With graduation season upon us and student debt at a staggering $1.61 trillion, the personal-finance website WalletHub released a report on the Cities with the Most & Least Student Debt in 2022, along with a nationally representative Student Money Survey. WalletHub’s editors also picked the Best Credit Cards for 2022 Graduates, to help new college and high school grads build credit and maximize savings.
| Most Overleveraged Cities | Least Overleveraged Cities | ||
| Selma, AL | Vienna, VA | ||
| Ypsilanti, MI | Fremont, CA | ||
| Avon Park, FL | Menlo Park, CA | ||
| Cordele, GA | Sammamish, WA | ||
| Ridgeland, MS | Milpitas, CA | ||
| McComb, MS | Gilroy, CA | ||
| Orangeburg, SC | Delano, CA | ||
| Hattiesburg, MS | Bronxville, NY | ||
| Ashland, KY | Sunnyvale, CA | ||
| Ithaca, NY | Coachella, CA | ||
Survey Results & Best Card Picks
- 93% of students are concerned about the economy.
- The number one post-graduation fear among students is not finding a job (36%), followed by student loan debt (30%).
- 20% of students think that a college education is less important due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- 52% of students say their school is not doing enough to educate them about personal finance.
- Having emergency savings (44%) is the most important financial lesson students have learned from the pandemic, followed by not going into debt (23%) and having a steady job (22%).
- The best credit cards for 2022 graduates are the Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card for Students (limited credit & EDU email), the Petal® 2 Visa® Credit Card (limited credit & no EDU email) and the Discover it® Secured Credit Card (damaged credit).
This article was released by WalletHub.