Half Of 10 U.S. Cities In Worst Financial Distress During State Shutdowns Are In Texas

By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square

Some taxpayers are faring better in certain states than others due to their respective governor-ordered shutdowns, but those living in five major Texas cities are faring among the worst, according to a new report by the personal finance website WalletHub.

Of the 10 cities whose residents are experiencing the most financial distress because of their state’s orders shutting down businesses and the economy, half are in Texas. Three Texas cities rank among the five worst. Houston ranked third, followed by San Antonio (fourth) and Dallas (fifth); Austin ranked eighth and Fort Worth ranked 10th.

The remaining most financially distressed cities are Las Vegas, which ranks the worst, Chicago, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Miami.

“While the unemployment rate has been slowly improving as the country reopens, 12.6 million Americans are still out of work,” WalletHub notes.

According to a recent National Payroll Week survey, nearly 69 percent of employees said it would be “somewhat difficult” or “very difficult” to meet their current financial obligations if their next paycheck was delayed by even one week.

In its report, Wallethub compared 100 U.S. cities by population size without data limitations across nine key metrics. Its analysts evaluated among other factors changes in the number of bankruptcy filings between June 2019 and June 2020, the average credit score, and the share of people with bank and credit accounts in distress.

Residents experiencing the least financial distress live in Colorado Springs, Irvine, California, Chesapeake, Virginia, Lincoln, Nebraska, Scottsdale, Arizona, Newark, New Jersey, Fremont, California, Jersey City, New Jersey, Madison, Wisconsin, and Anchorage, Alaska.

“The recent surge in consumer confidence should reduce the number of people in financial distress in the long run,” WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez said in a statement. “If Americans feel that the economy is getting better and are more inclined to shop at businesses, we will see an increase in business revenue that eventually leads to more hiring.

“One of the biggest sources of financial distress right now is the high unemployment rate, so the sooner we can get businesses in a position to hire more, the sooner we can cut down the number of people in trouble,” she added.

Since March 14, 2020, the state of Texas has paid $33.3 billion in total unemployment payments and 5.6 million Texans have filed for unemployment.

According to the Texas Department of Health Services, 7.88 million people have been tested for the coronavirus. Among them, 874,367 tested positive as confirmed cases, or roughly 11 percent. Among them, 763,108 are reported recoveries.