Community Distress Index

One number for every West Virginia county, showing how far it sits from the state average across seven measures of economic, health, and demographic strain.

The Community Distress Index scores all 55 counties on the same seven indicators, measures each against the statewide distribution, and averages the results. A score of 0 means a county is at the West Virginia average across the bundle. A score of +1.0 means it is about one standard deviation worse than average; −1.0 means one standard deviation better. The county is the political boundary the data come in — the distress being measured belongs to the communities inside it.

The seven indicators

Unemployment rate (BLS, 2023 annual average) · Poverty rate (Census SAIPE, 2023) · Median household income (Census SAIPE, 2023) · Drug overdose deaths per 100,000 (CDC, via County Health Rankings 2025) · Food insecurity rate (Feeding America, via County Health Rankings 2025) · Share of working-age adults receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSA, December 2022) · Population change, 2010–2023 (Census)

How to read it

The index ranks distress within West Virginia. A county at 0 is average for the state — and West Virginia's average on most of these measures is worse than the national average. All seven indicators count equally. For ten small counties the CDC suppresses the overdose figure, so their score rests on six indicators and is marked as such.

Interactive map and county rankings

The map below colors all 55 counties by the composite score or by any single indicator. Click a county for its seven component scores;the list ranks every county. Figures are a snapshot of the foundation data platform computed September 15, 2026.

About the data

All inputs are public federal data. The full methodology, including the calculation and its caveats, is available on request from Empower West Virginia. Researched and built with AI assistance (Claude, Anthropic); reviewed by Dean Bonney, Executive Director.