Philadelphia Is Not Doing So Badly When It Comes to Consumer Debt
If you had any money, you might gather your friends for a weekend of fun in a city where the weather is warmer at this time of year than it is in Philadelphia. You might sip sweet tea in Atlanta or watch the restaurant staff in San Antonio mash the avocados and squeeze oranges into them to make tableside guacamole. It would be lovely until the locals found out where you were from and started in with their Schadenfreude about how everything in Philadelphia is prohibitively expensive. Their Schadenfreude does not tell the whole story. Yes, people from parts of the country with pleasant weather like to look down their noses at the Northeast, where the biggest draw is the social scene. A recent report on consumer debt tells a different story. We are doing better financially than some places where there are reasons to visit other than cheese steaks and the Liberty Bell. Yes, the French fries are soggy in Philadelphia, but we are as close as one can be to financially solvent, at least in today’s economy. If this news is cold comfort and your financial situation is still stressing you out, contact a Philadelphia debt relief lawyer.
The Most Debt-Ridden Cities in America
A recent report by the Lending Tree website paints a grim picture of consumer finance in the United States, but this should surprise no one. It showed, however, that major metropolitan areas in states that have a reputation for an affordable cost of living have a higher average debt burden per household than the big cities in the notoriously expensive Northeast Corridor and the glitzy urban centers of California.
The report only includes data on nonmortgage debt; therefore, it considers renters and homeowners together. Homeowners tend to have more debt, because most of them owe money on a mortgage loan, and mortgages tend to be the largest amount of money that anyone borrows, but their financial situation is usually better overall than renters, because residential real estate is so valuable that owning a home, even if it is encumbered by a mortgage, increases their net worth. The biggest sources of nonmortgage debt are car loans, student loans, credit card debt, and personal loans, in that order.
The only Pennsylvania city that makes the top 15 metro areas for nonmortgage debt is Pittsburgh, which ranks 13th. Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., which ranks eighth, are the only Northeast Corridor cities on the list. The Sun Belt dominates the list. The top three most debt-ridden cities are all in Texas, and Miami ranks in fourth place. In fact, Florida and Texas have four cities each in the top 15, meaning that more than half of the 15 most debt-burdened cities in the U.S. are in Texas and Florida.
Contact CONSUMERLAWPA.com About Your Debt Relief Options
A Philadelphia consumer law attorney can help you get out of debt, even if people’s debt problems elsewhere are even worse. Contact CONSUMERLAWPA.com to set up a free, confidential consultation.
Source:
news4jax.com/news/local/2024/11/14/these-florida-cities-among-most-debt-ridden-in-the-us-heres-why/
