The New York Fed’s Community Development team promotes economic growth and financial stability for low- and moderate-income communities and individuals. Its March 2025 report, “Credit Insecurity in the United States, 2018-2023,” introduces a geographic measure of credit access across the United States called the Credit Insecurity Index.
The index combines data about the share of adults without a credit score or file and the share who have limited access to affordable credit. The report uses the index to measure access to affordable credit at the national, state, city, town, and county level.
It finds that credit security improved during the five-year period ending in 2023. Nationally, more people have a credit score or file now than in 2018. The share of people who are credit-constrained, relying on high-cost debt and struggling to make debt payments, has also fallen.
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.
Among the other key findings:- 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 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.
