With Americans owing around $17.5 trillion in total household debt, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its new report on the Cities Where People Are the Most Delinquent on Debt to show where people are at the biggest risk of credit score damage and other negative consequences.
To highlight the places where people are having the biggest issues paying their bills, WalletHub analyzed proprietary user data from Q4 2023 for the 100 largest cities for which we could obtain a complete data set. In our ranking, we considered both the percentage of individual tradelines that were delinquent and the percentages of residents’ total loan balances that were delinquent.
The new report found that the North Carolina cities of Winston-Salem (#5) and Greensboro (#9) have among the most debt-burdened citizens of any city in America. Charlotte ranked in the top 50 most debt burdened cities at #41 and Durham faired the best at #74.
Cities Most Delinquent on Debt Payments
| Overall Rank* | City | Total Score | Percentage of Tradelines Delinquent in Q4 2023 | Percentage of Loan Balance Delinquent in Q4 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laredo, TX | 98.52 | 14.91% | 19.94% |
| 2 | Detroit, MI | 87.48 | 14.76% | 16.48% |
| 3 | San Bernardino, CA | 79.77 | 15.14% | 12.97% |
| 4 | Newark, NJ | 79.16 | 14.15% | 14.98% |
| 5 | Winston-Salem, NC | 76.49 | 13.77% | 14.91% |
| 6 | Philadelphia, PA | 66.75 | 13.81% | 11.46% |
| 7 | Baton Rouge, LA | 64.06 | 13.16% | 11.98% |
| 8 | Bakersfield, CA | 62.72 | 13.47% | 10.83% |
| 9 | Greensboro, NC | 62.50 | 12.94% | 11.94% |
| 10 | Stockton, CA | 61.46 | 12.98% | 11.49% |
| 11 | Corpus Christi, TX | 61.31 | 12.31% | 12.94% |
| 12 | Baltimore, MD | 60.28 | 13.27% | 10.44% |
| 13 | Memphis, TN | 59.07 | 12.82% | 11.04% |
| 14 | Lubbock, TX | 58.04 | 12.82% | 10.67% |
| 15 | Birmingham, AL | 58.03 | 13.02% | 10.23% |
| 16 | El Paso, TX | 56.21 | 12.19% | 11.46% |
| 17 | San Antonio, TX | 53.59 | 12.18% | 10.57% |
| 18 | Garland, TX | 53.25 | 11.77% | 11.36% |
| 19 | North Las Vegas, NV | 52.96 | 12.01% | 10.75% |
| 20 | Fort Worth, TX | 51.76 | 12.03% | 10.28% |
| 21 | Sacramento, CA | 51.51 | 12.87% | 8.31% |
| 22 | Phoenix, AZ | 51.35 | 12.89% | 8.22% |
| 23 | Glendale, AZ | 51.30 | 12.31% | 9.48% |
| 24 | Milwaukee, WI | 50.91 | 11.92% | 10.23% |
| 25 | Arlington, TX | 50.89 | 12.15% | 9.72% |
| 26 | Norfolk, VA | 50.69 | 11.42% | 11.27% |
| 27 | Indianapolis, IN | 50.55 | 12.02% | 9.87% |
| 28 | Cleveland, OH | 49.50 | 11.89% | 9.82% |
| 29 | Toledo, OH | 48.84 | 11.43% | 10.61% |
| 30 | Jacksonville, FL | 48.55 | 11.80% | 9.69% |
| 31 | Buffalo, NY | 47.18 | 11.68% | 9.49% |
| 32 | Fresno, CA | 46.15 | 12.16% | 8.06% |
| 33 | Houston, TX | 45.72 | 11.85% | 8.61% |
| 34 | New York, NY | 45.53 | 13.34% | 5.20% |
| 35 | Aurora, CO | 45.36 | 11.60% | 9.03% |
| 36 | Oklahoma City, OK | 45.18 | 11.56% | 9.07% |
| 37 | Chesapeake, VA | 44.92 | 11.17% | 9.86% |
