Analysis: U.S. economic stress falling, but not in Nevada

Staff and wire reports

Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2010 | 8:37 a.m.

The nation's economic stress fell in September to a 16-month low, but that's little comfort to Nevadans, who continued to see stress levels increase despite already being the most-stressed state in the country, according to The Associated Press' monthly analysis of economic conditions around the country.

Three Nevada counties were among the most-stressed counties in the country, with Clark County coming in at No. 6.

Eighty percent of the nation's 3,141 counties enjoyed some month-over-month easing of economic pain, the AP's Economic Stress Index shows. So did all but six states: Alaska, Colorado, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska and Nevada.

The AP's index calculates a score for each county and state from 1 to 100 based on unemployment, foreclosure and bankruptcy rates. A higher score indicates more economic stress. Under a rough rule of thumb, a county is considered stressed when its score exceeds 11.

Nevada had by far the worst Stress score: 21.93. It was followed by California with 16.15. Florida (15.86) overtook Michigan for the third spot. Michigan (15.76) and Arizona (14.9) rounded out the top five.

The average county's Stress score in September was 10, down from 10.3 in August. The last time the average was that low was in May 2009. Just over one-third of counties were deemed stressed in September, down from 40 percent in August.

A glaring exception to the lower distress in much of the country in September was Nevada. It led the nation in unemployment with a 14.4 percent rate and also was No. 1 in foreclosures: Six percent of homes there were in some stage of the foreclosure process in September.

Nevada was the leader in bankruptcy filings, too, with nearly 3 percent of its taxpayers in the bankruptcy process.

Still, some hints suggest the worst is nearing an end in Nevada. Gaming revenue has enjoyed a small upswing. And while Nevada's housing market shows no signs of picking up, prices are starting to stabilize, said Stephen Brown, an economist at UNLV.

The most-stressed counties with populations of at least 25,000 were Imperial County, Calif. (34.04); Yuma County, Ariz. (29.22); Lyon County, Nev. (26.21); Nye County, Nev. (25.56); Yuba County, Calif. (24.33); Clark County, Nev. (23.5).

The least-stressed were Ward County, N.D. (2.95); Burleigh County, N.D. (3.52); Brown County, S.D. (3.78); Brookings County, S.D. (3.86); and Sioux County, Iowa (4.04).

North Dakota remained the economically healthiest state with a score of 3.75. Next came South Dakota (4.78), Nebraska (5.73) and Vermont (5.89). New Hampshire leapfrogged over Wyoming for the No. 5 spot with a score of 6.79.

Counties with high concentrations of farming, mining, information technology and professional jobs suffered less hardship in September. By contrast, those with heavy proportions of workers in retail and real estate endured more stress.