Credit card debt goes up in Washington, across the US

If you have high credit card debt and you live in the state of Washington, you are not alone.

WalletHub compared the 50 states based on the latest consumer-finance data available from TransUnion and the Federal Reserve, adjusted for inflation and determined the average household in Washington owes $8,463 in credit card debt.

Overall, Washington ranked 13th in the U.S., in total credit card debt with over $29.26 billion overall, including over $1 billion in debt incurred in the second quarter of 2023.

“When credit card use increases, it’s usually a symptom of some kind of underlying problem,” Michelle Lambright Black, founder of Creditwriter.com, recently told CBS News. “And recently, consumers have been facing a lot of issues. Inflation has been rampant for several months. Prices on consumer goods are up and that’s like a pay cut.”

Black said that rising interest rates make credit card debt even more difficult to tackle. Credit card interest rates were about 16.2% in May 2022. Over a year later, those rates are hovering around 22.3%.

“Between inflation and rising interest rates, it’s just placing a strain on the finances of many Americans,” Black added. “That’s just causing credit card debt to soar as we are seeing.”

The age group that has the largest debt is those 40 to 49 years old. They have an average debt of more than $7,000. Members of Generation Z owe approximately $2,400 in debt. Black said that Gen Z was not the most responsible necessarily and generally have the lowest credit limits.

California finished No. 1 in the findings with a total of over $152.71 billion in credit card debt. That breaks down to nearly $9,800 per household. Texas is second, owing just shy of $111.3 billion, with $9,216 per household.

Alaska ($10,142) and Hawaii ($10,637) have the most credit card debt per household.

At the bottom of the list, Wyoming was 50th with nearly $2.09 billion, $7,667 per household, still a substantial number. Vermont was 49th with a total of $2.22 billion, $7,162 per household.

Wisconsin ($17.59 billion) and Iowa ($9.38 billion) have more total credit debt than Wyoming and Vermont, but those states rank first and second, respectively, in lowest credit debt per household. Wisconsin sits at $6,208 and Iowa is at $6,231.

Contributing: Steve Coogan

This story was originally published by MyNorthwest.

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