Where credit card balances are highest, and what it says about a K-shaped economy
Some offers on this page are from advertisers who pay us, which may affect which products we write about, but not our recommendations. See our Advertiser Disclosure . Where credit card balances are highest, and what it says about a K-shaped economy Kendall Little Senior Writer, Credit Cards Wed, September 2, 2026 at 7:31 AM PDT 6 min read Growing credit card balances are a reality for many Americans in 2026. Since the second quarter of 2025, U.S. credit card balances have increased from $1.21 trillion to $1.26 trillion, according to the New York Fed's Household Debt and Credit Report . Experian data shows average consumer credit card balances are also up slightly, from $6,618 in 2025 to $6,659 today. But debt doesn't look the same for everyone. In many ways, today's credit card debt story mirrors the divide associated with the K-shaped economy : Higher-income consumers are more willing to carry a balance to fund their goals, while lower-income consumers may be accumulating debt out of necessity or unable to access credit at all. "If you have good credit and a good income, credit's flowing, there's a lot of demand for new customers, there's good sign-up bonuses, the world is your oyster," Ted Rossman, principal consumer finance analyst for Money Management International, told Yahoo Finance. "But then, if you have a lower credit score, or if you have a high debt income ratio, that's where we're seeing more of the cutbacks." Which states have the highest credit card balances? Despite overall higher balances, average credit card debt can vary depending on where you live. The states with the highest levels of credit card debt, according to LendingTree data from the first quarter of 2026, are New Jersey ($9,733), Connecticut ($9,645), and the District of Columbia ($9,511). Those are also among the states with the highest average incomes and cost of living in the U.S. It's not surprising that those states top the list, Matt Schulz, chief consumer finance analyst at LendingTree, told Yahoo Finance. "It doesn't entirely mean that those folks are struggling more or anything like that. A lot of it just has to do with the credit that they have available to them, giving them a lot of runway to run up debt." In order to take on $10,000 in credit card debt, he said, you have to be able to access $10,000 in credit. "So you would have to have probably a pretty good credit score and probably a pretty significant income." LendingTree's data is based on anonymized credit reports from its users, but different methodologies can result in different averages. For example, Experian recently published its own average credit card debt data, which found Alaska had the highest average ($7,760), followed closely by the District of Columbia ($7,740). Experian's averages are based on a sampling of its consumer credit database. Though it has different states at the top, Experian's report, too, calls out "higher-cost and higher-income states like California, Connecticut, Texas, and Virginia" as having...
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