletHub. Its ranking compares states across nine metrics grouped into six categories, including credit scores, accounts in financial distress, bankruptcy filings, and Google search interest for terms related to debt and loans.
WalletHub defines an account in distress as one that is in forbearance or has payments deferred because of financial hardship. The data used for the ranking was collected as of June 17, 2026, with overall scores ranging from 0 to 100.
Kansas Ranks First for Financial Distress
Kansas tops the ranking with a score of 55.0, narrowly ahead of Louisiana at 53.9 and Florida at 52.0.
Its No. 1 position reflects several indicators rather than a single measure. WalletHub reports that about 3.9% of people in Kansas had accounts in distress, while non-business bankruptcy filings rose by nearly 12% from the previous year. The state also ranked near the top for Google searches related to both debt and loans.
| Rank | State | Financial distress (0-100) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kansas | 55.0 |
| 2 | Louisiana | 53.9 |
| 3 | Florida | 52.0 |
| 4 | Texas | 49.9 |
| 5 | South Carolina | 49.2 |
| 6 | Wyoming | 48.2 |
| 7 | Georgia | 46.9 |
| 8 | California | 46.8 |
| 9 | North Carolina | 46.3 |
| 10 | Kentucky | 44.2 |
| 11 | Mississippi | 43.3 |
| 12 | Nevada | 42.3 |
| 13 | Oklahoma | 39.9 |
| 14 | Alabama | 39.2 |
| 15 | Nebraska | 38.6 |
| 16 | New York | 37.7 |
| 17 | Virginia | 37.1 |
| 18 | Connecticut | 36.8 |
| 19 | North Dakota | 36.6 |
| 20 | Missouri | 36.5 |
| 21 | Delaware | 36.4 |
| 22 | Arkansas | 36.3 |
| 23 | Tennessee | 36.2 |
| 24 | Arizona | 36.1 |
| 25 | Maryland | 35.9 |
| 26 | Iowa | 35.8 |
| 27 | Massachusetts | 35.1 |
| 28 | Colorado | 33.3 |
| 29 | Minnesota | 33.2 |
| 30 | Indiana | 32.2 |
| 31 | Montana | 31.7 |
| 32 | Ohio | 31.7 |
| 33 | Oregon | 31.6 |
| 34 | Alaska | 31.6 |
| 35 | Pennsylvania | 31.4 |
| 36 | South Dakota | 30.6 |
| 37 | West Virginia | 29.8 |
| 38 | Utah | 29.8 |
| 39 | New Jersey | 29.6 |
| 40 | New Mexico | 29.0 |
| 41 | Idaho | 28.5 |
| 42 | Illinois | 28.2 |
| 43 | New Hampshire | 27.8 |
| 44 | Washington | 25.8 |
| 45 | Wisconsin | 25.5 |
| 46 | Michigan | 22.1 |
| 47 | Vermont | 21.9 |
| 48 | Hawaii | 21.1 |
| 49 | Rhode Island | 20.1 |
| 50 | Maine | 14.8 |
Southern States Are Prominent Near the Top
Eight of the 11 states with the highest financial distress scores are in the South, making it the most heavily represented U.S. region near the top of the ranking.
Louisiana ranks second overall and stands out for the prevalence of distressed accounts. Around 12% of residents had a credit account in forbearance or with deferred payments, according to WalletHub.
Florida, meanwhile, had one of the country’s largest increases in the share of people with distressed accounts between the first quarters of 2025 and 2026.
Texas also ranks fourth overall, while California ranks eighth, showing that financial stress is also evident in some of the country’s largest states.
Maine Has the Lowest Financial Distress Score
At the opposite end of the ranking, Maine records the lowest overall score at 14.8. Rhode Island, Hawaii, Vermont, and Michigan round out the five states with the lowest financial distress scores.
The spread between the extremes is substantial. Kansas’ score is more than 40 points higher than Maine’s and roughly 3.7 times as large.
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