Vermont has 4th lowest rate of financial distress of any State, study says

New Hampshire has the lowest, although Red states seem to have greater rates of personal financial distress

By J.D. Davidson, for The Center Square

More people in Tennessee face financial distress than in nearly every other state, according to a new report.

The study by the personal finance website WalletHub, a commercial finance website, compared the states across nine metrics. Included were the average credit score, change in number of bankruptcy filings between March 2023 and March 2024 and the share of people with accounts in distress.

“Measuring the share of residents in financial distress is a good way to take the pulse of a state and see whether people are generally thriving or having trouble making ends meet,” WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe said. “When you combine data about people delaying payments with other metrics like bankruptcy filings and over credit score changes, it paints a good picture of the overall economic trends of a state.”

Those numbers are poor for Tennessee compared to the rest of the country.

Tennessee had the third-most people with accounts in distress, meaning they had been allowed to miss or put payments on hold. It also ranked third among states with an average number of accounts in distress.

The Volunteer State ranked 15th in the debt search interest index and 36th in credit score. It was also 45th in the change in bankruptcy filings from March 2023 to March 2024.

Michigan residents are the most financially distressed people in the country, according to the report. Texas ranked second, followed by Nevada, Tennessee and Rhode Island.

New Hampshire, Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont and Wisconsin were the least financially distressed states.

The report also showed states considered red or Republican are in more financial distress than blue or Democratic states.

States with the Most People in Financial Distress

State	Total Score	Credit Score Rank	People with Accounts in Distress Rank	Average Number of Accounts in Distress Rank	Change in Bankruptcy Filings March 2024 vs. March 2023 Rank	“Debt” Search Interest Index Rank	“Loans” Search Interest Index Rank
1	Michigan	59.91	44	2	1	39	10	26
2	Texas	56.15	4	10	11	7	6	7
3	Nevada	55.15	5	5	8	3	29	11
4	Tennessee	52.25	36	3	3	45	15	7
5	Rhode Island	51.47	9	1	2	48	40	22
6	Georgia	51.31	7	9	10	27	4	6
7	Louisiana	50.47	20	4	5	30	45	3
8	North Carolina	49.66	16	15	14	11	4	15
9	Mississippi	49.33	11	16	18	46	21	1
10	New York	49.25	10	29	34	13	1	9
11	South Carolina	47.44	40	8	13	22	21	5
12	Oklahoma	44.85	35	18	20	31	32	2
13	Florida	44.64	3	13	15	9	29	27
14	Kentucky	44.46	39	6	9	21	26	13
15	South Dakota	43.19	42	28	26	8	6	17
16	Delaware	43.15	17	23	28	14	13	13
17	Alabama	42.24	25	7	12	44	37	4
18	Arizona	42.16	6	27	31	40	3	15
19	West Virginia	42.12	43	14	6	32	21	27
20	Illinois	41.78	34	11	7	36	21	31
21	Missouri	41.45	24	19	19	43	15	9
22	Maryland	40.60	15	41	45	6	15	34
23	North Dakota	39.71	49	48	36	16	2	22
24	Washington	39.22	18	24	17	2	42	36
25	Idaho	38.88	31	39	35	26	10	20
26	California	38.67	8	22	22	4	32	47
27	Ohio	38.17	47	45	46	25	10	12
28	Indiana	37.61	30	21	24	35	15	22
29	Minnesota	36.00	46	35	30	5	29	43
30	Colorado	35.90	23	42	43	18	13	40
31	Arkansas	35.49	50	12	16	28	32	31
32	New Jersey	35.48	27	34	37	23	15	36
33	Virginia	35.22	21	37	41	34	15	27
34	Alaska	35.18	1	46	48	47	6	20
35	Utah	34.90	12	36	25	12	32	39
36	Montana	33.74	45	32	27	20	26	34
37	New Mexico	32.82	33	25	39	15	46	17
38	Pennsylvania	32.53	22	43	42	33	26	36
39	Hawaii	32.25	2	20	23	10	46	49
40	Massachusetts	32.11	13	44	44	19	37	31
41	Wyoming	31.96	28	30	40	50	6	17
42	Oregon	31.93	19	33	32	1	50	44
43	Kansas	31.21	26	31	21	42	37	22
44	Maine	29.91	32	17	4	49	49	40
45	Nebraska	29.63	37	47	47	37	21	40
46	Wisconsin	27.11	48	40	33	38	42	27
47	Vermont	26.87	41	26	29	29	40	48
48	Connecticut	25.67	14	38	38	24	46	50
49	Iowa	23.83	29	50	49	17	42	46
50	New Hampshire	21.71	38	49	50	41	32	44