More than half of Americans earning $100,000 annuallyreport living paycheck to paycheck— a frightening sign that out-earning financial distress is easier said than done. As we work to reduce debts and outrun inflation, we must consider whether where we live is the greatest cause of our financial hardship.
It's no secret that New York City, San Francisco, and other notoriously expensive metro areas are financially unsustainable for the non-wealthy. We were more surprised to find several cities in Texas, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana among the locales where residents are cracking under the weight of mounting financial burdens.
Researchers considered residents' number of accounts in distress, credit scores, bankruptcy filing rates, and debt-related internet searches to rank the cities with the greatest proportion of financial stress. While money troubles have no boundaries, data suggests that these cities are attracting or creating residents whose greatest concern is getting by financially.
1. Chicago, IL
They call it the Windy City, but they should call it the Spendy City. Chicago's sky-high proportion of distressed accounts earns it the dubious distinction as the municipality with the most number of people in financial distress. Fairly characterized as a tale of two cities,Chicago's poverty rate was 17% in 2022and has spiked as high as 24% in years of acute economic hardship (which we are currently facing).
Chicagoans tied six other cities with the most searches for “debt” and “loans,” suggesting that residents search for financial answers in potentially predatory places. We have to wonder if residents merely take cues from their leaders,who will spend $2.1 billion of residents' moneyservicing the city's ever-growing debt obligations.
2. Houston, TX
Because cities are ranked based on the sheer volume of financially stressed residents (rather than a per-capita calculation), it makes sense for jam-packed Houston to fall near the top of this list. This isAmerica's fourth-most populous city, yet comes in second when measuring financial struggle.
One analyst hasdescribed Houstonas a “class-divided city,” with significant sections of the city defined by decrepit apartments, high crime, and rampant unemployment. Though inflation has made nearly everyone susceptible to finance-induced sleep loss, these sections of Houston are undoubtedly hit the hardest. Researchers found that Houstonians are Googling “debt” and “loans” early and often, looking for answers they have yet to find.
3. New York, NY
The median monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in New York Citywas $4,300heading into 2024. A high-end cappuccinoruns you $5.31in the Big Apple. One Uber riderpaid $52 for a three-mile ridefrom downtown Manhattan to the West Side in 2023. Merely existing in New York City costs a fortune.
While penthouse-dwelling Manhattanites don't have to worry about the cost of a bagel or ever-rising rents, most New Yorkers do. The city's residents saw the sixth-highest rise in bankruptcy filings of all surveyed cities, while an estimated one in four children in the citylives in poverty. You know, Alabama isn'tthatbad — it's certainly far less expensive.
4. Los Angeles, CA
Far fewer Angelenos are singing along to Randy Newman's “I Love L.A.” these days. The head of a family of four who earns $100,000 annually in Los Angelesnow qualifies as “low-income,”signaling just how exorbitant the cost of living has become. The City of Angels is bedeviling for those seeking financial security.
The median home price in Los Angeles isset to surpass $1 millionshortly. This translates to untenable rents and, for most, dashed dreams of homeownership. Gas and other essentials also tend to be more expensive in L.A., contributing to the city's status as the fourth most financially distressed in the country.
5. Dallas, TX
More than one rapper has re-fashioned “Dallas, Texas” as “Dollas, Texas,” a monicker that has become cruelly ironic considering residents' acute shortage of dollars. The number of Dallas residents living in povertyrose 15% over the past decade and a half. More than a quarter of children in the city live in poverty.
Dallas does not rank especially high in any particular category indicating financial distress (aside from online searches indicating financial struggle). However, the city is lagging across the board, from the number of accounts in distress to the increase in bankruptcy filings. You'd never know it when driving by Jerry Jones' house in Highland Park, but most people in Dallas are barely scraping by.
6. Las Vegas, NV
Las Vegas has the seventh-most residents with financial accounts in distress. Las Vegans have the tenth-worst credit score in a country built on bad credit scores. In a city that is disproportionately dependent on tourists,employment can be spotty and highly taxingfor Sin City residents.
For those with financially destructive habits, living in Vegas is like dumping a gallon of gas on a raging fire.An estimated 19.7% of Nevadans who gambled in the prior year showed signs of problematic (and possibly even addictive) behavior.
