North Carolina Ranks 4th among the States with the Most Credit Cards

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Charlotte Stories
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20

With many individuals weighing the option of opening a new credit card to increase their spending power this holiday season, the personal-finance company WalletHub just released its latest report on the States With the Most Credit Cards, highlighting areas where people may be more vulnerable to overspending or missing payments.

North Carolina was found to have some of the worst credit card stats in the nation.

North Carolina Stats

  • Overall Rank: 4th
  • Average Credit Cards Opened in Q3 2025: 1.31
  • Average Credit Cards Owned in Q3 2025: 5.57
  • % Change in Average New Credit Cards Opened (Q3 2025 vs. Q3 2024): 5.23%
  • % Change in Average Credit Cards Owned (Q3 2025 vs. Q3 2024): 3.24%

States with the Most Credit Cards

Overall Rank  State Total Score  Number of Credit Cards Rank  Increase in Number of Credit Cards Rank 
1 New Hampshire 80.29 1 2
2 Mississippi 67.24 20 1
3 Connecticut 63.08 4 13
4 North Carolina 62.33 6 5
5 Wyoming 61.59 21 3
6 New Jersey 61.55 2 31
7 Rhode Island 60.72 3 25
8 Texas 60.08 11 8
9 Maryland 59.24 9 11
10 Arkansas 56.45 16 7
11 Georgia 55.44 10 19
12 Pennsylvania 54.76 13 16
13 Oklahoma 54.56 36 4
14 Virginia 54.18 12 22
15 Nevada 53.23 8 34
16 Idaho 53.10 19 10
17 Arizona 52.88 14 23
18 Missouri 52.82 23 6
19 New York 52.64 5 40
20 Florida 52.31 7 37
21 Nebraska 50.00 28 9
22 Alabama 49.80 24 12
23 Kentucky 45.65 30 18
24 Indiana 45.38 35 15
25 California 45.26 17 41
26 South Dakota 44.87 18 39
27 Tennessee 44.61 31 17
28 Wisconsin 43.44 38 20
29 South Carolina 43.26 25 36
30 Delaware 42.21 15 48
31 Kansas 41.89 34 27
32 Utah 41.82 44 14
33 Washington 41.70 37 26
34 Minnesota 41.49 32 30
35 Ohio 41.47 33 28
36 Michigan 41.19 29 38
37 Louisiana 39.72 41 24
38 Vermont 39.61 27 43
39 Massachusetts 39.03 26 46
40 Hawaii 38.44 40 33
41 New Mexico 38.35 45 21
42 Alaska 36.94 22 49
43 Illinois 36.49 39 42
44 Oregon 35.80 47 29
45 Montana 32.47 43 44
46 Colorado 31.20 46 47
47 West Virginia 30.80 48 45
48 North Dakota 29.66 49 35
49 Iowa 29.16 50 32
50 Maine 28.87 42 50

Methodology

In order to determine the states with the most credit cards, the site compared the 50 states across two key dimensions: 1) Number of Credit Cards and 2) Increase in Number of Credit Cards.

They evaluated those dimensions using 4 relevant metrics listed below with their corresponding weights, each metric being graded on a 100-point scale.

Finally, they determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.

Number of Credit Cards – Total Points: 50

  • Average Credit Cards Opened in Q3 2025: Full Weight (~25.00 Points)
  • Average Credit Cards Owned in Q3 2025: Full Weight (~25.00 Points)

Increase in Number of Credit Cards – Total Points: 50

  • % Change in Average New Credit Cards Opened (Q3 2025 vs. Q3 2024): Full Weight (~25.00 Points)
  • % Change in Average Credit Cards Owned (Q3 2025 vs. Q3 2024): Full Weight (~25.00 Points)