See How Ready Your State Is for the Next Recession

Where you live — and the overall health of the economy there — is a factor in how recession impacts you. This map reveals how your state has improved (or not) over the last six years or so. Click through the map labels at top to see each of the four categories. On all four maps, you can hover over a state to see the numbers. (Data was unavailable for a few and those states are a pale yellow.) Read about each economic factor and how we measured it below. 

Underwater Mortgages

This map looks at the number of “seriously underwater mortgages” by state in 2012 and compares that to 2017 numbers. From Nevada to Michigan, underwater mortgages—meaning a homeowner owes more on their house than the house is worth—made headlines during the last recession. Many economists say that this type of housing trouble won’t be a big factor in the next U.S. recession, but Congress recently got rid of some of the rules for banks that may have prevented another such crisis. (“Seriously underwater” means a property owner owes 25 percent or more above the value of the property.) Source: Underwater Mortgage Rates from ATTOM Data Solutions

Yellow = From 2012 to 2017, percent of underwater mortgages decreased.
Orange = From 2012 to 2017, percent of underwater mortgages decreased moderately.
Dark Orange = From 2012 to 2017, percent of underwater mortgages showed little improvement or increased.

Income Strength

High housing cost burdens mean greater worry during a recession. This map looks at the median income and median monthly housing costs for states, for 2012 and 2016, to get a snapshot of affordability—or lack of it. While the median income has ticked up, most states haven’t seen a big improvement in affordability. Money experts have long said you should aim to spend less than 30 percent of your income on housing, but for many that’s impossible. Source: Median income and median monthly housing costs from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey
Yellow = From 2012 to 2016, housing affordability improved.
Orange = From 2012 to 2016, housing affordability improved moderately.
Dark Orange = From 2012 to 2016, housing affordability showed little improvement or decline.

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Unemployment

This map compares unemployment rates in 2012 to 2017. There’s been good jobs news recently, but recovery from the last recession wasn’t great for every state. If you’re out of a job, the next recession will make it tougher to find a new one. (See Tarbell’s “How All Americans Can Prepare for the Next Recession” for ideas that could help more Americans get work.) Source: Unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Yellow = From 2012 to 2017, unemployment dropped.
Orange = From 2012 to 2017, unemployment dipped moderately.
Dark Orange = From 2012 to 2017, unemployment improved little or increased.

Student Loan Debt

This map compares student loan debt by state between 2012 and 2017. Underwater mortgages were at the center of the Great Recession, but one lasting effect of the meltdown is that younger Americans have racked up dangerously high student loan debts. The next recession could make things worse for this owing generation. Source: The Project on Student Debt from The Institute for College Access & Success

Yellow = From 2012 to 2017, student loan debt decreased or only rose slightly.
Orange = From 2012 to 2017, student loan debt grew moderately.
Dark Orange = From 2012 to 2017, student loan debt increased significantly.