COVID-19: These Are the 5 Most Dangerous Counties in Your State

Health and Healthcare

Published: January 9, 2021 7:06 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2021 7:08 am

The acceleration in the spread of COVID-19 in the United States in the past month is nothing short of astonishing. Confirmed cases now routinely rise by over 250,000 a day, on the way to what experts think will be 300,000. Fatal cases per day have risen to 4,000, and experts fear that could hit 5,000. Currently, total confirmed cases in the United States stand at 22,049,452 and fatalities at 371,465.

Some parts of the country are much worse off than others. Today, California and Rhode Island are among the states. A month ago, the upper Midwest was taking the brunt of the disease. This includes Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa. Case counts in states where the growth has slowed also have picked up. This includes, in particular, New York, which was hit worse than any other state in terms of deaths during a horrible period from late March through April. The state still has more fatal cases than any other.

The effects of the disease on any area are measured in several ways. Among the most widely followed are cases per 100,000 people. This shows how deeply COVID-19 has spread in any given county. It also can be a sign of likely future spread because such a large portion of the population already has been affected.

Until vaccines can slow and eventually start to eliminate COVID-19, people have to be on guard for the spread of the disease in their own communities. 24/7 Wall St. has looked at each state to determine the counties where the cases per 100,000 are the highest. We also have shown a more grim figure, which is deaths per 100,000.

The ways that people can protect themselves regardless of the intensity of the spread of the disease have changed very little since the start of the pandemic. Wear masks, social distance, wash hands and when talking stay outside as much as possible. Just as important, do not gather inside in groups of more than a few people.

This list shows the five counties in each state where the cases per 100,000 are the highest. It provides a picture of which areas in a state are most dangerous in terms of the spread of the disease.

