A new study says South Floridians are swimming in credit card debt. Maybe drowning in it.
CreditCards.com, a self-described “online credit card marketplace,” looked at average debt versus median income for 25 major metropolitan areas to determine a region’s credit card debt burden.
The Miami metropolitan area had the fourth worst debt burden in the country.
“It certainly seems that Miami residents are putting a little bit more than they can afford on their cards,” said Matt Schulz, senior industry analyst with CreditCards.com. “You know, as evidenced by the fact that we see that it would take the average person in Miami about 14 months and about $350 in interest to pay off their credit card debt... That’s a long time and a lot of money.”
South Floridians carried an average of $4,325 in credit card debt last year. Schulz says, relatively speaking, that’s not a lot. The problem, he says, is that the median income is so low in South Florida ($27,453) that getting out from under any debt can be tricky.
Only San Antonio, Dallas/Fort Worth and Atlanta had higher credit card debt burdens than South Florida.
See how other metropolitan areas stack up below.
