Average Credit Rating By State, And What It Reveals

By Steve Sailer on January 19, 2009 at 4:23pm

According to CreditReport.com website, the top ten states with the highest average consumer credit ratings are found among the people of:

South Dakota 710
Minnesota 707
North Dakota 706
Vermont 706
Massachusetts 703
New Hampshire 703
Montana 701
Iowa 700
Wisconsin 699
Maine 699

In contrast, the ten populations with the worst average consumer credit scores are:

Texas 651
Nevada 655
Arizona 659
New Mexico 663
Louisiana 663
South Carolina 665
Oklahoma 666
North Carolina 667
Arkansas 668
Mississippi 668

California (672) and Florida (673) are closer to the bottom than than the top.

Texas largely escaped the mortgage meltdown due to low land prices and high oil prices, but this suggests there might be trouble in Texas ahead if oil stays around $40 per barrel.

What does it all mean? As George Will coyly hinted in his obituary for Daniel Patrick Moynihan:

"The Senate's Sisyphus, Moynihan was forever pushing uphill a boulder of inconvenient data. A social scientist trained to distinguish correlation from causation, and a wit, Moynihan puckishly said that a crucial determinant of the quality of American schools is proximity to the Canadian border. ... [S]tates trying to improve their students' test scores should move closer to Canada."

Indeed.