Alabama
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Lowndes	10,236	1,003	33	9,799	322
Crenshaw	13,865	1,055	36	7,609	260
Clay	13,378	1,184	34	8,850	254
Tallapoosa	40,636	2,487	99	6,120	244
Greene	8,426	709	20	8,414	237
Alaska
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Yukon-Koyukuk	5,415	169	4	3,121	74
Bethel	18,040	1,739	11	9,640	61
Southeast Fairbanks	6,876	263	3	3,825	44
Anchorage	296,112	16,362	125	5,526	42
Kenai Peninsula	58,220	2,414	19	4,146	33
Arizona
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Apache	71,522	7,942	252	11,104	352
Navajo	108,705	12,011	364	11,049	335
Gila	53,400	4,789	149	8,968	279
Yuma	207,829	29,394	549	14,143	264
Santa Cruz	46,584	6,367	110	13,668	236
Arkansas
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Little River	12,417	876	39	7,055	314
Newton	7,848	592	24	7,543	306
Fulton	12,139	959	36	7,900	297
Chicot	10,826	1,452	32	13,412	296
Polk	20,163	1,383	48	6,859	238
California
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Imperial	180,216	23,165	434	12,854	241
Inyo	18,085	627	22	3,467	122
Stanislaus	539,301	36,363	638	6,743	118
Los Angeles	10,098,052	823,783	11,071	8,158	110
Merced	269,075	20,051	266	7,452	99
Colorado
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Morgan	28,257	2,169	83	7,676	294
Huerfano	6,583	282	18	4,284	273
Logan	21,689	3,290	56	15,169	258
Cheyenne	2,039	95	5	4,659	245
Otero	18,325	1,680	44	9,168	240
Connecticut
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Hartford	894,730	50,223	1,907	5,613	213
Fairfield	944,348	59,565	1,763	6,308	187
New Haven	859,339	50,791	1,595	5,910	186
Middlesex	163,368	7,166	263	4,386	161
Litchfield	183,031	7,977	235	4,358	128
Delaware
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Sussex	219,540	16,205	304	7,381	138
Kent	174,822	9,946	171	5,689	98
New Castle	555,133	35,434	472	6,383	85
Florida
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Union	15,239	1,500	65	9,843	427
Jackson	48,472	4,860	120	10,026	248
Lafayette	8,744	1,444	21	16,514	240
Suwannee	43,924	4,258	95	9,694	216
Highlands	102,101	5,253	210	5,145	206
Georgia
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Hancock	8,535	655	48	7,674	562
Randolph	7,087	364	31	5,136	437
Wilcox	8,846	383	36	4,330	407
Early	10,348	720	41	6,958	396
Terrell	8,859	456	35	5,147	395
Hawaii
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Honolulu	987,638	18,499	233	1,873	24
Hawaii	197,658	1,946	45	985	23
Maui	165,281	1,248	18	755	11
Kauai	71,377	153	1	214	1
Idaho
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Shoshone	12,526	869	28	6,938	224
Owyhee	11,455	910	20	7,944	175
Lincoln	5,321	442	9	8,307	169
Washington	10,025	1,029	15	10,264	150
Caribou	6,918	551	10	7,965	145
Illinois
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Stark	5,500	469	20	8,527	364
Ford	13,398	1,297	45	9,681	336
Greene	13,218	1,178	41	8,912	310
Whiteside	56,396	4,981	166	8,832	294
Mason	13,778	1,085	39	7,875	283
Indiana
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Decatur	26,552	2,218	78	8,353	294
Pulaski	12,660	879	34	6,943	269
Wayne	66,613	5,443	148	8,171	222
Daviess	32,937	2,375	69	7,211	209
Vermillion	15,560	1,316	32	8,458	206
Iowa
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Ida	6,916	715	29	10,338	419
Harrison	14,143	1,471	59	10,401	417
O’Brien	13,911	1,628	53	11,703	381
Tama	17,136	1,799	57	10,498	333
Wayne	6,413	395	21	6,159	327
Kansas
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Gove	2,619	275	22	10,500	840
Ness	2,955	203	15	6,870	508
Nemaha	10,104	796	50	7,878	495
Norton	5,486	1,152	25	20,999	456
Comanche	1,780	70	8	3,933	449
Kentucky
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Lee	6,751	1,055	18	15,627	267
Monroe	10,634	991	26	9,319	244
Robertson	2,143	145	5	6,766	233
Owsley	4,463	321	10	7,192	224
McLean	9,331	579	20	6,205	214
Louisiana
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
East Feliciana	19,499	2,510	95	12,872	487
Franklin	20,322	2,129	85	10,476	418
Bienville	13,668	1,267	56	9,270	410
Red River	8,618	694	29	8,053	337
West Carroll	11,180	963	34	8,614	304
Maine
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Somerset	50,710	791	22	1,560	43
Waldo	39,418	389	17	987	43
Androscoggin	107,444	2,932	44	2,729	41
Cumberland	290,944	7,970	107	2,739	37
Oxford	57,325	1,231	21	2,147	37
Maryland
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Allegany	71,977	5,622	158	7,811	220
Garrett	29,376	1,543	53	5,253	180
Kent	19,593	802	28	4,093	143
Prince George’s	906,202	57,286	1,111	6,322	123
Baltimore City	614,700	32,982	731	5,366	119
Massachusetts
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Hampden	469,116	28,209	1,078	6,013	230
Essex	781,024	62,272	1,752	7,973	224
Plymouth	512,135	26,426	1,035	5,160	202
Bristol	558,905	37,701	1,123	6,746	201
Worcester	822,280	46,013	1,587	5,596	193
Michigan
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Baraga	8,507	562	29	6,606	341
Iron	11,212	838	37	7,474	330
Dickinson	25,570	2,235	70	8,741	274
Ontonagon	5,968	309	16	5,178	268
Gogebic	15,414	1,021	39	6,624	253
Minnesota
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Kittson	4,337	343	18	7,909	415
Renville	14,721	1,328	39	9,021	265
Chippewa	12,010	1,294	30	10,774	250
Pipestone	9,185	887	22	9,657	240
Lac qui Parle	6,773	630	15	9,302	221
Mississippi
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Neshoba	29,376	3,109	144	10,583	490
Sharkey	4,511	403	17	8,934	377
Issaquena	1,328	152	5	11,446	377
Holmes	18,075	1,622	67	8,974	371
Clarke	15,928	1,251	59	7,854	370
Missouri
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Clinton	20,475	1,302	59	6,359	288
Grundy	10,039	702	25	6,993	249
Gentry	6,665	635	16	9,527	240
New Madrid	17,811	1,647	38	9,247	213
Carroll	8,843	682	18	7,712	204
Montana
