AP Economic Stress Index: Measuring Financial Strain by County. (Interactive Map)

I found this really informative and interactive map of the US. You can see exactly how hard each county in the US has been hit by the recession and it includes unemployment numbers.

If you are wondering how it is going in your area...you should check this out.

You will notice that the exact middle of the country is doing better than everywhere else.

Michigan and California however...OUCH.
hosted.ap.org...

Here is an article on the map:

AP IMPACT: Stress map outlines recession's stories

Through the voices of its people, the map shouts.

From Atlanta, Ga., listen to Marian Chamberlain -- 65, jobless, and no longer eligible for unemployment: "I will never be able to retire." From Shakopee, Minn., listen to Bruce Paul, 56, a vintage car mechanic laid off in January and unemployed for the first time since Richard Nixon was president. Today he and his wife spend their days in the public library to reduce energy costs at home. "You go out and they say, you know, you need a resume. And I say, `A resume? What's that?'"

From Broomfield, Colo., listen to U.S. Marine and construction worker Simon Todt, 27, a combat-arms specialist who returned from three tours in Iraq only to be laid off from his construction job in December. He smiles wanly as he sums up his situation: "There's not a big calling in the civilian world for explosives." The republic is brimming with Americans like these. And the Associated Press Economic Stress Map helps us find their voices and tell their stories.

Here are some fleeting examples of what the Stress Index tells us:

--The current recession spread like an epidemic from isolation to ubiquity, marching from sequestered pockets of foreclosure to a nationwide explosion of misery as unemployment overtook foreclosures as the dominant misfortune of this recession.
--Places with technology-based economies were recession-proof for a while but aren't now. --Places with large numbers of government jobs -- state capitals, university towns, communities with concentrations of hospitals -- remain fairly recession-proof. These are places like Columbia, Mo.; Madison, Wis.; the Raleigh, N.C., area; and Athens, Ga.

--State government is not hurting that much -- at least, not yet.

--The regions we look to for our traditional sources of energy, for our coal and oil -- Wyoming, West Virginia and the like -- have generally not been hit as hard.

--While bankruptcy declarations are happening everywhere, they tend to be higher in the South because of such things as low wages, state laws that give power to creditors and a culture that's more familiar with the bankruptcy option.

--Among counties with 25,000-plus residents, no place has been hit harder than Elkhart County, Ind., and that 15 of the 20 American counties hit hardest by the recession in the past year are in six states -- Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

finance.yahoo.com...

Interesting article that gives a bit more insight into what the numbers mean.



[edit on 17-5-2009 by David9176]

Thank you for posting this. Bookmarking and messing around with it now.

My county is at 10.8 percent unemployment, 2.1 percent foreclosure rate, and just under 1 percent bankruptcy.

In all, not as bad as I thought it was. It's under the states average anyway.

Wow we are really headed into depression here. Based on this map it appears that the national unemployment rate is a percentage based on population. They then take that percentage of each area and divide it by each other to figure out the national average taking into no account the population sizes of the counties most deeply effected. The bigger counties seem to have a larger percentage of unemployed, which says to me the unemployment rate is significantly higher than the average of these geographical areas.

reply to post by ExPostFacto


Browse around this website and it will give you an idea of what the real unemployment numbers are.
Shadow Stats


You have to take into account that the government makes its statistics off of unemployment numbers. They do not count people who are already not employed, like stay at home moms and dads. They do not count the homeless. They also do not count the people who stop getting unemployment because their unemployment ran out and they didnt get a job.

There are quite a few places on the map...especially california and michigan...where unemployment is at our around 25 percent.

That's nuts.

Wow, nice find.

Many counties are near at or greater than 25% unemployment, which confirms other reports I have seen. Colusa county CA was hit especially hard.

I would guess that some of it is older, or based on older data. Any info on when and how often it is updated?

Last report I read there are well over 9 MILLION out of work and between 600,000 and 700,000+ new jobless claims every month.... With nearly 90% of those who are on unemployment filing for extensions of benefits (also in the MILLIONS)

That was before the closures of thousands of dealerships by GM and Chrysler. Which alone will add many thousands more unemployed to those numbers.

This is all incredibly sad, as if we are helplessly watching the destruction of our once great nation and all any of us can do is wait until it gets to us... On your map just watch as the darker shades grow and consume your areas, if it hasn't already.

All the result of too many decades of corporate greed, they assumed that they could keep it going forever.... In the end the entire nation will pay for that greed.

Debt and deficits in the TRILLIONS peoples... TRILLIONS! and they are still trying to save this sinking ship by bailing out the greediest corporate elite who are ultimately responsible for this catastrophe.

And they all fall down.

Our only hope now is the resilience, ingenuity and will of the people of this nation to build anew, while hopefully creating a system which will eliminate the greed that brought us down. That is if we can survive the darkest days that may lie ahead of us.

Stay away from the dark shades on that map whilst you still can!

The worst county that I've found so far is in Michigan...Mackinac County...which has a staggering 28 percent unemployment rate.

I think it's a lower population area...but still that is quite high....especially when it only includes those on full unemployment benefits...not part timers or those who can no longer draw.

It looks like the best place to be right now is right in the middle of the country.

Now all we need is a map showing the spread of H1N1 on the same page with this economic map, then one could stay one step ahead of the apocalypse. At least for as long as possible.

Seriously, I can't help but see what is going on at the economic level in my country and realize that every single business closure and job loss means state and federal revenues lost, more foreclosures, bankruptcies, all of which are like a virus itself, it can only keep spreading, yet like a vacuum it is sucking up the new money as fast as it is printed which also only makes things worse by ultimately creating inflation (food prices are already going up) and devaluing the dollar.

I can't see how this can be stopped until it reaches the END. The end of this country as we have known it.

We have seen people who call for an end to wars overseas, pray for peace and protest.... What will they do when they see neighbors killing neighbors for food and other resources?

We haven't seen the worst yet, and I pray we never do.

Until now I haven't found any way they can stop it, and I am still looking.

[edit on 17-5-2009 by Walkswithfish]

Nice find, but I would really like to see a map with the real unemployment numbers based off U3 + U6...shadowstats is one of my faves..This map gets the unemployment numbers from the BLS, and I'm presuming they're using U3 only....The foreclosure numbers are also worse than indicated...most banks are holding off on closing known foreclosures to keep the true losses off the books....Still, it does give a brutal graphical assessment of where we're heading...."Green Chutes"? I don't think so...

reply to post by RolandBrichter


If the numbers showed how bad the unemployment numbers are...or the foreclosure rates....it would probably be sad to look at. This is sad to look at by itself...just imagine all the dark brown you would see on the map if the numbers were more accurate.

added to OP.

news article on the stress index.