The share of U.S. residents living in ‘credit secure’ counties grew from 2018 to 2023. However, more than one in 10 Americans live in counties where individuals often rely on high-cost credit and struggle to manage debt, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in a new report on credit insecurity in the U.S.
The New York Fed defines credit security as the ability of households to access mainstream credit and stay current with debt payments. Using that metric, the report’s authors found that the number of U.S. residents living in credit-secure counties rose over the period studied, from 182 million people (57% of the population) to 226 million (69%).
Still, 41 million U.S. residents live in ‘credit insecure’ places where they have difficulty accessing reasonable credit and keeping up with payments, according to the report. Credit insecurity is geographically persistent, with two in three counties that were credit insecure in 2018 remaining so in 2023. It also is regionally concentrated in the South and Appalachia and is highest among populations who live in rural areas, do not have bachelor’s degrees and rent their homes.
