The Most and Least Debt-Ridden US Metros
Debt can unlock dreams, like becoming a homeowner or funding a world-class college education. But it can also drag Americans down. And according to the latest LendingTree study examining nonmortgage debt across the 50 largest U.S. metros, it is.
Residents across these U.S. metros hold an average of $37,827 in nonmortgage debt — with an average of $12,437 in auto loan debt alone.
We’ll break down dollar amounts and percentages of nonmortgage debt, including car loans, student loans, credit cards and personal loans. We’ll also highlight which metros have the highest (and lowest) levels of such debt. (Spoiler alert: It seems everything really is bigger in Texas, including nonmortgage debt totals.)
Key findings
- The average nonmortgage debt among residents of the 50 largest U.S. metros is $37,827. Across the 50 metros, auto loan debt is the highest at an average of $12,437, ahead of student loans ($11,747), credit cards ($7,890) and personal loans ($3,703).
- On average across the 50 metros, 97.1% of residents have nonmortgage debt. An average of 85.5% of residents in the 50 metros have credit card debt, accounting for 22.1% of nonmortgage debt. While just an average of 45.4% of big-metro residents have auto loan debt, it accounts for 32.1% of nonmortgage debt.
- Austin, Texas, is the most debt-ridden metro among the 50 largest, with residents owing an average of $45,920 in nonmortgage debt. Austin residents have the second-highest average auto loan debt ($17,144) and fifth-highest average personal loan debt ($4,638). Fellow Texas metros San Antonio ($44,812) and Houston ($44,640) are the next most debt-ridden.
- San Jose, Calif., is the least debt-ridden metro among the 50 largest, with residents owning an average of $26,704 in nonmortgage debt. The next least debt-ridden metros are Louisville, Ky. ($31,456), and Milwaukee ($31,700). San Jose residents have the lowest average student loan debt at $5,033, while Louisville residents have the lowest average credit card debt ($5,271) and average personal loan debt ($2,296).
- Auto loan debt is the largest nonmortgage debt in 27 of the 50 metros. The highest average auto loan debt is in San Antonio at $18,303 — more than double (107.4%) the average in New York of $8,824. Student loan debt is the largest nonmortgage debt in 22 metros, while credit card debt is the highest in only one (San Francisco) at $9,621.
Average nonmortgage debt across 50 largest metros is $37,827
As of the second quarter of 2024, the average nonmortgage debt total for residents of the 50 largest metros in the U.S. is $37,827. This total consists of auto loan debt, personal loan debt, student loan debt, credit card balances and an “other” debt category that isn’t broken out in the data below.
That overall figure — which accounts for more than half of the U.S. median household income of $75,149 — may seem high to the uninitiated. But Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief consumer finance analyst and the author of “Ask Questions, Save Money, Make More: How to Take Control of Your Financial Life,” takes it in stride.
“That’s about what I’d expect,” he says.
“We’ve seen auto loan debt spike in recent years due to sky-high interest rates and rising prices,” he adds. “We’ve seen credit card debt jump in a big way in a reversal of the big paydown we saw during the darkest days of the pandemic. Meanwhile, student loan debt hasn’t changed nearly as much, and it’s actually down a bit from the peak we saw in 2023.”
According to our data, some types of nonmortgage debt see higher averages than others. Auto loans take the lead with a per-resident average of $12,437, followed by student loans ($11,747), credit cards ($7,890) and personal loan debt ($3,703).
Average nonmortgage debt (overall and by debt type) across 50 U.S. metros
Source: LendingTree analysis of the anonymized credit reports of about 210,000 users on the LendingTree platform from April 1 through June 30, 2024, across the 50 largest U.S. metros. Note: “Other” debts are included in the nonmortgage debt total but aren’t broken out.
On average, 97.1% across 50 metros have nonmortgage debt
The debt totals themselves are high, yes. But so are the percentages of people experiencing the squeeze. In fact, an average of 97.1% of people across these 50 metros hold some sort of nonmortgage debt — which is to say, nearly everybody.
When looking at the specific types of nonmortgage debt, credit cards appear to take the cake: An average of 85.5% of a given metro’s residents hold credit card debt. However, as Schulz points out, this statistic might not be so dire as it seems: “A credit report is generally a snapshot of what someone owes on their credit cards on the date that snapshot is taken,” he explains, “and doesn’t reflect whether they’ll pay off that debt at the end of the month in full or not.”
In other words, some fraction of that 85.5% might not carry a revolving credit card balance.
Auto loan debt (which, as discussed, sees the highest dollar-amount totals) comes in second, with an average of 45.4% of residents making car payments. Student loan debt comes in third at 25.7%, followed by personal loan debt at 24.0%. (Again, other debts are figured into the overall total figure but aren’t broken out here.)
“One of the biggest takeaways from this data,” Schulz points out, is that “we are a nation of people who love, love, love their cars, trucks and SUVs.”
Average percentage of residents with nonmortgage debt (overall and by debt type) across 50 U.S. metros
Source: LendingTree analysis of the anonymized credit reports of about 210,000 users on the LendingTree platform from April 1 through June 30, 2024, across the 50 largest U.S. metros. Note: “Other” debts are included in the nonmortgage debt total but aren’t broken out.
Austin, Texas, is most debt-ridden metro
As for debt totals, not all metros rank equally. Unfortunately, the Live Music Capital of the World bears the highest nonmortgage debt burden, with a per-resident average of $45,920.
Like in many metros, the debt category with the highest dollar-amount average in Austin is auto loan debt. Residents have an average of $17,144 left to pay back on their rides. Student loan debt comes next at $11,162, followed by credit card debt ($9,313) and personal loan debt ($4,638).
Austin happens to be Schulz’s hometown. “As it has grown so rapidly over the years, Austin has become a far more expensive place to live than it used to be,” he explains. As prices have escalated, more residents have been forced to lean on their credit cards — and the auto loan and student loan figures make sense, too, he says.
“While there’s a vibrant downtown and a minimal light rail system, it’s still largely a city where you need a car to get around, especially as you get further from the city’s center,” Schulz points out. “It’s also a highly educated city.”
Worse yet for the Lone Star State, the runners-up in our by-metro list are also in Texas: San Antonio, where the average resident holds $44,812 in nonmortgage debt, and Houston, where the average is $44,640. (Just a bit further down the list, past Miami and Atlanta, Dallas comes in sixth with an average of $43,901.)
Metros with most nonmortgage debt
Source: LendingTree analysis of the anonymized credit reports of about 210,000 users on the LendingTree platform from April 1 through June 30, 2024, across the 50 largest U.S. metros. Note: “Other” debts are included in the nonmortgage debt total but aren’t broken out.
With these figures, auto debt plays a big role. “All the biggest cities in Texas generally require cars to get around,” Schulz says. “Plus, cliche though it may be, Texans love their trucks … and those don’t come cheap.”
He also points out that San Antonio, despite rapid growth in recent years, remains a relatively low-income area for a metro of its size — a dynamic that “creates a unique set of challenges for residents of the Alamo City, often including the need to carry debt to help them make ends meet.”
San Jose, Calif., is least debt-ridden metro
Conversely, residents of the Bay Area enjoy a cooler climate than the debt-heavy South — and less heat when it comes to nonmortgage debt totals, too.
In San Jose, Calif., the average resident holds $26,704 in nonmortgage debt, the lowest in the nation among the big metros. And given the Bay Area’s status as the fertile crescent of high-earning tech jobs, that might not be such a surprise. The median household income in San Jose is $136,010, approaching double the national figure.
Interestingly, San Jose’s average student loan debt total is the lowest across the 50 metros at $5,033. That’s less than half the average of most metros studied, including Louisville, Ky., and Milwaukee, the runners-up for the least nonmortgage debt.
Metros with least nonmortgage debt
Source: LendingTree analysis of the anonymized credit reports of about 210,000 users on the LendingTree platform from April 1 through June 30, 2024, across the 50 largest U.S. metros. Note: “Other” debts are included in the nonmortgage debt total but aren’t broken out.
For its part, Louisville — the metro with the second-lowest average nonmortgage debt total at $31,456 per person — enjoys the lowest average credit card debt at $5,271. Milwaukee comes in third overall at $31,700 per person, though none of its debt categories are lowest.
Full rankings: Metros with most/least nonmortgage debt
Source: LendingTree analysis of the anonymized credit reports of about 210,000 users on the LendingTree platform from April 1 through June 30, 2024, across the 50 largest U.S. metros.
Auto loan debt highest in 27 of 50 metros
As we’ve seen, different metros have different levels of debt across the various categories studied. But as a nation, it looks like the U.S. has something of an auto obsession.
That’s because auto loan debt accounts for the highest average dollar-amount total in 27 of the 50 metros studied, including San Jose (the metro lowest on the average per-resident nonmortgage debt total ranking) and Austin (the metro highest on that ranking) alike.
As Schulz points out, some of this debt is likely due to an American obsession with the freedom of the open road — but some of it may be out of necessity. “In so much of this country, people’s lives simply can’t function without their car, truck or SUV,” he says. While a few of the densest metros in the U.S., like New York and Boston, are well-served by their transit systems, most are more dispersed, and everything from work to picking up the kids from soccer practice requires transportation autonomy.
Another Lone Star city, San Antonio, carries the highest average auto loan debt burden at $18,303 per person, while New York ranks last, at $8,824. Perhaps New York City’s famously reliable public transit system has something to do with this dynamic — as well as the wide-open spaces of Texas, best crossed on four wheels.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that the national total is $1.59 trillion (yes, with a T), student loans come next, boasting the highest debt-category total in 22 of the 50 metros studied.
Finally, San Francisco — which enjoys the fourth-lowest overall per-person nonmortgage debt burden — is still not immune to the allure of credit card spending. San Franciscans carry an average of $9,621 per person in credit card debt, Fog City’s highest debt category.
Metros with highest/lowest average auto loan debt (and the other debts they carry)
Source: LendingTree analysis of the anonymized credit reports of about 210,000 users on the LendingTree platform from April 1 through June 30, 2024, across the 50 largest U.S. metros. Note: “Other” debts are included in the nonmortgage debt total but weren’t broken out.
Full data: Percentage of consumers with debt (by type)
Source: LendingTree analysis of the anonymized credit reports of about 210,000 users on the LendingTree platform from April 1 through June 30, 2024, across the 50 largest U.S. metros. Note: “Other” debts are included in the nonmortgage debt total but aren’t broken out.
Highlights
- In San Antonio, 55.7% of consumers carry auto loan debt and 33.4% owe personal loan debt — the highest across the 50 metros. San Francisco has the highest percentage of consumers with credit card debt at 91.7%, while Memphis, Tenn., leads with the highest rate of consumers carrying student loan debt at 35.1%.
- Auto debt makes up 40.8% of nonmortgage debt in San Antonio — the highest by metro for that category. In San Jose, credit card debt accounts for 30.8% of nonmortgage debt, while student loan debt makes up 39.3% in Louisville.
3 tips to pay down nonmortgage debt faster
Nonmortgage debt may be a reality, but it can still be a drag. Fortunately, getting out of debt is possible, especially with the help of these pro tips:
- Dial down your interest rates. You may think you’re locked into the rates you’ve got, but that’s not always the case, says Schulz — and even a marginal decrease could save you hundreds, or thousands, of dollars. “A 0% balance transfer credit card is perhaps your best weapon in the fight against credit card debt, but a low-interest debt consolidation loan can be a great tool as well,” he says. And: You can always call your existing card issuer or lender and try to negotiate. “It works way more often than you’d imagine,” Schulz says.
- Stay focused. Paying down debt is possible, but it takes effort and persistence. Schulz advises borrowers to “prioritize ruthlessly,” creating a tight budget that accounts for every dollar that comes into and out of your hands. Once you have that blueprint, he says, “you can start making the tough decisions on where that money should go. For some, it won’t require much sacrifice. For others, it may require a major lifestyle overhaul. What’s important, however, is to get started and keep going.”
- Just do it. From the snowball method to the avalanche method and plenty of other less-snowy strategies in between, figuring out how to pay off your debt could easily eclipse the step you most need to take — which is to get started. “There’s no one-size-fits-all answer for the best approach,” Schulz advises. “What matters most is finding an approach that works for you that you’ll stick with.” If you pick a method that doesn’t sit right with you, don’t worry. “Tinker. Course correct,” Schulz says. “But keep going.”
Methodology
LendingTree researchers analyzed sample data of about 210,000 anonymized credit reports of LendingTree users from April, May and June 2024 — the second quarter — to calculate average nonmortgage debt balances.
Nonmortgage debt includes:
- Auto loans
- Student loans
- Credit cards
- Personal loans
- Other types of debt, excluding mortgages
The results were aggregated to the 50 most populous metros, via the U.S. Census Bureau.
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- Key findings
- Average nonmortgage debt across 50 largest metros is $37,827
- On average, 97.1% across 50 metros have nonmortgage debt
- Austin, Texas, is most debt-ridden metro
- San Jose, Calif., is least debt-ridden metro
- Full rankings: Metros with most/least nonmortgage debt
- Auto loan debt highest in 27 of 50 metros
- Full data: Percentage of consumers with debt (by type)
- 3 tips to pay down nonmortgage debt faster
- Methodology
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