Outstanding student loan debt in the United States in the first quarter of 2019 increased to $1.49 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit.
Except for mortgages, student loans make up the largest share of household debt for Americans, but the burden of student loans varies from state to state, the website WalletHub says.
It ranked which states are the worst for student loans by gathering data from the 50 states and the District of Columbia on 12 measures of indebtedness and earning opportunities: average student debt, share of students with debt, student debt as share of income, share of student loans in past-due or default status, share of federal student loan borrowers enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan, share of student borrowers aged 50 or older, unemployment rate of those aged 25 to 34, overall unemployment rate, availability of student jobs, availability of paid internships, grant growth, and presence of “student ombudsmen laws.”
The analysis determined that the worst state for student debt is South Dakota. Out of a possible 100, it had a score of 66.17 points. The best state for student debt, WalletHub found, is Utah. It had a score of 15.67 out of 100.
Here are the 10 states ranked as the worst for student loans in 2019.
