Bridgeport, Connecticut Has the Most Residents with 5-Figure Credit Debt

The Bridgeport metro area in the state of Connecticut ranks first in the U.S. cities for most residents with five-figure credit card debt, according to a CompareCards report.

Almost 23% of cardholders in Bridgeport have more than $10,000 worth of credit card debts while 2% owe more than $50,000.

Aside from Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven areas in the state also rank high in the report. The CompareCards report ranked people in Hartford sixth with 18.5% owing over $10,000 on their cards, and 0.9% owe more than $50,000.

Meanwhile, the New Haven area placed 14th with 17.8% owing more than $10,000 on their cards, and 0.6% have more than $50,000 in credit card balance.

The report found that the majority of the cities that has the highest percentages of people that owe five-figure credit card are clustered along the East Coast and West Coast. Most of the time, the wealthiest cities and not the less affluent ones as usually expected have people who have the most significant credit card balances.

The report also found that three cities — Bridgeport, New York and Los Angeles — of the five metro areas topping the list of those with the highest percentage of cardholders with five-figure card balances are also among those with the highest income inequalities in the nation.

The Bridgeport metro area had the biggest income inequality of the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas in 2016, a 2018 report from the Brookings Institution showed. New York and Los Angeles came in second and fourth, respectively in the paper.

Virginia Beach, Va., Washington, D.C., and New York complete the top four, where 20.5%, 19.9% and 19% respectively of cardholders have five-figure balances.

Of the top 10 cities with the biggest percentages of cardholders with five-figure credit card debt, three were in California. Los Angeles placed fifth at 18.6%, San Diego came in at seventh at 18.5%, while Oxnard ranked ninth at 18.1%.