Money management is a life skill that unfortunately doesn’t come with a standard manual. If it did and we all followed the rules, everyone would have flawless credit and no debt. But a survey of consumer financial literacy reflects a growing need for financial instruction in U.S. households. Only 56 percent of adults, for instance, give their knowledge of personal finance high marks, and just two in five maintain a budget and keep an eye on their spending.
But some Americans are better than others at handling their finances. In order to determine where they live, WalletHub’s analysts compared 2,534 cities based on eight key indicators of money management. Our data set ranges from “average credit score” to “average number of late payments” to “mortgage debt-to-income ratio.” Read on for our findings and expert advice from a panel of researchers.
Curious to know how your own money-management chops stack up against those of the average person in your city?
| Rank | City | Percentile Rank* | Median Credit Score | Credit-Card Debt-to-Income Ratio | Mortgage Debt-to-Income Ratio | Car-Loan Debt-to-Income Ratio | Student-Loan Debt-to-Income Ratio | Avg. Number of Late Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cupertino, CA | 99 | 766 | 2.30% | 436.28% | 12.52% | 17.52% | 0.52 |
| 2 | Los Altos, CA | 99 | 776 | 3.94% | 566.51% | 15.83% | 22.04% | 0.43 |
| 3 | Lexington, MA | 99 | 776 | 3.99% | 449.10% | 16.48% | 25.14% | 0.46 |
| 4 | Scarsdale, NY | 99 | 764 | 4.68% | 394.68% | 11.87% | 20.58% | 0.82 |
| 5 | Palo Alto, CA | 99 | 762 | 4.14% | 667.73% | 14.70% | 31.15% | 0.57 |
| 6 | Saratoga, CA | 99 | 771 | 3.38% | 591.18% | 15.10% | 19.29% | 0.29 |
| 7 | Chevy Chase, MD | 99 | 757 | 4.95% | 476.55% | 16.27% | 28.86% | 0.58 |
| 8 | Foster City, CA | 99 | 758 | 3.58% | 515.26% | 17.08% | 25.96% | 0.94 |
| 9 | Sunnyvale, CA | 99 | 745 | 3.37% | 592.74% | 21.63% | 27.13% | 1.05 |
| 10 | McLean, VA | 99 | 757 | 4.51% | 450.78% | 16.40% | 23.59% | 0.76 |
| 11 | Bronxville, NY | 99 | 749 | 4.77% | 326.12% | 14.41% | 29.99% | 1.35 |
| 12 | Mountain View, CA | 99 | 746 | 3.40% | 616.30% | 19.88% | 29.10% | 0.83 |
| 13 | Syosset, NY | 99 | 765 | 5.50% | 485.86% | 16.79% | 30.93% | 1.18 |
| 14 | Brookline, MA | 99 | 751 | 4.77% | 596.02% | 19.80% | 47.46% | 0.83 |
| 15 | Bethesda, MD | 99 | 759 | 5.46% | 523.50% | 18.68% | 31.45% | 0.74 |
| 16 | Laguna Woods, CA | 99 | 768 | 4.35% | 441.74% | 31.68% | 66.80% | 0.93 |
| 17 | Pittsford, NY | 99 | 772 | 6.54% | 259.59% | 20.93% | 31.55% | 0.82 |
| 18 | Redmond, WA | 99 | 754 | 4.78% | 518.26% | 23.57% | 33.41% | 0.81 |
| 19 | Leawood, KS | 99 | 765 | 6.51% | 367.07% | 23.60% | 27.73% | 1.01 |
| 20 | Mercer Island, WA | 99 | 762 | 5.76% | 642.16% | 18.69% | 28.62% | 0.82 |
| 21 | Potomac, MD | 99 | 768 | 5.35% | 515.97% | 19.81% | 28.80% | 0.69 |
| 22 | Troy, MI | 99 | 746 | 5.26% | 344.99% | 18.38% | 42.39% | 1.09 |
| 23 | Sammamish, WA | 99 | 760 | 4.57% | 456.19% | 20.69% | 21.39% | 0.78 |
| 24 | Sun City Center, FL | 99 | 782 | 5.90% | 339.41% | 43.16% | 54.98% | 0.82 |
| 25 | Bellevue, WA | 99 | 745 | 5.24% | 612.72% | 27.61% | 33.77% | 0.88 |
| 26 | Belmont, CA | 99 | 760 | 4.75% | 771.46% | 21.61% | 29.70% | 0.83 |
| 27 | Hoboken, NJ | 99 | 742 | 5.18% | 527.80% | 13.84% | 29.55% | 1.32 |
| 28 | Westfield, NJ | 99 | 763 | 6.34% | 527.73% | 18.46% | 26.30% | 1.07 |
| 29 | Southlake, TX | 99 | 757 | 7.64% | 376.55% | 23.05% | 22.70% | 0.8 |
| 30 | Colleyville, TX | 99 | 770 | 6.77% | 351.64% | 27.32% | 27.29% | 0.77 |
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.