| 38 | New Orleans, LA | 44.24 | 11.55% | 8.77% |
| 39 | Louisville, KY | 43.44 | 11.48% | 8.64% |
| 40 | Jersey City, NJ | 43.34 | 11.60% | 8.34% |
| 41 | Charlotte, NC | 43.09 | 12.06% | 7.22% |
| 42 | Riverside, CA | 42.76 | 11.78% | 7.74% |
| 43 | Virginia Beach, VA | 41.88 | 11.13% | 8.90% |
| 44 | Tulsa, OK | 41.33 | 11.16% | 8.62% |
| 45 | Richmond, VA | 41.24 | 11.35% | 8.17% |
| 46 | Las Vegas, NV | 40.88 | 11.59% | 7.52% |
| 47 | Albuquerque, NM | 40.59 | 11.11% | 8.48% |
| 48 | Kansas City, MO | 40.39 | 11.35% | 7.89% |
| 49 | Orlando, FL | 39.71 | 11.03% | 8.36% |
| 50 | Tucson, AZ | 39.28 | 11.33% | 7.55% |
| 51 | Minneapolis, MN | 39.05 | 11.58% | 6.91% |
| 52 | Pittsburgh, PA | 39.03 | 11.28% | 7.57% |
| 53 | Irving, TX | 39.02 | 11.20% | 7.75% |
| 54 | Raleigh, NC | 37.94 | 11.53% | 6.63% |
| 55 | Santa Ana, CA | 37.76 | 11.36% | 6.96% |
| 56 | Long Beach, CA | 37.52 | 11.60% | 6.35% |
| 57 | Mesa, AZ | 37.19 | 11.37% | 6.73% |
| 58 | Colorado Springs, CO | 37.16 | 11.18% | 7.14% |
| 59 | Los Angeles, CA | 35.92 | 12.05% | 4.77% |
| 60 | Hialeah, FL | 35.62 | 10.02% | 9.23% |
| 61 | Irvine, CA | 35.30 | 12.21% | 4.21% |
| 62 | Nashville, TN | 34.66 | 10.87% | 6.97% |
| 63 | Tampa, FL | 34.54 | 10.66% | 7.41% |
| 64 | Dallas, TX | 34.00 | 11.27% | 5.86% |
| 65 | Chandler, AZ | 34.00 | 10.99% | 6.48% |
| 66 | Anchorage, AK | 33.63 | 10.86% | 6.65% |
| 67 | Chula Vista, CA | 33.37 | 10.68% | 6.97% |
| 68 | Anaheim, CA | 32.52 | 10.91% | 6.17% |
| 69 | Omaha, NE | 32.47 | 10.45% | 7.16% |
| 70 | Chicago, IL | 31.56 | 10.70% | 6.31% |
| 71 | Henderson, NV | 31.24 | 10.76% | 6.06% |
| 72 | Oakland, CA | 30.74 | 10.95% | 5.45% |
| 73 | Atlanta, GA | 29.87 | 10.68% | 5.76% |
| 74 | Durham, NC | 29.77 | 10.51% | 6.10% |
| 75 | Columbus, OH | 29.65 | 10.17% | 6.81% |
| 76 | Wichita, KS | 28.91 | 9.80% | 7.39% |
| 77 | Cincinnati, OH | 28.80 | 10.19% | 6.49% |
| 78 | Washington, DC | 27.50 | 10.43% | 5.51% |
| 79 | Lincoln, NE | 27.07 | 9.91% | 6.53% |
| 80 | Fort Wayne, IN | 26.89 | 9.88% | 6.51% |
| 81 | St. Louis, MO | 25.61 | 9.60% | 6.72% |
| 82 | Miami, FL | 24.77 | 9.24% | 7.22% |
| 83 | Plano, TX | 23.02 | 9.84% | 5.27% |
| 84 | Gilbert, AZ | 22.60 | 9.80% | 5.24% |
| 85 | Denver, CO | 21.60 | 10.08% | 4.26% |
| 86 | Spokane, WA | 21.05 | 9.14% | 6.18% |
| 87 | Reno, NV | 20.70 | 9.66% | 4.88% |
| 88 | Austin, TX | 19.22 | 9.54% | 4.65% |
| 89 | San Jose, CA | 16.76 | 9.20% | 4.55% |
| 90 | Des Moines, IA | 16.55 | 8.65% | 5.71% |
| 91 | Portland, OR | 14.57 | 8.89% | 4.50% |
| 92 | Madison, WI | 14.14 | 9.10% | 3.87% |
| 93 | San Diego, CA | 13.81 | 8.96% | 4.07% |
| 94 | Boise, ID | 12.27 | 8.41% | 4.77% |
| 95 | Boston, MA | 8.69 | 8.48% | 3.40% |
| 96 | Honolulu, HI | 8.63 | 8.74% | 2.78% |
| 97 | San Francisco, CA | 6.11 | 8.15% | 3.24% |
| 98 | Scottsdale, AZ | 4.77 | 7.64% | 3.92% |
| 99 | Fremont, CA | 3.01 | 7.45% | 3.75% |
| 100 | Seattle, WA | 0.45 | 7.51% | 2.71% |
*1 = Most Delinquent.