The Debt Levels of the 100 U.S. Counties
A detailed debt summary for the most populous counties from 2020 to 2022.
Visualizations of financial data published in the Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports for
the 100 most populous U.S. counties, covering fiscal years 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Key Takeaways
- Of the 100 most populous counties in the United States, all counties increased their total
assets between 2020 and 2022, the city and county of San Francisco and Denver County, CO
did so dramatically.
- Cook County, Illinois, and Essex County, New Jersey, had the highest debt ratios, defined
as the proportion of a government's total assets that are financed by outstanding debt.
Cook and Essex were the only counties with debt ratios above 250% in 2022. Of note, the
Illinois and New Jersey state governments also had the highest debt ratios of all states
in 2022.
- While the City and County of San Francisco saw the largest increase in total assets, it
had the lowest free cash flow per capita at -$3,971 in 2022. Free cash flow is revenues
less expenses and current liabilities. The only other county with a free cash flow lower
than -$1,000 per capita in 2022 was Philadelphia (-$1,289).
- At the end of 2022, the governments representing the 100 most populous counties across
America owed $448.6 billion in total debt, including an aggregate of $151.2 billion in
employee-related benefits debt—$71.3 billion as net public pension liabilities and $79.9
as net other post-employment benefit liabilities, such as medical benefits promised to
retirees.
- The 10 most indebted counties, in terms of employee-related debt, were responsible for
more than half (56.5%) of the total held by the 100 most populous counties.
- On a per capita basis, the City and County of San Francisco, Denver County, CO, and the
city and county of Philadelphia, PA had the most total liabilities at the end of 2022.
Note: Several entities in this analysis are cities that have consolidated
their operations and financial reporting with the overlapping county. Effectively, these jurisdictions
are merged into a single administrative entity. These consolidated governments include Nashville-Davidson
(TN), Jacksonville-Duval (FL), San Francisco, Honolulu, Denver, and Philadelphia. Due to their
structure and financial reporting practices, these entities cannot be fairly separated into distinct
city and county categories. These entities are included in the larger category of counties within
this report because their geographic and jurisdictional boundaries match those of the formerly
independent counties.
Overview of Each County’s Debt