Economic Hardship Index in United States
United States
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About Economic Hardship Index
Top State(s): New Hampshire: 1
Bottom State(s): Mississippi: 100
Definition: Index of state economic conditions based on crowded housing, dependency, education, income, poverty and unemployment; normalized values are 1 to 100, with a higher value indicating worse economic conditions
Data Source and Years(s): U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2023
Suggested Citation: America's Health Rankings analysis of U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, United Health Foundation, AmericasHealthRankings.org, accessed 2024.
The economic hardship index compares economic conditions between communities by combining six population-level social and economic measures to build a more comprehensive picture of the difficulties faced in a community than a single measure could provide. The measure incorporates:
- Unemployment: Percentage of the population ages 16-64 that is unemployed. Unemployment places financial stress on individuals and their families.
- Dependency: Percentage of the population younger than 18 or older than 64. While having dependents can be a positive experience, there are also hardships associated with caring for them.
- Education: Percentage of the population age 25 and older without a high school degree. More education leads to better job prospects and higher income on average, although this can vary depending on other factors such as industry and location.
- Crowded housing: Percentage of housing units with more than one person per room. Living in a home with multiple occupants per room can negatively impact mental health, sleep and relationships.
- Per capita income: The community’s per capita income, averaged by dividing the total income of that population by the number of people in it. It is a measure that represents the relative wealth of the community.
- Poverty: Percentage of the population living below the poverty level. There is strong evidence linking poverty with adverse health outcomes.
Economic hardship and its indicators tend to be clustered geographically, reflecting pockets of hardship and contrasting areas of concentrated wealth. Black and Hispanic adults are disproportionately affected by income variability and related economic hardship. Residential segregation can further contribute to areas of concentrated disadvantage.
The economic hardship index is sensitive to interventions that affect its underlying components. Unemployment, education, housing and poverty can all be improved through targeted interventions.
Employment and poverty are key social determinants of health in Healthy People 2030’s economic stability domain. Related objectives include:
- Increasing employment among the working-age population.
- Reducing the proportion of people living in poverty.
- Increasing the proportion of students who graduate high school in four years with a regular diploma.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. “Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2023.” Dataset. Washington, D.C.: Board of Governors, May 2024. https://doi.org/10.17016/8960.
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