U.S. States Hardest Hit by Bankruptcies, Unemployment and Foreclosures

In Q1 2010 and April 2010 the state hardest hit by financial crisis as determined by bankruptcies per capita, foreclosures and unemployment was Nevada. Nevada residents came in top 2 for all three categories as a percentage of population and houses for the state.

Another state hard hit by financial crisis was California which in terms of total bankruptcies filed in Q1 2010 ranked 1st among the States. California also ranked poorly for foreclosures and unemployment with 1 in every 192 houses being foreclosed upon, and an April 2010 unemployment of 12.6 percent.

While Florida ranked top 5 for bankruptcy, foreclosures and unemployment in Q1-2010 and April 2010, its bankruptcies ranked top 5 as a total and not per capita. Since Florida is among the top 5 most populous states, it is clear the high population has a statistical bearing on the number of bankruptcies.

The financial numbers demonstrate the Western U.S. seems to have been harder hit by financial crisis than the Midwest and Eastern seaboard states. Bankruptcy, foreclosure and unemployment are not the only economic indicators to measure economic trends, but they are strong ones in the sense they reflect the amount of financial difficulty a population is experiencing quite well.

Of the states most protected from financial crisis in early 2010  were North and South Dakota. North Dakota had the lowest average numbers with April unemployment of 3.8%, 2.2 per capita bankruptcies and 1 in every 5911 homes being foreclosures. South Dakota also fared well with an unemployment of 4.7%, 1 foreclosure per every 1975 housing units, and a bottom 5 bankruptcy rating of 2.2. bankruptcies per 1000 people.

These financial statistics reveal that economies heavily dependent on tourism, real estate and services suffered more from economic hardship than did economies with agricultural and resource bases economies such as North and South Dakota. According to a June 30, 2009 Forbes article by Joshua Zumbrun, North Dakota was 1 of only 2 states to have  a state budget surplus in 2009.

Unemployment, per capita bankruptcy filings and foreclosures do not represent the whole population demographic and economy for a state, but they do indicate how state residents are doing on average. Other statistics such as the size of state budget deficits,  population decline or slowed growth, corporate relocations etc. also serve to show how well a state economy is doing at the macro-economic level.

In terms of macro-economic performance North Dakota also fared well with a 2008 state economy that grew by 7.3% according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). As also indicated by the aforementioned statistics, the BEA reported Nevada scored in the lowest 2008 GDP quintile  with negative .6% GDP growth. California and Florida also scored poorly in this category however California did not experience negative GDP growth in 2008 pointing toward some resilience in its economy.

Sources:

1. http://bit.ly/bS2pRL (American Bankruptcy Institute)
2. http://bit.ly/122JSA (Realtytrac)
3. http://www.bls.gov/lau/ (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
4. http://bit.ly/cNza9U (Credit Cards.com)
5. http://bit.ly/K3uUb (Bureau of Economic Analysis)