Most Foreclosures Come From a Few Counties

The majority of US home foreclosures last year happened in just 35 counties, USA Today reports. Though the effects of the mortgage crisis have been felt nationwide, foreclosures have been from the start clustered in formerly booming areas in Florida, California, Nevada, Arizona, and around Washington DC. The 35 most-affected counties accounted for 1.5 million foreclosures last year—more than in the entire US in 2006.

But the foreclosure bust is actually even more centralized—USA Today identified eight counties that together were the source of one-fourth of 2008 foreclosures. “This crisis was triggered by foreclosures, and a lot of those were in a very small number of areas,” said a University of Virginia urban-studies professor. (More foreclosures stories.)