Metro Areas With The Highest Foreclosure Rates

Photo credit: Getty Images With the nation's foreclosure crisis looking messier than ever with threats of lawsuits and government investigations in mortgage lenders, there's at least one bright spot in the picture.Most of the ten metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates in the nation showed improvement in the third quarter, according to new data from foreclosure listing website RealtyTrac. The rates are down from "very high levels," says Realtytrac Vice President Rick Sharga. In fact, all of the metro areas, which happen in be in just four states—Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada—still have much higher rates than the national average of one in every 139 households. Click on to see which metro areas ranked in the top spot. By Joseph PisaniUpdated Oct. 28, 2010

Photo Source: Getty Images Rate: One in every 45 households Change from Q2 2010: -5.08 percentChange from Q3 2009: -21.14 percent

Photo credit: Macduff Everton|The Image Bank|Getty Images Rate: One in every 44 households Change from Q2 2010: +1.94 percent Change from Q3 2009: -20.87 percent

Photo credit: Radius Images|Getty Images Rate: One in every 44 households Change from Q2 2010: +9.31 percentChange from Q3 2009: -3.37 percent

Photo credit: Getty Images Rate: One in every 41 households Change from Q2 2010: +24.50 percentChange from Q3 2009: +9.15 percent

Photo credit: Getty Images Rate: One in every 41 households Change from Q2 2010: -0.67 percentChange from Q3 2009: -25.93 percent

Photo credit: Ron Johnson Rate: One in every 40 households Change from Q2 2010: -8.64 percentChange from Q3 2009: -32.99 percent

Photo credit: Getty Images Rate: One in every 39 households Change from Q2 2010: +1.32 percent Change from Q3 2009: -25.89 percent

Photo: Getty Images Rate: One in every 36 households Change from Q2 2010: +1.43 percentChange from Q3 2009: -17.98 percent

Photo credit: Getty Images Rate: One in every 35 households Change from Q2 2010: +12.36% Change from Q3 2009: -21.61%

Photo credit: Getty Images Rate: One in every 25 households Change from Q2 2010: +1.52 percentChange from Q3 2009: -20.10 percent

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