Distressed areas receive priority assistance from the department.
The methodology uses an average of eight measures to gauge the economic distress of Oregon's 36 counties and 240 incorporated cities. The statewide index is 1.00. A higher index indicates greater distress. In order to maintain a reasonable level of targeting, the methodology selects a threshold of 1.20 for counties and 1.25 for cities in non-distressed counties. Areas with indexes equal to or above these thresholds are designated as distressed.