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By J.D. Davidson

The Center Square

More people in Tennessee face financial distress than in nearly every other state, according to a new report.

The study by the personal finance website WalletHub, a commercial finance website, compared the states across nine metrics. Included were the average credit score, change in number of bankruptcy filings between March 2023 and March 2024 and the share of people with accounts in distress.

“Measuring the share of residents in financial distress is a good way to take the pulse of a state and see whether people are generally thriving or having trouble making ends meet,” WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe said. “When you combine data about people delaying payments with other metrics like bankruptcy filings and over credit score changes, it paints a good picture of the overall economic trends of a state.”

Those numbers are poor for Tennessee compared to the rest of the country.

Tennessee had the third-most people with accounts in distress, meaning they had been allowed to miss or put payments on hold. It also ranked third among states with an average number of accounts in distress.

The Volunteer State ranked 15th in the debt search interest index and 36th in credit score. It was also 45th in the change in bankruptcy filings from March 2023 to March 2024.

Michigan residents are the most financially distressed people in the country, according to the report. Texas ranked second, followed by Nevada, Tennessee and Rhode Island.

New Hampshire, Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont and Wisconsin were the least financially distressed states.

The report also showed states considered red or Republican are in more financial distress than blue or Democratic states.