New Yorkers are doing better than residents in most states when it comes to keeping up with debt payments, but millions of dollars in loans and credit accounts remain delinquent across the state, according to a new WalletHub analysis.
The personal finance website ranked New York 32nd in the nation for debt delinquency during the first quarter of 2026, placing it in the lower half of states where residents struggle to stay current on their financial obligations.
WalletHub’s analysis examined two key measures: the percentage of individual loans and credit accounts that were delinquent and the percentage of total loan balances that were past due. In New York, 9.18% of tradelines were delinquent during the first quarter, while 6.81% of total loan balances were past due.
The findings put New York well below states facing the nation’s most severe delinquency problems. Mississippi ranked first, with nearly 13.8% of loans and lines of credit delinquent and more than 13.6% of total debt balances past due. Louisiana and Arkansas rounded out the top three.
At the other end of the spectrum, Iowa had the lowest delinquency rate in the nation, followed by Vermont and Utah.
WalletHub analysts said debt delinquency can have lasting financial consequences, including damage to credit scores, higher interest rates, late fees, account closures and potential legal action. Most lenders do not report a payment as late until it is at least 30 days overdue, providing borrowers a brief window to catch up before negative information appears on their credit reports.
The study was based on proprietary WalletHub user data collected through the first quarter of 2026 and evaluated all 50 states using delinquency rates for both individual accounts and total debt balances.
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