Press Release
New York Fed Details Community Credit Conditions
May 4, 2015

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has released a series of interactive maps highlighting credit conditions in communities across the United States. The Community Credit interactive provides measures of credit inclusion and stress levels at the U.S., state and county levels.  

The maps display a range of information such as the percentage of quality borrowers located in thousands of respective counties.  The maps also depict the percentage of residents in each county who have access to some form of formal credit.  These data run from the end of 2005 to the end of 2014.

Overall, the maps show Americans are paying their bills on time in increasing numbers.  The proportion of U.S. residents who are current on all credit obligations for four consecutive quarters bottomed out at 75.8 percent in 2008, but has shown six straight years of improvement in most areas.  At the state level, North Dakota (87 percent) ranks the highest, whereas Mississippi (71 percent) ranks the lowest.

There were also fewer subprime borrowers at the end of last year than at any point in the time series.  At almost 50 percent, Mississippi has the largest segment of subprime borrowers.* North Dakota has the lowest segment at 24 percent.

The interactive provides a host of other insights, including:

  • Inclusion rates, which identify the number of adults (18+ years) in a location with a credit file and Equifax credit score, varied among states in 2014.  New Hampshire ranked the highest with 99 percent, whereas Alaska, with 88 percent, ranked the lowest.
  • There was also wide variation within some states. Michigan, for example, was among the top 5 ranked in terms of inclusion in 2014, yet Isabella County is ranked among the lowest 5 communities in the country. St. Claire ranks among the highest.
  • Last year, the county with the lowest percentage of on-time payers was McKinley County in New Mexico at 48 percent. Sioux County, Iowa was the highest ranked county at 93 percent.

*An earlier version of this release incorrectly listed Nevada as having the largest segment of subprime borrowers.

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