SmartAsset, a New York financial technology company, recently released a study uncovering the counties across America with the lowest per capita debt or lowest debt on average, per person.
How bleak is your debt picture?
If you live in Hudson or Mercer counties, there's a chance that you may have less debt than if you lived elsewhere in New Jersey.
SmartAsset, a New York financial technology company, recently released a study uncovering the counties across America with the lowest per capita debt or lowest debt on average, per person. They studied debt-to-income ratio across three categories: credit cards, auto, and mortgage.
Relying on information from the Federal Reserve of New York and the U.S. Census bureau, the counties were analyzed by the amount of debt residents held across those categories. The debt was then compared to local income.
In New Jersey, Hudson County residents have, on average, the lowest debt-to-income ratio in the state. Mercer County is second.
Residents in Hudson County earn an average income of $32,641, carry a credit card debt of $3,210 a year, giving them a credit card debt-to-income ratio of 9.8 percent.
Hudson County residents each carry, on average, an auto debt of $2,055 and a mortgage debt of $35,404, which is 108.5 percent of their annual income.
In Mercer County, the average resident's income is $37,465, they carry a credit card debt equal to about 9 percent of their income and an auto debt of 7.5 percent. The average mortgage debt carried each year is $46,028.
Further down the New Jersey list are:
- Morris County, where residents have an average income of $48,814 a year and carry $4,310 a year in credit card debt, $70,152 in mortgage debt and $3,620 in auto debt;
- Somerset County, where residents have an average income of $47,803 a year and carry $4,210 per year in credit card debt, $72,094 in mortgage debt and $3,495 a year in auto debt.
- Atlantic County, where residents have an average annual income of $27,391, carry an annual credit card debt of $3,140, an annual mortgage debt of $38,044 and an auto debt of $2,749.
Among the least desirable places for debt in New Jersey are Ocean, Sussex and Passaic counties, where residents carry a credit card debt of $3,360 to $4,460 a year and carry an average mortgage debt of $43,043 to $53,706 a year.
Passaic County ranked the lowest overall debt-to-income rank in New Jersey, with the average resident's income at $27,152 a year and an auto debt-to-income ratio of 10.5 percent and a mortgage debt of $43,043 a year.
Nationwide, Connecticut was the state with the highest per capita income at $36,209, and New Jersey was second at $35,504.
"What this shows is the diversity of the people who live within the arbitrary lines that make up our counties," said Marc Pfeiffer, assistant director of the Bloustein Local Government Research Center at Rutgers University.
Pfeiffer said Hudson County residents probably fared better in the study because many of them are renters who have no mortgage to pay and no auto debt because they use mass transit.
"Also, you have a phenomenal mix of incomes in Hudson County," he said.
Densely populated Passaic County may have more residents deeper in debt because of lower income overall, the need to own a car and purchase a home, he said.
"When you own homes and have to have a car, it's going to drive up your debt," he said.
Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.