St. Louis, with a population of over 293,000, according to 2020–2021 U.S. Census estimates, is the second largest city in Missouri, after Kansas City, and the 70th largest city in America. Credit Karma data from August 17, 2022, shows that the 26,237 members who live in St. Louis have an average overall debt of $35,735. In this case, overall debt is made up of auto loans, auto leases, student loans, mortgages, credit card balances and medical debt (see our full methodology).
Read on to see a snapshot of debt in St. Louis.
Overall debt in St. Louis
The 26,237 Credit Karma members living in St. Louis held a combined total debt of approximately $1.6 billion. The average overall debt for individuals was $35,735, but the median overall debt was only $10,256. This implies that a segment of St. Louis residents carries higher debt compared to the rest of the population. The average next payment on that debt is $361.
In contrast, the national average debt for Credit Karma members is $49,454, and the median is $11,223.
St. Louis debt dial
Image: stlouisdebtgaugeAuto loans, student loans, mortgage and credit card debt in St. Louis
This table contains averages and medians for different types of debt among Credit Karma members in St. Louis.
| Debt type | Number of Credit Karma members with debt type | Average debt | Median debt | Average next payment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auto loan | 18,635 | $19,206 | $15,819 | $490 |
| Student loan | 10,850 | $34,908 | $17,000 | $42 |
| Mortgage | 7,341 | $172,305 | $140,821 | $1,266 |
| Credit card | 23,770 | $5,249 | $2,298 | $150 |
So how do residents of St. Louis compare to the national averages? This next table compares the national average debt among Credit Karma members to the average debt among Credit Karma members in St. Louis.
| Debt type | National average debt | St. Louis average debt |
|---|---|---|
| Auto loan | $24,042 | $19,206 |
| Student loan | $32,004 | $34,908 |
| Mortgage | $235,194 | $172,305 |
| Credit card | $6,469 | $5,249 |
Overall, Credit Karma members in St. Louis had less debt than the national average across all categories except in terms of student loan debt. Average student loan debt in St. Louis is almost $3,000 higher than the national average.
How does St. Louis rank against other cities?
We compared averages for Credit Karma members living in the top 100 cities by population according to 2021 U.S. Census population estimates.
Out of the top 100 cities, St. Louis has the 92nd highest overall average debt among Credit Karma members. Or, put another way, St. Louis has the ninth lowest overall average debt among Credit Karma members.
Here’s how St. Louis ranked against the other top 100 cities in America:
- Auto loan debt: 97th highest
- Credit card debt: 93rd highest
- Student loan debt: 28th highest
- Mortgage debt: 87th highest
Credit, inquiries and past-due accounts in St. Louis
Among Credit Karma members in St. Louis, the average VantageScore 3.0 credit score was 652 and the median was 657, both of which are considered fair. The national average VantageScore 3.0 for Credit Karma members was 673, while the median was 682.
St. Louis members had an average of 4.4 inquiries on their credit reports, while the national average was 4.2.
Residents of St. Louis average 0.75 accounts that were 30 days past due. The national average is 0.74 accounts.
Methodology
To determine averages across categories of debt — including auto lease, auto loan, credit card, mortgage, student loan and total debt — we analyzed the accounts of about 26,000 Credit Karma members living in St. Louis who had been active on the site within the last 36 months. Averages were based on information from members’ TransUnion credit reports from the 90 days previous to the data pull, which was on August 17, 2022. For the purposes of this analysis, auto lease, auto loan, credit card, mortgage and student loan debt is defined as any unpaid balances existing on members’ open accounts in aggregate at the time the data was pulled. All numbers in this report were rounded to the nearest whole.
Note that all data for this article were pulled on August 17, 2022.