With 44 percent of U.S. adults grading their knowledge of personal finance a C or lower, the free credit score website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis identifying 2017’s Best & Worst Cities at Money Management.
In order to determine where Americans are best at handling their finances, WalletHub’s analysts compared 2,534 cities based on 10 key indicators of money-management skills. The data set ranges from “median credit score” to “average number of late payments” to “mortgage debt-to-income ratio.”
| Cities with Best Money-Management Skills | Cities with Worst Money-Management Skills | ||||
| 1 | Cupertino, CA | 2515 | Columbia, SC | ||
| 2 | Los Altos, CA | 2516 | Morgantown, WV | ||
| 3 | Lexington, MA | 2517 | Raeford, NC | ||
| 4 | Scarsdale, NY | 2518 | Ypsilanti, MI | ||
| 5 | Palo Alto, CA | 2519 | San Marcos, TX | ||
| 6 | Saratoga, CA | 2520 | Hammond, LA | ||
| 7 | Chevy Chase, MD | 2521 | South Holland, IL | ||
| 8 | Foster City, CA | 2522 | Fairburn, GA | ||
| 9 | Sunnyvale, CA | 2523 | College Park, GA | ||
| 10 | McLean, VA | 2524 | Williamsburg, VA | ||
| 11 | Bronxville, NY | 2525 | Milledgeville, GA | ||
| 12 | Mountain View, CA | 2526 | Bellwood, IL | ||
| 13 | Syosset, NY | 2527 | Ellensburg, WA | ||
| 14 | Brookline, MA | 2528 | Dolton, IL | ||
| 15 | Bethesda, MD | 2529 | Hampton, GA | ||
| 16 | Laguna Woods, CA | 2530 | Jonesboro, GA | ||
| 17 | Pittsford, NY | 2531 | Ruston, LA | ||
| 18 | Redmond, WA | 2532 | Newark, DE | ||
| 19 | Leawood, KS | 2533 | Lithonia, GA | ||
| 20 | Mercer Island, WA | 2534 | East Stroudsburg, PA | ||
Best vs. Worst
- Cupertino, Calif., has the lowest credit-card debt-to-income ratio, 2.30 percent, which is 12.8 times lower than in Williamsburg, Va., the city with the highest at 29.43 percent.
- East St. Louis, Ill., has the lowest mortgage debt-to-income ratio, 199.11 percent, which is 10.1 times lower than in San Luis Obispo, Calif., the city with the highest at 2014.1 percent.
- Scarsdale, N.Y., has the lowest car-loan debt-to-income ratio, 11.87 percent, which is 12.2 times lower than in Williamsburg, Va., the city with the highest at 145.34 percent.
- Cupertino, Calif., has the lowest student-loan debt-to-income ratio, 17.52 percent, which is 12.6 times lower than in Carbondale, Ill., the city with the highest at 220.19 percent.
- Saratoga, Calif., has the lowest average number of late payments, 0.29, which is 185.5 times lower than in Florence, S.C., the city with the highest at 53.66.
- Laguna Woods, Calif., has the lowest average percentage of credit used, 19.86 percent, which is 3.2 times lower than in Herriman, Utah, the city with the highest at 63.23 percent.
