WalletHub compared the country’s 100 largest cities and found that financial troubles are weighing heavily on many Texans during the pandemic. Dallas is number five.
WalletHub took a lot of factors into consideration, including average credit score, number of bankruptcy filings between June 2019 and June 2020 and online searches regarding debt and loans.
What does this mean for the financial stability of North Texans in the midst of a pandemic? Financial analyst Derrick Kinney says the WalletHub study actually validates what many people have been feeling.
He calls it a “wall of worry.”
“I suspect many people are looking for ways just to make ends meet and pay their bills. Many people right now are worried about, will their job situation stay the same, or will they lose their job, and that one concern for many people is worrisome because it leaves, can they make their house payment, their car payment, can they keep putting food on the table,” said Kinney. “All of those issues cause a lot of anxiety that lends itself to people not making the best financial decisions.”
So how did Dallas land at number five on the list of most financially distressed cities in the country? Kinney says it makes sense, because there is such a concentrated diverse population, and Dallas would rank high simply because of the numbers.
“Look, these issues have been here for a while. They’re probably not going to go away in the near future, regardless of who the actual president may be, or what Congress may do, or what the Senate may do, all of this comes down to people’s personal economy.”
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Dallas isn’t the only Texas city to make the list. Houston comes in third when it comes to financial distress during COVID-19, followed closely by San Antonio at No. 4, Austin at No. 8, and Fort Worth rounding out the top 10.
Click here to take a closer look at the full WalletHub study, including the complete list of cities.
