Ranking Cities by Credit Card Debt

With American consumers estimated to have spent $630.5 billion—much of which with plastic—during the recent holiday shopping season, the credit card comparison website CardHub conducted an analysis of 2016’s Cities with the Highest & Lowest Credit Card Debts. CardHub’s analysts drew upon data from TransUnion, the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Census Bureau and their own payoff calculator to determine the number of months required to pay off the average credit-card balances and associated finance costs in 2,547 U.S. cities.

Cities with the Most Sustainable Credit-Card Debts		Cities with the Least Sustainable Credit-Card Debts
1	Cupertino, CA	2528	Ames, IA
2	Saratoga, CA	2529	Auburn, AL
T-3	Mountain View, CA	2530	Lake Placid, FL
T-3	Sunnyvale, CA	2531	Provo, UT
T-5	Lexington, MA	2532	San Marcos, TX
T-5	Los Altos, CA	T-2533	Stephenville, TX
7	Foster City, CA	T-2533	Winona, MN
T-8	Arlington, MA	2535	Ypsilanti, MI
T-8	Fremont, CA	2536	Milledgeville, GA
T-8	McLean, VA	2537	Carbondale, IL
T-8	Palo Alto, CA	2538	Monsey, NY
T-12	Falls Church, VA	2539	Ruston, LA
T-12	Hoboken, NJ	2540	Murray, KY
T-12	Redmond, WA	2541	Stillwater, OK
T-12	Scarsdale, NY	T-2542	Marquette, MI
T-16	Bloomfield Hills, MI	T-2542	Richmond, KY
T-16	Powell, OH	2544	West Chester, PA
T-16	Sammamish, WA	2545	Kent, OH
T-16	San Ramon, CA	2546	Powhatan, VA
T-16	Santa Clara, CA	2547	College Station, TX

Comparing the Best & Worst

Beverly Hills, Calif., has the highest average credit-card debt, which is five times greater than in Clarkston, Ga., the city with the lowest.
Scarsdale, N.Y., has the highest median earnings for workers, which are 10 times greater than in Carbondale, Ill., the city with the lowest.
College Station, Texas, has the longest payoff timeline, which is 47 times longer than in Cupertino, Calif., the city with the shortest.

To see where your city ranks in credit card debt, view the full report.

Tags: Credit cards