Every US county scored on two questions: How much economic pain exists? (Distress) and How much banking infrastructure is available? (Access). The gap between them shows where people are financially underserved.
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Financial Exclusion by County
Quadrant Summary
Top 10 Most Excluded Counties
Banking Deserts by State (top 20)
Each dot is a county. Right side = more economic pain. Bottom = fewer banks. Counties in the bottom-right are the most underserved.
Distress vs Access
County Data
Methodology
The Community Financial Health Index combines four public data sources to measure how well American counties are served by the financial system. Each county receives three scores:
Access Score (0-100, higher = better): weighted composite of bank branches per 10K population (50%), total deposits (20%), and inverse unbanked rate (30%). Computed using percentile ranks across all counties.
Distress Score (0-100, higher = worse): weighted composite of poverty rate (40%), consumer complaints per 100K (25%), unbanked rate (20%), and inverse income (15%). Computed using percentile ranks.
Exclusion Score: Distress minus Access. Positive values indicate communities where economic distress outpaces financial access. Negative values indicate well-served communities.
Data Sources
FDIC Summary of Deposits: bank branch locations and deposit data. banks.data.fdic.gov
CFPB Consumer Complaint Database: consumer financial complaints by state. consumerfinance.gov
Census ACS 5-Year Estimates: population, income, poverty, and race by county. data.census.gov
FDIC National Survey of Unbanked/Underbanked Households (2023): state and regional rates from the published "How America Banks" report. fdic.gov/analysis/household-survey
Known Limitations
CFPB ZIP codes are truncated to 3 digits. County-level complaint rates are impossible, so state-level aggregates are used. All counties in a state share the same complaint rate.
FDIC unbanked/underbanked rates are state-level. The survey publishes state and regional estimates, not county-level data.
Credit unions are not included. FDIC data covers only FDIC-insured bank branches. Credit unions (NCUA-regulated) are a significant source of financial access but are not in this dataset.
No HMDA mortgage data. Lending patterns and denial rates are not yet integrated.
Banking desert definition is simple. A county with 0 FDIC branches is flagged as a desert; proximity to branches in adjacent counties is not considered.
Quadrant Definitions
Quadrant
Criteria
Interpretation
Well Served
Distress ≤ 50, Access ≥ 50
Low financial stress with adequate banking infrastructure
Thin Access
Distress ≤ 50, Access < 50
Economically stable but underserved by banks
Strained
Distress > 50, Access ≥ 50
Banks present but economic conditions are stressed
Financial Desert
Distress > 50, Access < 50
Both high economic distress and limited financial access
Border vs Non-Border Comparison
Future Expansion
HMDA: Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data for lending patterns and denial rates
CRA: Community Reinvestment Act ratings for bank performance in underserved areas
NCUA: credit union branch locations to complete the financial access picture
FCC Broadband: internet access data, since digital banking requires connectivity
County-level CFPB: if CFPB restores full ZIP codes, enable county-level complaint mapping