With credit card debt, not all states are equal
The average American has more than $3,600 in credit card debt, but that number is falling.
“Not a huge decline overall — about $27 dollars this year compared to last, but it’s still an improvement,” says Gerri Detweiler, director of consumer education at Credit.com. “It’s a good thing for consumers to carry less credit card debt. It’s good for their credit score and it’s good for their wallets.”
So why do some states owe more than others?
Alan Ikemura, senior product manager at Experian, says people have bigger credit card debt in states that have higher costs of living and where the employment picture hasn’t improved.
“The economy hasn’t picked up as well in certain areas and so there might actually be an immediate need for the utilization of credit,” Ikemura says. “On the flip side, [people in states] that have recovered really well, [are] more confident overall in the economy, so they’re just spending more.”
Ikemura says the fact that American’s are paying down their credit card debt is a sign the overall economy is improving.
Experian Decision Analytics released a list of average credit card debt by state for Q1 of 2014. So which states have the highest average debt?
1. Alaska — $4,472
2. New Jersey — $4,431
3. Connecticut — $4,351
4. Maryland — $4,214
5. Georgia — $4,192
6. Delaware — $4,165
7. Washington, D.C. — $4,115
8. Virginia — $4,068
9. Rhode Island — $4,056
10. Texas — $4,047
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