Financial stress from COVID hit people in these Texas cities especially hard: report
It’s no secret that the coronavirus pandemic has hit Americans’ pocketbooks hard.
The health crisis caused a ripple effect that’s left many out of work, drowning in debt and uncertain about the future.
A report from WalletHub released Wednesday found that people in several Texas cities are among those in the United States who’ve been hit hardest financially by the coronavirus pandemic.
The personal finance website determined what it says are the U.S. cities with people in the most financial distress during the pandemic — and five of the top 10 are in Texas.
San Antonio ranked fifth. Fort Worth landed in the No. 7 spot, followed by Houston at No. 8, Dallas at No. 9 and Austin at No. 10.
Las Vegas topped the list. Phoenix, Chicago and Miami rounded out the top four.
To determine its ranking, WalletHub assessed the 100 largest cities “without data limitations” on several factors across six categories:
▪ Credit score
▪ People with accounts in distress
▪ Average number of accounts in distress
▪ Change in number of bankruptcy filings
▪ Search interest for “debt”
▪ Search interest for “loans.”
San Antonio tied for the most search interest in “loans” with several other cities. It ranked 11th in most search interest for “debt.”
The city also landed in the No. 11 spot for people with accounts in distress, which looked at the share of people with accounts in distress from November, and the change in the share from January to November, the report said.
Fort Worth’s highest rank — eighth — was in the search interest for “loans” category. It also scored high in search interest for “debt,” number of people in distress and average number of accounts in distress, landing at No. 17 for all three.
Houston tied for first with several others cities in the search interest for “debt” and search interest for “loans” categories. It’s next highest rank was 40th in both people with accounts in distress and average number of accounts in distress.
Dallas’ highest rank was in search interest for “loans,” where it tied for first. It also ranked sixth in search interest for “debt.”
Dallas’ next highest rank was 33rd in the credit score category, which looked at the average credit score in November and the change in average from January to November.
Austin ranked second on the list for people with accounts in distress. Its next highest rank was No. 10 in the average number of accounts in distress category. It also landed in the No. 13 spot for search interest for “loans.”
All five Texas cities in the top 10 ranked in the lower half of the list for change in the number of bankruptcy filings, which compared the number of filings from September 2019 to those in September 2020.