Georgia ranked as the fifth-most financially distressed state in the nation in the second quarter and its high unemployment rate and ongoing housing troubles are to blame.
That's the takeaway from the latest CredAbility Consumer Distress Index, a quarterly analysis done by the Atlanta-based non-profit credit counseling agency.
CredAbility measures five categories to assess the financial condition of U.S. households: employment, housing, credit, household budget management and net worth. It uses multiple data sources for the report and ranks states in each category and overall.
Georgia actually moved down from the second-most distressed state in the first quarter. And the state's distress index has improved for seven consecutive quarters. But it's not exactly wonderful news and it won't be until jobs come back.
"If you don't have steady employment, it's hard to have sustainable housing, manage your credit obligations and household budget and build wealth ..." said Mark Cole, executive vice president of CredAbility and author of the index.
He said that given the depths of Georgia's employment problem -- 9.9 percent, vs. 9.1 percent nationally -- he doesn't see the state's distress index improving "markedly."
Georgia ranked 11th among states in the employment category, but its index score is far beyond the crisis level that it's hurting the other components. Like employment, housing is also considered a driver of financial distress and Georgia is suffering there as well, with a much higher rate of mortgage delinquencies than the national average, Cole said.
The state also ranked sixth on the distress scale in the credit category where it was hurt by a high number of consumer bankruptcy filings.
Georgians are doing a good job of managing their budgets by living within their means, he said, and putting money away.
The five with the lowest distress levels are, starting with the best: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Vermont.
States with the most financial distress:
1. Nevada
2. Michigan
3. Mississippi
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Florida
7. Tennessee
8. Arizona
9. South Carolina
10. California
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