A look at the hardest hit counties, according to the AP Economic Stress Index

The AP Economic Stress Index uses unemployment, bankruptcy and foreclosure rates from each U.S. county to calculate the recession’s impact on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being the worst-case scenario. Here are counties larger than 25,000 residents with the biggest spike in the AP Economic Stress score from April 2008 to April 2009, indicating worsening economic health; the point-change in score; and the actual score in April: