Posted on 11/29/2023 8:02:08 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
The last few years have been a whirlwind for Americans’ finances, with inflation, fluctuating unemployment, public health crises and natural disasters making it hard for people across the country to pay their bills. Ultimately, many people have ended up in financial distress, which WalletHub defines as having a credit account that is in forbearance or has its payments deferred, meaning the account holder is temporarily allowed to not make payments due to financial difficulty.
In order to shed light on the financial troubles experienced by people across the U.S., and to show where those difficulties are most pronounced, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across nine key metrics. Our data set includes factors like the average credit score, the change in the number of bankruptcy filings between September 2022 and September 2023, and the share of people with accounts in distress.
In-Depth Look at the Most Financially Distressed States
Louisiana
Louisiana is the state where people are in the most financial distress, which makes sense given that it’s extremely vulnerable to natural disasters and has the second-highest poverty rate in the country. Around 11.6% of Louisianans have a credit account where they have temporarily been allowed to not make payments due to financial difficulty, the highest percentage in the U.S.
Being late on payments unfortunately hurts people’s credit scores in the Bayou State. The average credit score in Louisiana is 642, the third-lowest in the country, according to WalletHub’s proprietary data. That’s only just above the threshold for fair credit, at 640.
Interestingly, Louisiana’s next-door neighbor is next to it in the rankings as well.
Mississippi
The state in the second-most financial distress is Mississippi, in part due to the fact that it’s the state with the highest poverty rate, at over 19% according to the latest Census data. Poverty naturally makes it difficult for people to pay their bills, and Missisippians search Google for “loans” more than people in any other state. This is a sign of underlying financial problems that contribute to the state’s residents having the lowest average credit score in the country, at 634. That’s in bad credit territory, but close enough to fair credit to get there with a few months of responsible credit use.
Texas
Texas is the state experiencing the third-most financial distress, which might seem counterintuitive, given that Texas is the eighth largest economy in the world, with a bigger GDP than most countries. However, Texans are having a number of economic struggles, including an increase of more than 21% in non-business bankruptcy filings in the past year. Nearly 7% of the state’s residents have an account in forbearance or with deferred payments, too, which is in the top 10 in the U.S.
The average credit score in Texas is in the fair credit range, though, at 661. While residents aren’t in danger of slipping into the bad credit range, they still have nearly 40 points to improve before they can reach good credit.
My first thoughts looking at the list are that the states with the poorest people tend to be the states with the most people who don’t like “acting white”. No shocker, then, that these are the poorest.
I would suspect California would be near the top of that list - what with some of the highest taxes in the nation - state taxes, gas taxes - along with onerous regulations that stifle businesses.
“California has the highest state income tax, with a rate of up to 13.3%....The state’s sales tax was the highest in the nation in 2021 at 7.25%....California pumps out the highest state gas tax rate of 77.9 cents per gallon.”
Bkmk
California is so bad that the middle class flees—they don’t stick around long enough to be counted as “poor”.
Prices on everything have risen by a lot.
The influx of people drove up property values and property taxes rose accordingly.
My property tax bill, which was high because of the area and schools, almost doubled.
Toss in many thousands of broke illegals crossing daily and it will drag any state down.
Has nothing to do with “acting white.”
Yep. They’re fleeing with their tax dollars and productive businesses - and being replaced by poor migrant invaders who will take FAR more from the system than they’ll ever put in.
Entirely unsustainable - but what does Newsom care? He’ll flee to Montana where his wife’s family lives after he retires - so he won’t be subjected to the same politics, hordes of destitute 3rd world invaders and onerous taxes and regulations that HE supported and imposed.
People in red states are in trouble. That is the message.
That was my takeaway, too. Propaganda from a financial site?
Well, most likely. Today’s headline is how AWESOME the ‘Brandonconomy’ is...though that’ll be reversed by the weekend. On page 36. Microscopic print. Uunder the fold. As always.
My budget has taken a hit due to higher prices on everything. High quality dog food is up $3/50# bag - and that adds up when you buy a PALLET of dog food at a time. $900 this last order; we raise hunting dogs for fun and little profit.
Groceries? Same. Our propane bill DOUBLED. Gas prices by us fluctuate wildly for some reason, so we try to fill up at the same station, same day each week to ‘dollar cost average’ out that expense. So far, taxes aren’t up as much as would be expected, but most of our land is in production and pasture which is taxed less than the house, the barn and outbuildings.
Doesn’t feel much like WINNING to me. But you know, I’ll NEVER be as ‘smart’ as the dumbest Socialist Democrat. At least that’s what they keep telling me. *SMIRK*
Plan accordingly for you and yours, and keep your powder dry. That’s all I’ve got. :(
Texas listed #3 (3rd from highest)
Does not pass the smell test.
I found that hard to believe, too.
Texas has all kinds of problems from financial distress, low testing scores in schools, overcrowding in emergency rooms and organized crimes. Gee Wally, what is the common denominator?
Illegals.
Yep. It’s also happening everywhere Brandon is shipping them under cover of darkness.
No state is safe. *SPIT*
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