Study Examines Eastsiders’ Credit Card Debt

In January, Americans claimed an inauspicious achievement by amassing just over $1 trillion in outstanding credit card debt — the highest in United States history, according to data compiled by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Who’s carrying around this debt, and how do their outstanding balances compare to your own bottom line when it comes to purchasing with plastic?

The personal finance website WalletHub offered insights by mining data from TransUnion, the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Census Bureau, and its own proprietary technology to examine more than 2,500 American cities and determine median credit card debt, cost in finance charges to pay off that debt, and the number of months required wipe the slate clean.

According to WalletHub, cities in southern states such as Texas, Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee had the least sustainable credit card debt, while 14 cities in California comprised the top 20 locales with the most sustainable credit card debt. Notably, tech-centric California cities such as Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Palo Alto, and Mountain View were included in the Top 10; in Washington, Redmond ranked No. 15.

Here is a closer look at how Eastside cities fared in WalletHub’s study:

City: Renton

Percentile: 53

Median Credit Card Debt: $2,672

Cost to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: $204

Months to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: 11

City: Woodinville

Percentile: 36

Median Credit Card Debt: $4,074

Cost to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: $285

Months to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: 10

City: Bothell

Percentile: 21

Median Credit Card Debt: $3,032

Cost to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: $192

Months to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: 9

City: Kirkland

Percentile: 21

Median Credit Card Debt: $3,363

Cost to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: $213

Months to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: 9

City: Issaquah

Percentile: 9

Median Credit Card Debt: $3,647

Cost to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: $208

Months to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: 8

City: Mercer Island

Percentile: 9

Median Credit Card Debt: $4,624

Cost to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: $264

Months to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: 8

City: Sammamish

Percentile: 9

Median Credit Card Debt: $4,558

Cost to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: $260

Months to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: 8

City: Bellevue

Percentile: 3

Median Credit Card Debt: $2,895

Cost to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: $146

Months to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: 7

City: Redmond

Percentile: 1

Median Credit Card Debt: $3,001

Cost to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: $132

Months to Pay Off Credit Card Debt: 6

NOTE: 99th Percentile = Least Sustainable Credit-Card Debt

The complete report is available online here.