Tampa Bay is feeling the heat--and we're not talking about Valentine's Day passion.
The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area was the third-most financially strapped part of the country in the last quarter of 2012. That's according to the latest Consumer Distress Index released by CredAbility, a nonprofit credit counseling and debt management agency.
In fact, three of top five most financially distressed metro areas were in the not-so-Sunshine State. Here's the breakdown:
- Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla.
- Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev.
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.
- Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif.
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Fla.
The Consumer Distress Index is released quarterly to track the financial health of U.S. households. It measures five factors: employment, housing, credit, household budgets and net worth.
Minneapolis-St. Paul scored the best.
