2021’s Cities with the Most & Least Student Debt

Wallet Hub, May 11, 2021

Post-college debts represent one of the biggest financial burdens to Americans. In fact, student loans make up the second highest form of household debt after mortgages, totaling a record $1.7 trillion.

But how burdensome are the individual loans? The average student-loan balance in 2020 was nearly $39,000. High balances combined with a payoff timeline that lasts into middle age force many graduates to significantly delay or forego other financial goals such as saving for retirement or buying a home. Paying back student loans has also become even more difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic, though the government has allowed temporary forbearance on federal student loans.

While we have a big student-loan debt crisis as a country, student-loan debts are more unsustainable in some places than others. To determine where borrowers are burdened the most, WalletHub compared the median student-loan balance against the median earnings of adults aged 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree in more than 2,510 U.S. cities….

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