Drowning in Debt?
This is how much credit card debt Austinites carry, says report
A new report shows just how much credit card debt Texans carry, and it's weighing many of us down.
Financial website ValuePenguin ranked the 124 most populous Texas cities by credit card debt-to-income ratio (DTI), or how much income is being used to solve credit card debt. According to the report, the average Texas household makes $81,289 per year and carries a credit card balance of $6,948, resulting in a debt-to-income ratio of 8.5 percent.
Houston, Austin, and San Antonio fare better than the state average.
At 6.69 percent, Houston (No. 11) has the lowest DTI of Texas' big cities. The average household income is $80,936 and credit card debt is $5,418, making Houstonians 22 percent less debt-burdened than the average Texan.
Next is Austin (No. 12), with a DTI of 6.74 percent. Austin households make a little more than Houston ($86,281), but also have more debt ($5,819). The debt burden here is 21 percent less than the state average.
San Antonio (No. 24) has a debt burden that's 10 percent less than the Texas average. Households have $5,140 in debt and $67,095 annual income, for a DTI of 7.66 percent.
Dallas (No. 59) and Fort Worth (No. 108) have higher debt burdens than the state average — 17 and 36 percent higher, respectively. Households in both cities carry larger amounts of credit card debt and have smaller incomes. Dallas households earn $76,330 per year and have $7,627 in debt; households in Fort Worth make $74,961 and have $8,740 in debt.
The five most debt-burdened cities are Balch Springs (13.63 percent), Brownsville (13.38 percent), Laredo (12.85 percent), San Benito (12.81 percent), and Lancaster (12.69 percent).
The least debt-burdened cities in Texas? University Park (4.49 percent), Sugar Land (4.53 percent), Southlake (4.7 percent), Colleyville (4.78 percent), and Friendswood (4.97 percent).