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SmartAsset analyzed data to determine which cities in the US are the most financially stressed.
The ranking is based on metrics ranging from unemployment rates to housing costs and even divorce rates.
While financial stress is visible all over the US, Texas seems to be a real hot spot: The Lone Star state has five of the top 20 cities with the most financial stress.
While financial stress can creep in anywhere, certain cities seem more prone to it than others.
SmartAsset analyzed 90 US cities to determine which ones had the highest levels of financial stress as of 2019. Researchers assessed each city in terms of its unemployment rate, average mortgage as a percentage of median home value, percentage of population living below poverty level, percentage of households who are severely housing-cost burdened (in other words, spending more than 50% of their income on housing), average debt, percentage of people who reported that they didn't see a doctor due to cost, change in income, and divorce rate.
Each city received a final score between 0 and 100 based on a combination of the eight metrics. The list encompasses cities of different sizes from coast to coast. Some states, like Texas and Ohio, have multiple financially-stressed cities.
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Financial issues can come from anywhere, but this year's rankings were clearly impacted by the current unaffordable housing crisis. Of the 90 cities SmartAsset analyzed, nearly half had more than 10% of residents spending 50% or more of their income on housing costs - far above the widely recommended 30% budget.
Keep reading for a look at the 20 US cities most burdened with stress related to finances, ranked in increasing order.