7. San Antonio, TX
San Antonio gets its name from St. Anthony of Padua,patron of the poor— how tragically fitting.17.7% of San Antonians live in poverty, far outpacing the national average of 11.5%. Paycheck-to-paycheck living keeps bank accounts on E, and San Antonio ranks 20th in terms of residents' average number of accounts in distress.
The root of the problem is clear: San Antoniansearn significantly lessthan their counterparts in Texas and throughout the United States. Compared with metro areas of a similar size — Orlando, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Baltimore — San Antonians are far more likely to be poor.
8. Atlanta, GA
Nobody will mistake ATL for an ATM anytime soon, at least if they're accounting for the entirety of the population. Neighborhoods like Buckhead exude wealth, but for every Buckhead, there is a College Park full of struggling, overdrawn residents who do not have two pennies to scrape together.
Atlanta's unemployment ratehovers around 3%, but wages aren't keeping pace with the cost of living in the Southeast's largest city. Between the cost clubbing, burning gas in Atlanta's notorious traffic jams, and covering themedian rent of $2,074, Atlantans are spending it faster than they can make it.
9. Riverside, CA
Located between Los Angeles, Anaheim, and San Bernardino, Riverside is home to more than 320,000 people — many of whom are broke.
Riverside had the 30th-greatest increase in bankruptcy filings between December 2022 and December 2023. Residents are presumably stressed by California's high and rising cost of living. 34% of Californianscan't afford basic living expenses, and Riverside isn't exactly Beverly Hills. Working-class communities feel the burn of inflation most intensely, and no state has inflated more rapidly than California.
10. Jacksonville, FL
Despite Florida's relatively tax-friendly environment, Jacksonville has the 11th most residents with accounts in distress. 14.5% of Jacksonville residentslive in poverty, with neighborhoods like Durkeeville housing high concentrations of the city's most desperate citizens.
Mansions on the Saint Johns River are only a stone's throw away from neighborhoods defined by struggle. Like so many American cities, far more residents live on food stamps and payday loans rather than caviar and fat paychecks.
11. Baton Rouge, LA
You can't solely blame the broke, Ramen-scarfing college students at LSU for Baton Rouge's placement on this list. Louisiana natives (and those who have visited to watch a Tigers football game) know that Baton Rouge is plenty rough. If it weren't for New Orleans,Baton Rouge would be the crime capitalof the state — and it's not the joyride in Daddy's Ferrari type of crime.
Destitution is a fact of life in Baton Rouge. Louisiana's capital had the third most residents with accounts in distress (in all of the United States). 24% of the city's populationlives below the poverty line, and times have only gotten harder in recent years.
12. Miami, FL
What happened to the Bitcoin bros and influencers pumping up real estate prices in South Beach? Miami is home to plenty of residents who don't fit into the 1%, and most are in a constant state of financial worry.
Miamians shell out a disproportionate amount of their income to banks and landlords, making itone of the most “house-poor” cities in America. In a city where Lamborghinis are commonplace, and status is everything (to some), many are living outside their means and drowning in debt.
13. Austin, TX
What do Los Angeles, New York City, and Austin have in common? These are cities where dream-chasing youths flock, pursuing careers in film, television, standup comedy, and other artistic fields. These idealists quickly realize that dream-chasing isn't cheap and that the rent has to be paid.
The cost of living in Austin followed the trajectory of a Space X rocket between March 2020 and May 2022. After median home priceshit a peak of $669,000in mid-2022, prices have deflated substantially. Yet, Austin remains one of the Southwest's costliest cities, and many residents are in dire financial straits.
14. New Orleans, LA
New Orleans has a voodoo-powered magnetism for starving artists, so perhaps that helps explain the Crescent City having the fifth-most people with accounts in distress. The city also has a considerable poverty problem among non-artists, as about27% of New Orleanian childrenlive below the poverty line.
Neighborhoods like the Ninth Ward are boiling pots where financial desperation and rampant hopelessness rule the day (and the night). The mansions of St. Charles Avenue and flamboyant Mardi Gras floats are masks that obscure an undercurrent of intense hardship.
15. Fort Worth, TX
Frequently associated with nearby Dallas, Fort Worthbrands itselfas “the most typically Texan of all Texas cities.” If this tagline rings true, then cities throughout Texas must be full of residents living paycheck to paycheck.
