USA · snapshot 2026-08-09

United States

Low

Overall risk score

29.2

Percentile of scored universe

19th

Data coverage

94%

vs Australia (16.1)

+13.1

Category breakdown

Political Stability & Governance

Medium
31.4+18.6 vs AU

6 indicators · 100% coverage

Economic Resilience

Low
28.0+16.9 vs AU

6 indicators · 85% coverage

Financial & Currency Risk

Low
5.9+0.0 vs AU

5 indicators · 100% coverage

Business Environment

Low
25.8-9.0 vs AU

3 indicators · 75% coverage

Security & Crime

High
51.5+26.4 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Climate & Social Compliance

Low
24.9+14.5 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Technology & Digital

Medium
30.9+17.2 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Cultural Distance

Low
16.5+15.6 vs AU

9 indicators · 100% coverage · not in overall score

Key risks and considerations

United States rates Low for market entry — an overall risk score of 29.2, less risky than 81% of rated economies and 13 points riskier than Australia.

The main risk driver is significant cybercrime origination (WCI 25.0/100).

Relative strengths: secure internet servers and GDP per capita both sit in the least-risky quarter of rated economies, and sovereign credit risk rates Low, the least-risky rating band.

Possible mitigations

  • Payment fraud. Experts nominate this market as a cybercrime origin (World Cybercrime Index, 2021 survey): verify any change of bank details out-of-band, enforce MFA and dual authorisation on payments, and be sceptical of unsolicited counterparties.

Generated automatically from this snapshot’s indicator data — a starting point for analysis, not advice.

Indicators

IndicatorValueRisk scoreRating
Political Stability & Governance
Voice & accountability (WGI)72.422.7Low
Government effectiveness (WGI)77.810.5Low
Regulatory quality (WGI)76.29.5Low
Rule of law (WGI)73.519.6Low
Control of corruption (WGI)69.918.1Low
Political stability & absence of violence/terrorism (WGI PV)64.355.3High
Economic Resilience
GDP growth (3-yr average, %)2.6% (3-yr avg)15.0Low
Growth volatility (10-yr std dev, pp)±2.0 pp15.1Low
Government net debt (% of GDP)96.765.0High
Inflation (CPI %, vs income-group target)2.910.0Low
Current account (3-yr average, % of GDP)-3.7% (3-yr avg)40.0Medium
FX reserves (months of import cover)Insufficient data
GDP per capita (PPP, current intl $)$90,0275.8Low
Financial & Currency Risk
Capital-account openness (Chinn-Ito KAOPEN)1.005.0Low
Currency stability (regime-aware classification)Floating — low volatility (<8%)15.0Low
Sovereign credit risk (OECD country risk classification)Category 0 / 72.0Low
FATF listing (grey / black list status)Not listed0.0Low
Double-tax agreement with AustraliaIn force0.0Low
Business Environment
FDI regulatory restrictiveness (OECD FDIRRI)0.0545.4Medium
Logistics performance (World Bank LPI)3.811.6Low
Business readiness (World Bank B-READY pillar average)Insufficient data
Investment protection with Australia in force (BIT or FTA investment chapter)In force0.0Low
Security & Crime
Armed-conflict intensity (battle deaths per 100k, 5-yr)0.060.1High
Intentional homicide rate (per 100k)5.868.6High
Organised crime pervasiveness (GI-TOC criminality score)5.968.8High
DFAT Smartraveller advisory levelLevel 1 — Exercise normal safety precautions10.0Low
Climate & Social Compliance
Physical climate vulnerability (ND-GAIN vulnerability)0.3176.6Low
Disaster risk (INFORM Risk Index)3.242.4Medium
Modern-slavery prevalence (per 1,000)3.324.1Low
Modern-slavery vulnerability score24.521.6Low
Technology & Digital
E-government development (UN EGDI)0.99.6Low
Internet users (% of population)94.714.8Low
Cybercrime origination (World Cybercrime Index)25.095.0Very High
Secure internet servers (per million people)196616.13.0Low

Per-indicator ratings are quartile bands of the 0–100 risk score. The Australia column shows the same indicator’s raw value for the Australian baseline in this snapshot.

Cultural distance

GLOBE 2004 societal practices · rated on distance from Australia · not in the overall score

United StatesAustraliaGLOBE practice score · scale 1–7
Power distanceLow
4.88
4.74
Uncertainty avoidanceMedium
4.15
4.39
Institutional collectivismLow
4.20
4.29
In-group collectivismLow
4.25
4.17
Humane orientationLow
4.17
4.28
Performance orientationLow
4.49
4.36
AssertivenessMedium
4.55
4.28
Gender egalitarianismLow
3.34
3.40
Future orientationLow
4.15
4.09

Context — not scored

Unemployment

4.2%

Displayed, never scored: ambiguous for an entrant and unreliable where informal employment dominates. (2025, ILO modelled)

Trade agreement

Free trade agreement with Australia in force

Market access is decision-relevant but a benefit, not a risk — kept out of the rating.

Regional advisories

No higher regional advisory levels

DFAT Smartraveller sub-national advice where it exceeds the overall level.

Compare with

A score means little on its own. These economies scored closest to United States in this snapshot, which is the fastest way to see whether the rating is telling you something specific or something regional.

All 218 economies · How to read these ratings