NEW YORK—The Federal Reserve Bank of New York today released “Credit Insecurity in the United States, 2018–2023,” which introduces the Credit Insecurity Index, a geographic measure of credit access. The report, which uses the index to measure credit access at the national, state, city, town, and county level, finds the share of people in counties with the easiest access to affordable credit increased during the period covered. Still, more than one in 10 people live in counties where large shares of consumers rely on high-cost credit and struggle to manage debt.
The report finds that counties with the strongest access to affordable credit are home to around 39% of the U.S. population, while 31% live in counties in the second-highest credit-security tier. Another 18% live in mid-tier counties. Roughly 8% live in counties where a relatively high share of people struggle to access affordable credit, while another 5% live in counties with the least access to affordable credit.
Among the other key findings:
- Nationally, more people had a credit score or credit file in 2023 than five years earlier. The share of people who are credit-constrained, relying on high-cost debt and struggling to make debt payments, has fallen.
- Around 60% of counties, with a total population of 199 million, were in the same tier of credit security in 2023 as 2018. Two in three counties in the “credit insecure” category, where residents had the least access to affordable credit, remained insecure through this period.
- Of the 16.6 million people who lived in credit-insecure counties in 2022, 5.8 million lived in rural areas.
- About 16% of people in credit-insecure counties lack a high school diploma, the highest share of people without a high school education in any of the credit security tiers.
The Credit Insecurity Index combines data about the share of adults in each area without a credit score or credit file with the share of adults who are credit-constrained, which means they have a low credit score, delinquent payment history, over-utilized credit lines, or lack of revolving credit, leaving them with limited access to affordable credit.
Along with the report, the New York Fed released an Excel workbook that includes data on the index for states, counties, and cities for the years 2018 to 2023.
“We hope this report will be a useful tool for communities to compare their level of credit security to other communities across their state and the nation,” said report author Ambika Nair, a community development research analyst at the New York Fed. “That knowledge could also help communities assess their overall resilience against financial shocks and promote policies that improve credit access and affordability.”
The report, which builds on earlier New York Fed research, was developed as part of the New York Fed's Community Development efforts, which include a focus on household financial well-being.
