Chicago Ranked U.S. City With The Most People In Financial Distress

CHICAGO — A recent ranking of cities with the most people in financial distress put Chicago at No. 1, according to the analysis by WalletHub.

The personal finance website, which defines financial distress as having a credit account in forbearance or with deferred payments, looked at the country’s 100 largest cities without data limitations across nine metrics, including average credit score, change in bankruptcy filings year-over-year, and share of people with accounts in distress.

“Chicago ranks first in terms of financial distress, in part because it had the biggest change in the share of people who had accounts in distress between Q3 2024 and Q3 2025, with nearly 30% increase,” according to the WalletHub analysis.

“This represents a nearly 30% year-over-year increase in residents permitted to skip payments due to financial difficulty.”

In addition to Chicago, the cities ranked as having the most people in financial distress were Houston at No. 2 and Las Vegas at No. 3.

“Getting out of the downward spiral of financial distress is no easy feat,” according to WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo.

“You may get temporary relief from your lenders by not having to make payments, but all the while interest will keep building up, making the debt even harder to pay off. People who find themselves in financial distress should budget carefully, cut non-essential expenses, and pursue strategies like debt consolidation or debt management to get their situation under control."

Read more from WalletHub.