Residents in Fort Worth have the fifth-worst credit score of all surveyed cities. The average Americancarries nearly $5,500 in credit card debt, and Fort Worth residents may be more likely than most to face unsustainable interest rates on their debt.
16. Nashville, TN
Those nights out on Broadway can get expensive. Between the third-row tickets at the Grand Ole Opry and thesteadily climbing rents in one of the nation's costliest metro areas, Nashville residents are barely footing the bill.
As one of the cities that musicians, podcasters, and other celebrities flocked to mid-pandemic, Nashville's appearance on this list reminds us that most American cities are populated by both haves and have-nots.
17. Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix is a warm-weather destination for retirees, but the data suggests that those retirees may not have saved quite as much as they needed to retire comfortably. As themedian age of Phoenix residents risesand the under-18 population falls, it's clear that aging does not equate to financial security.
Google search terms tell the story of increasing financial pressure, which does not pair well with the oppressive Arizona heat. Phoenix residents conducted the eighth-most searches for “loans” and the ninth-most queries for “debt.”
18. Charlotte, NC
One of the preeminent Southern cities, Charlotte has seen a population explosion as residents gravitate towards itsrobust white-collar jobs market, strong public schools, temperate weather, and Southern charm. Yet, despite being a banking hub, many Charlotte residents are struggling with personal finance.
Charlotte saw the seventh-highest rise in bankruptcy filings between 2022 and 2023, a sadly ironic reality in a city thatBank of America calls home. It turns out banks still aren't handing out money, even to those they share a city with.
19. Baltimore, MD
As fans of HBO's The Wire know well, Charm City has taken its lumps over the past several decades. Though the city still retains much of its charm (and plenty of first-class seafood), the citylost more than 80,000 jobsbetween 1970 and 2015. Successful revitalization efforts made the Inner Harbor into the city's crown jewel but failed to attract sustainable employment.
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridgewill spell more job losses and financial hardship in a city already full of residents on the brink.
20. St. Louis, MO
Few cities exemplify the symptoms of American manufacturing's decline as St. Louis. Though Anheuser-Busch has remained loyal to the city, St. Louis has become synonymous with hollowed-out neighborhoods where cash flow is a pipe dream.
St. Louis residents have the 11th-worst credit score of any American city and the 22nd most residents with accounts in distress. Despitea 2023 unemployment rate of 2.6%, wages in St. Louis are seemingly not keeping pace with the cost of living.
21. Winston-Salem, NC
Winston-Salemhas seen the same population growth that is occurring in much of North Carolina, but a larger population doesn't necessarily mean greater prosperity for the average resident. The city leads the nation in the number of residents whose accounts are in financial distress, as well as the average number of distressed accounts per resident.
The population growth may contribute to impoverished residents' hardship, as the cost of housing tends to increase as the market becomes more saturated.
22. Tampa, FL
Tampa has long been a haven for those seeking a tax shelter with year-round sunshine, world-class beaches, authentic Cuban cuisine, and all the modern trappings of the First World. However, the absence of a state income tax does not guarantee that one's bank account will remain flush.
Tampa's residents had the fourth-highest number of accounts in distress. As the pandemic led Americans to re-evaluate their living situations, the migration South has caused rents in Southwest Florida to swell. A city that was once a cost-effective landing spot has become an increasingly expensive, densely populated locale.
23. Stockton, CA
UFC fighters Nick and Nate Diaz are proof that the tough streets of Stockton produce similarly tough individuals. However, most Stockton residents don't have lucrative fighting contracts to live off, and most of them seem to be struggling mightily to pay their bills.
Despitetargeted effortsto lift Stockton's poor out of its financial doldrums, Stockton saw the greatest increase in bankruptcy filings between 2022 and 2023. This is a symptom of the broader financial challenges facing this economically depressed Californian city.
24. El Paso, TX
It's not just the crunch of taco shells they're feeling in Old El Paso. The financial crunch is just as biting, as the city ranks poorly in most metrics that gauge residents' financial distress. Bankruptcy filings, the number of residents with distressed accounts, and the average number of accounts in distress are all high in this Southwestern border town.
A poverty rate above 20%makes El Paso one of the poorest cities in America. The city's proximity to the Southern border can only elevate stress levels in the city, as residents are constantly reminded that the job market is only getting more crowded by the day.
