Higher unemployment and foreclosure rates, especially in South Atlantic and Mountain states, raised the nation's economic stress in November, according to The Associated Press' monthly analysis.

One month after economic stress reached an 18-month low nationally, it rose in three-quarters of the 3,141 counties the AP analyzed and in 39 states. Unemployment and foreclosures edged up in more than two-thirds of the states. Bankruptcies rose in half the states.

Florida, in particular, is struggling. Its recovery has lagged behind those of other states that were also ravaged by the housing bust, such as Arizona and California, because Florida's economy is less diversified.

And Colorado, Idaho and other Mountain states have suffered from a loss of drilling, tourism and construction jobs.