Average Credit Rating By State, And What It Reveals
01/19/2009
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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.
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