{"id":115117,"date":"2026-02-16T10:29:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T10:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/115117\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T10:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T10:29:07","slug":"these-states-are-where-consumers-are-adding-the-most-debt-where-does-pa-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/115117\/","title":{"rendered":"These states are where consumers are adding the most debt: Where does Pa. fall?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"4BHKWSUPY5DRTFTLXM2MB2KBIE\">A new report has found the states in which consumers are adding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pennlive.com\/inflation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the most debt<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"R2N7ZTBUBBEYLAYJUEFT45PI3I\">And as this is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pennlive.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a Pennsylvania-based publication<\/a>, most readers would probably like to know where the Keystone State falls.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"P2RTALZPHZGM5ACGRRFEA74Y7Y\">As conducted and published <a href=\"https:\/\/wallethub.com\/edu\/states-where-consumers-are-adding-the-most-debt\/133119\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">by WalletHub<\/a>, the report ranked Pennsylvania in 37th overall. In other words, Pennsylvanian consumers are among the top 15 spots adding the least amount of debt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"C27YBKEMYNHTFISPPYVNKQ376U\">In order to figure this out, researchers at the site set down two key dimensions to assess each state against: \u201cChange in Average Debt\u201d and \u201cAverage Debt.\u201d Relevant sub-metrics \u2014 \u201cPercent Change in Average Auto Loans Balance\u201d and \u201cAverage Credit Card Balance\u201d among them \u2014 were also factored in.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"KRJWMLG6EFAJNDQRIMSMJKCRTE\">West Virginia saw the lowest debt added overall. As for the top three states that saw the highest debt increases, those were Hawaii in third; Wyoming in second; and Maine in first. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"HTXOFZ3V4ZEORC3NLRM7LSLLQ4\">\u201cMaine had the biggest consumer debt increase overall in the final quarter of 2025, and credit card debt showed the second-most dramatic change,\u201d the report reads. \u201cThe average credit card balance in Maine increased by nearly eight percent from Q3 2025 to Q4 2025, rising to nearly $8,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"22EEY3PG3ZHVNPDJYOMZWLK7PY\">\u201cFor context, the vast majority of states saw increases of less than five percent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"JD4FQ3R7XZDN3HSXLMQXKT3PFQ\">WalletHub notes that United States residents have a collective $1.3 trillion in credit card debt currently, as well as about $1.7 trillion in auto loan debt. That latter increased by over 14 percent within a decade. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"AC77JIFZMFHW5OTKVZM5QKTOGQ\">\u201cAt a time <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pennlive.com\/opinion\/2026\/02\/the-cost-of-living-is-too-high-especially-for-young-people-opinion.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">when interest rates are very high<\/a>, it\u2019s especially important to minimize the accumulation of debt,\u201d said WalletHub Editor John Kiernan. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"5OBBON5MWZDUNHAON5UK5ILB7U\">\u201cAmericans have added a staggering amount of new debt in the past decade, and it can be very easy for that debt to become more unsustainable, leading to future issues like default and major <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pennlive.com\/life\/2024\/11\/do-pa-residents-have-good-credit-scores-a-report-found-out.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">credit score<\/a> damage.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new report has found the states in which consumers are adding the most debt. And as this&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":{"0":"post-115117","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-pennsylvania","9":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","10":"tag-pennsylvania-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}