8 States Where People Are the Most Financially Irresponsible
Written by
David Nadelle
Edited by
Cory Dudak
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Transparency at the state government level is essential. Residents need to be able to track how their tax dollars are being spent, and how much is going to education, healthcare, public safety, economic development, transportation and other services.
Some states are more financially irresponsible than others, depending on factors like debt, support from federal funding, and poor fiscal budgeting. But what about a state’s residents? Figuring out how much people spend compared to what they earn and save requires a different set of factors, including average credit card debt and online spending stats on sites like Amazon.
Using information from the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and more, agency Socially Powerful has listed overall rankings for all 50 states based on all metrics against population per state.
Socially Powerful found the most financially responsible states to be the Dakotas, with South Dakota besting North Dakota in several categories. Rounding out the top five states whose residents are the most financially accountable are Kansas, Indiana and Minnesota.
Here are the top eight states found to be the most financially irresponsible.
8. Tennessee
Is the state known for country music and southern hospitality also Amazon-obsessed? According to Socially Powerful’s data, it is. Tennessee has the ninth lowest median household income and the eighth lowest average retirement savings in the U.S., but it beats every other state in monthly Amazon e-commerce shopping by a significant margin ($124.22 to second-place Delaware at $114.00).
7. Georgia
Last year, WalletHub attempted to “shed light on the financial troubles experienced by people across the U.S.,” and compared states across nine measures, including credit score rank, average number of accounts in distress and “debt” and “loan” searches by residents. Georgia ranked sixth in WalletHub’s study and seventh in Socially Powerful’s.
6. California
California holds the distinction of having the highest percentage of its population (56.5%) making more purchases online and having by far the most physical marketplaces (retail trade, food services and drinking places) where people can spend their money (15,253).
5. Rhode Island
The smallest state in size in the United States and its seventh-least populous, Rhode Island had the highest change in the share of people with accounts in distress and the highest change in the average number of accounts in distress from quarter three of 2023 and quarter three of 2024, per WalletHub’s research.
4. Florida
Florida ranked fifth in total interest expense, third in number of marketplaces and second in number of marketplaces per 10,000 population. In other words, Florida citizens are paying a lot of interest for things they’ve bought and having a lot of tempting places to spend their money every time they leave home.
3. Colorado
Despite its residents having an average retirement savings of $449,719 and a median income of $92,911, Colorado is tied with Texas as the second most irresponsible state, according to Socially Powerful. Coloradans hold an average credit card amount of $6,574, just two dollars less than California, but pay $957 in total interest, 11% more than the Golden State ($858).
2. Texas
Texas ranked high in all of Socially Powerful’s financially irresponsible metrics, but it topped WalletHub’s “States with the Most People in Financial Distress” study, ranking first in people with accounts in distress, second in average number of accounts in distress and high in change of non-business bankruptcy filings and “debt” and “loan” internet searches.
1. Washington
In Socially Powerful’s study, Washington ranked high on most metrics, especially monthly Amazon spending (fifth highest at $112.06) and percentage of residents shopping online (55.3%, second only to California). As Digital Journal noted, the average resident in Washington carries $136,170 in debt, which was an increase of 6.9% from 2023.
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