(NewsNation) — Debt is a burden for many Americans, but data shows Louisiana residents may have a harder time paying off debt than those in other states.
Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma are the top three states for having the most “debt burden,” according to a 2024 Bankrate survey.
“The burden of credit card debt is not shared equally by residents of each U.S. state,” according to Bankrate, an online personal finance company.
The survey ranked each state’s credit card debt burden based on each state’s average credit card balance relative to average household income.
“The states that are most debt burdened don’t necessarily have the highest credit card debt balances,” the authors wrote. “Rather, they’re the ones where it takes the longest to pay off the card debt.”
States with higher average monthly incomes tend to have the least debt burden, meaning people in debt can pay off their balances easier.
“It is generally easier to pay off $5,000 in credit card debt if you make $100,000 annually than it is to pay off that same amount of debt if you only make $50,000 per year,” Bankrate said.
Data analysts factored in the assumption that a person allocates 5% of their average gross monthly income toward credit card debt.
The average amount of time it takes for Louisiana and Mississippi residents to pay off debt is 22 months, making them the two most debt burdened states.
“We consider the states that took the longest to pay off the debt the most debt burdened,” Bankrate said.
The least debt burdened state is Massachusetts, according to Bankrate, with 13 months as the average time to pay off debt, followed by Minnesota, New Hampshire and California at 14 months.
The survey also looked into voting trends in these states.
“Looking at the data from a political angle, the most burdened states seem to lean towards Donald Trump, with eight of the 10 most-burdened states voting for him in 2020,” Bankrate said. “On the other hand, the least burdened states seem to lean Democratic, with nine of the 10 least burdened states (plus Washington, D.C.) voting for Joe Biden.”
