According to U.S. Census 2020-2021 estimates, Houston is the fourth-largest US city. It has a population of more than 2 million as of July 2021. Credit Karma data as of August 17, 2022 shows that the average total debt for the 796,797 Credit Karma members living in Houston is $43,388. This includes auto loans, auto leases as well as student loans, mortgages, credit cards balances and medical debt. (Click here to see the complete methodology.
Continue reading to see a snapshot Houston’s debt situation.
Snapshot of Credit Karma Stat
Total debt in Houston
Houston’s 796,797 Credit Karma members had a total debt of $59.5 billion. Average overall debt for individuals was $43,388. The median overall debt for individuals was just $11,238, which suggests that a small percentage of the population has more debt than the majority of the population. This drives the average up. This debt has an average payment of $482.
Credit Karma members have an average national debt of $49,454 and a median of $11,223.
Houston’s debt dial
Image: houstondebtgauge-4-1
Student loans, auto loans, mortgages, and credit card debt in Houston
Below is a table that shows the averages and medians of different types of debt among Credit Karma members Houston.
|
Debt type |
Credit Karma members who have debt type |
Average debt |
Median debt |
Average next payment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auto loan | 560,085 | $26,042 | $20,518 | $651 |
| Student loan | 285,826 | $30,920 | $15,201 | $34 |
| Hypothec Mortgage | 280,595 | $221,575 | $186,651 | $1,736 |
| Credit card | 739,582 | $6,577 | $3,013 | $189 |
How does Houston’s population compare with the national average? Below is a table that compares the national average to the Houston averages among Credit Karma members.
|
Debt type |
Average national credit of Credit Karma members |
Houston member average debt |
|---|---|---|
| Auto loan | $24,042 | $26,042 |
| Student loan | $32,004 | $30,920 |
| Hypothec Mortgage | $235,194 | $221,575 |
| Credit card | $6,469 | $6,577 |
Credit Karma members in Houston had greater debt than the national average in auto loan and credit card categories. Houston’s average mortgage debt is almost $14,000 lower than the national average.
Houston’s ranking against other cities.
We compared the average Credit Karma member living in 100 top cities by population, according to U.S. Census estimates for 2021.
Houston is the most expensive city in the world, with the highest average debt among Credit Karma members. Houston’s average debt is slightly lower than Baltimore’s, and slightly higher than Jacksonville, Florida.
Here are the Houston residents compared to other top 100 American cities.
- Auto loan debt: 14th most
- Credit card debt: 32nd most
- Student loan debt: 59th highest
- Mortgage debt: 63rd highest
Credit inquiries, past-due accounts and credit inquiries in Houston
The average VantageScore 3.0 credit score among Credit Karma members was 654 while the median was 654, which was considered fair. Credit Karma members had a national average VantageScore 3.0 score of 673 and a median score of 682.
Houston residents had an average of just 4.5 credit inquiries per month, while the national average was 4.2.
Houston residents have an average of 0.80 accounts that are 30 days late. Nationally, the average account is 0.74.
Methodology
We analyzed accounts of approximately 57,000 Credit Karma members who were active within the past 36 months to determine the averages for each type of debt. This included auto lease, auto loan and credit card. The averages were calculated using information from TransUnion credit reports for members from the 90-day period prior to data pull on Aug. 17, 2022. This analysis includes auto lease, credit card, student loan, mortgage, credit card, and auto loan. Unpaid balances on open accounts at the time of data pull are all included. All numbers were round to the nearest whole in this report.
All data in this article were pulled Aug. 17, 2022.