Washington State Not Worst, But Far From Best In This Category

In today's world, what you owe can get away from you.  After all, your money goes in and out of your bank account without you laying a finger on it.  There was a time, when after depositing your paycheck at the bank, you sat down with your checkbook to pay bills and balance your account.

Those days are loooong gone.  There is some truth to the saying 'Out of Sight, Out of Mind' as it might be easier for some to lose track of what they are spending when you can buy on practically any device.  Washingtonians are spending a lot according to a new study by the fine folks at Wallethub.com.

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We Aren't At The Top Of The List, But We're Not Far From It

There are a number of factors that go into to debt accrual, but the biggest (and simplest) is spending more money that you have.  Inflation plays a role, as do taxes, along with the other pieces of the price/cost of living increase equation.  The Evergreen State has been ever-spending our green.  So much so that we are number 5 across the board when it comes to largest increase in household debt in the Country.

The average debt increase in Washington households was nearly $825 per month over the last three months of this year.

The average debt per household is an eye-popping $243,235 with a statewide debt increase of just under $2.5 million.  Again, that is just the difference from the 2nd Quarter of 2025 to the 3rd Quarter of 2025.  Instead of packing on the pounds, Washingtonians have been building up the bills.

There is a silver lining in this.  While we have the 5th largest amount of increased debt, we are in the bottom 5 in the United States (47th) for delinquency on that debt.

Wallethub's methodology was pretty basic.  The gathered available consumer finanace data from TransUnion and the Federal Reserve for each State and voila.  You can take a deeper dive for yourself by clicking here.