The recession may technically have ended, but that doesn't mean that Americans aren't still making up for past mistakes. As of the last quarter of 2010, the Federal Reserve found that outstanding credit card debt in the nation totaled $790 billion, a number that gets a bit scarier when you start to break down what it means state by state or, worse, city by city.
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New research conducted by credit reporting agency Equifax found that residents in many major metropolitan areas collectively owe between 12% to 17% of their yearly incomes to creditors. And while no one region is responsible for the bulk of the unpaid bills, six states -- Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Washington and California -- have been particularly hard-hit by their poor use of credit. People in California, for example, have a total of $90,566,978,302 in unpaid credit card balances on the books at the end of the third quarter of 2010.
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But drilling down, what major cities are the furthest in the red?
Credit Crunch
To figure out credit card debt by city, Equifax analyzed quarterly data on consumers with more than one credit line on file. The information was sourced from a sample of Equifax's credit database and used to bring to light trends for the overall population.
Equifax uses geographical standards set by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to define the metro areas included in their rankings, standard for all government bureaus.
This ranking is based not on which metro areas currently owe the most, but rather which cities' residents owe the highest proportion of their average yearly income to credit card companies. Read on to find out which parts of the country are the most debt-ridden.
 ©Matt Seppings/flickr |
1. Wilmington, N.C.
Median household income: $42,392
Number of households: 152,725
Total credit card debt: $1,117,169,053
Average credit card debt per household: $7,315
Percent of income owed to credit card companies: 17.26%
 ©tbower/flickr |
2. Canton-Massillon, Ohio
Median household income: $40,912
Number of households: 160,098
Total credit card debt: $1,128,641,781
Average credit card debt per household: $7,050
Percent of income owed to credit card companies: 17.23%
 ©Starley2/flickr |
3. Toledo, Ohio
Median household income: $44,349
Number of households: 256,349
Total credit card debt: $1,900,624,501
Average credit card debt per household: $7,414
Percent of income owed to credit card companies: 16.72%
 ©Adamsfelt/flickr |
4. Duluth, Minn.
Median household income: $38,392
Number of households: 113,125
Total credit card debt: $725,980,867
Average credit card debt Per household: $6,418
Percent of income owed to credit card companies: 16.72%
 ©Paul Garland/flickr |
5. El Paso, Texas
Median household income: $33,126
Number of households: 240,173
Total credit card debt: $1,284,799,280
Average credit card debt per household: $5,349
Percent of income owed to credit card companies: 16.15%
6. Asheville, N.C.
Median household income: $39,884
Number of households: 175,769
Total credit card debt: $1,130,287,328
Average credit card debt per household: $6,431
Percent of income owed to credit card companies: 16.12%
7. Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, Fla.
Median household income: $42,106
Number of households: 170,817
Total credit card debt: $1,135,798,097
Average credit card debt per household: $6,649
Percent of income owed to credit card companies: 15.79%
8. Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio/Pa.
Median household income: $39,304
Number of households: 222,864
Total credit card debt: $1,368,939,269
Average credit card debt per household: $6,142
Percent of income owed to credit card companies: 15.63%
9. Fayetteville, N.C.
Median household income: $42,506
Number of households: 126,723
Total credit card debt: $826,134,677
Average credit card debt per household: $6,519
Percent of income owed to credit card companies: 15.34%
10. Winston-Salem, N.C.
Median household income: $42,869
Number of households: 192,420
Total credit card debt: $1,251,741,211
Average credit card debt per household: $6,505
Percent of income owed to credit card companies: 15.17%
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