LendingTree<\/a>, Jacksonville ranks fifth in the country for the share of credit card holders carrying five-figure balances. The city also ranks among the highest in the state for residents with more than $50,000 in credit card debt.<\/p>\nThe report found that 32.2% of cardholders in the Jacksonville area carry balances of at least $10,000.<\/p>\n
Matt Schulz, chief consumer finance analyst at LendingTree, said Florida cities, including Jacksonville, are seeing higher concentrations of large balances.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe troubling thing is that we found that a lot of the big cities in Florida, including Jacksonville, tend to have higher percentages of cardholders with $10,000 or more in debt,\u201d Schulz said.<\/p>\n
Experts say the rising cost of living is a major factor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt absolutely speaks to the high cost of living in Florida,\u201d Schulz said. \u201cLife is expensive everywhere. Florida is certainly no exception, especially in big cities like Jacksonville.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trend is accelerating. Five-figure credit card debt has surged more than 70% since 2019, with another 17% increase in just the past year.<\/p>\n
Jacksonville also ranks fourth in Florida for households carrying more than $50,000 in credit card debt, highlighting deeper financial strain for some families.<\/p>\n
Thomas Nitzsche, a financial educator with Money Management International, said many consumers are relying on credit cards to cover routine expenses.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt becomes really an extension of your income,\u201d Nitzsche said. \u201cIf you\u2019re faced with a $200 or $300 shortfall every month, it\u2019s probably going to go on a credit card because they\u2019re familiar, relatively safe financial tools that people use every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he warns that approach can quickly spiral.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you do that month after month, eventually you run out of runway,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nitzsche recommends starting with a clear understanding of your finances.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first step really is understanding your budget, what\u2019s coming in and what\u2019s going out, so you can figure out how much you have to put toward debt,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also suggests building a small emergency cushion and prioritizing either high-interest balances or smaller debts to gain momentum.<\/p>\n
Across Florida, metro areas like Miami and Tampa are seeing even higher rates of credit card debt, pointing to the role rising costs may be playing statewide.<\/p>\n
For those struggling, experts say one simple step can make a difference: call your credit card company and ask for a lower interest rate. According to LendingTree, about 83% of consumers who make that request are successful.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A growing number of Americans are carrying significant credit card debt, and new data shows…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1917,1039,741,116,118,117,2159],"class_list":{"0":"post-230338","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-consumer","9":"tag-duval-county","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","13":"tag-jacksonville-news","14":"tag-money"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}