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Roosevelt	11,228	1,402	51	12,487	454
Big Horn	13,376	2,072	58	15,490	434
Meagher	1,968	113	7	5,742	356
Blaine	6,727	613	23	9,113	342
Wibaux	1,175	113	4	9,617	340
Nebraska
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Grant	718	23	3	3,203	418
Perkins	2,907	232	11	7,981	378
Hooker	691	47	2	6,802	289
Dakota	20,317	3,516	55	17,306	271
Pierce	7,157	542	19	7,573	265
Nevada
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Churchill	24,010	1,426	39	5,939	162
Pershing	6,611	832	10	12,585	151
Lander	5,746	391	7	6,805	122
Clark	2,141,574	175,591	2,413	8,199	113
Washoe	450,486	36,297	493	8,057	109
New Hampshire
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Hillsborough	411,087	19,479	461	4,738	112
Belknap	60,640	2,120	54	3,496	89
Rockingham	305,129	11,996	151	3,931	49
Merrimack	149,452	5,253	73	3,515	49
Coos	32,038	765	15	2,388	47
New Jersey
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Essex	793,555	53,216	2,421	6,706	305
Passaic	504,041	44,350	1,481	8,799	294
Union	553,066	42,921	1,577	7,761	285
Hudson	668,631	49,798	1,731	7,448	259
Bergen	929,999	54,435	2,355	5,853	253
New Mexico
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
McKinley	72,849	10,206	358	14,010	491
Sierra	11,135	583	38	5,236	341
Cibola	26,978	2,350	76	8,711	282
Socorro	17,000	976	44	5,741	259
San Juan	127,455	10,877	304	8,534	239
New York
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Bronx	1,437,872	87,944	3,578	6,116	249
Queens	2,298,513	132,074	5,426	5,746	236
Kings	2,600,747	129,639	5,495	4,985	211
Richmond	474,101	38,106	908	8,038	192
Rockland	323,686	28,861	600	8,916	185
North Carolina
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Hertford	24,153	1,457	52	6,032	215
Montgomery	27,338	2,068	47	7,565	172
Jones	9,695	436	16	4,497	165
Scotland	35,262	2,670	57	7,572	162
Greene	21,008	1,597	33	7,602	157
North Dakota
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Dickey	4,970	696	32	14,004	644
Foster	3,290	532	19	16,170	578
Pierce	4,210	497	22	11,805	523
Renville	2,495	280	12	11,222	481
Towner	2,246	279	10	12,422	445
Ohio
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Noble	14,443	1,080	33	7,478	228
Wyandot	22,107	1,743	46	7,884	208
Mercer	40,806	4,033	82	9,883	201
Putnam	33,969	3,399	67	10,006	197
Monroe	14,090	836	26	5,933	185
Oklahoma
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Cotton	5,929	448	11	7,556	186
McCurtain	32,966	3,090	55	9,373	167
Roger Mills	3,708	269	6	7,255	162
Greer	5,943	395	9	6,646	151
Jackson	25,384	2,397	38	9,443	150
Oregon
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Malheur	30,431	2,941	51	9,664	168
Hood River	23,131	848	20	3,666	86
Jefferson	23,143	1,549	20	6,693	86
Wasco	25,866	936	22	3,619	85
Umatilla	76,898	5,938	58	7,722	75
Pennsylvania
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Mifflin	46,362	3,625	123	7,819	265
Northumberland	92,325	5,387	243	5,835	263
Juniata	24,562	1,444	55	5,879	224
Bedford	48,611	3,095	98	6,367	202
Cambria	134,550	9,214	266	6,848	198
Rhode Island
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Providence	634,533	62,846	1,435	9,904	226
Bristol	48,900	2,834	71	5,796	145
Kent	163,861	10,783	213	6,581	130
Washington	126,242	4,994	121	3,956	96
Newport	83,075	3,069	10	3,694	12
South Carolina
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Bamberg	14,600	1,009	40	6,911	274
Lee	17,606	1,267	42	7,196	239
Fairfield	22,712	1,429	53	6,292	233
Clarendon	34,017	1,915	79	5,630	232
Marion	31,562	2,152	69	6,818	219
South Dakota
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Jerauld	2,029	264	15	13,011	739
Gregory	4,201	489	26	11,640	619
Hamlin	6,000	619	36	10,317	600
Turner	8,264	982	49	11,883	593
Faulk	2,322	314	12	13,523	517
Tennessee
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Pickett	5,088	596	17	11,714	334
Clay	7,686	859	23	11,176	299
Perry	7,912	880	23	11,122	291
Houston	8,176	828	22	10,127	269
Obion	30,520	3,749	73	12,284	239
Texas
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Lamb	13,262	1,716	68	12,939	513
Motley	1,156	77	5	6,661	433
Brooks	7,180	638	29	8,886	404
Dawson	12,964	1,429	52	11,023	401
Floyd	5,872	596	23	10,150	392
Utah
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
San Juan	15,281	1,479	34	9,679	222
Salt Lake	1,120,805	112,552	570	10,042	51
Wasatch	30,523	3,343	15	10,952	49
Utah	590,440	71,050	222	12,033	38
Davis	340,621	26,788	93	7,864	27
Vermont
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Franklin	49,025	593	31	1,210	63
Chittenden	162,052	2,903	76	1,791	47
Orleans	26,911	297	5	1,104	19
Washington	58,477	905	10	1,548	17
Rutland	59,273	522	9	881	15
Virginia
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Emporia	5,381	439	30	8,158	558
Galax	6,638	853	36	12,850	542
Northampton	11,957	466	31	3,897	259
Southampton	17,939	1,372	42	7,648	234
Franklin	8,211	688	18	8,379	219
Washington
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Yakima	249,325	20,799	331	8,342	133
Columbia	4,001	84	4	2,099	100
Franklin	90,660	9,082	86	10,018	95
Garfield	2,224	97	2	4,362	90
Benton	194,168	12,150	166	6,257	85
West Virginia
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Mineral	27,278	2,194	70	8,043	257
Hancock	29,680	2,060	52	6,941	175
Logan	33,801	1,840	59	5,444	175
Marshall	31,645	2,273	54	7,183	171
Grant	11,641	826	18	7,096	155
Wisconsin
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Iron	5,715	425	18	7,437	315
Florence	4,337	406	12	9,361	277
Forest	9,018	867	22	9,614	244
Menominee	4,579	735	10	16,052	218
Waupaca	51,444	4,212	99	8,188	192
Wyoming
County	Population	Cases	Deaths	Cases per 100k	Deaths per 100k
Washakie	8,129	789	21	9,706	258
Big Horn	11,901	847	22	7,117	185
Fremont	40,076	4,028	65	10,051	162
Goshen	13,438	1,021	17	7,598	127
Natrona	80,610	6,659	96	8,261	119