New York's Financial 'Savvy' Is Spotty: New Ranking

Despite being arguably the financial center of the world, New York isn't tops as far as financial "savvy," according to personal finance website WalletHub. In a new ranking, New York comes in 10th. It's not bad, overall, but there's bad news deep in the data.

Most Americans don't make or keep a budget, the researchers said; residents of certain states are smarter than others when it comes to balancing household spending with income.

"Financial literacy is key to sound financial health," writes WalletHub's senior writer Richie Bernardo. "But financial savvy is what differentiates the comfortable from the truly stable."

To come up with its results, WalletHub studied data from 23 criteria, looking at "median credit score to annual savings-account average to credit-card debt as a share of income," among others. To read WalletHub's methodology, click here.

New York's best ranking was for lowest total debt as a percentage of median income: it clocked in at No. 1. But median income is a skewed comparison because of the high numbers of ultra-rich people living here.

The state ranked No. 48 for "credit." That included data about median credit score, delinquency rate and share of adults borrowing against their retirement income.

The state's worst was the worst: No. 50, for having the highest foreclosure rate (tied with New Jersey).

Compare New York's overall No. 10 ranking to Connecticut, which remains mired in a political and fiscal battle over the state's budget. Connecticut is the nation's third most "financially savvy" state, writes WalletHub. New Jersey, despite its budget woes and high foreclosure rate, is in fifth place. In the overall ranking, two states to the north, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, came in No. 1 and 2, respectively.

At the tail end, the nation's least financially savvy state is Mississippi, followed by Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and West Virginia.

To view WalletHub's Most & Least Financially Savvy States (for 2017), click here.

Money tree image via Shutterstock. Foreclosure rate graphic via WalletHub.

Patch Editor Alfred Branch contributed to this report.