Charge!
San Antonians saddled with less credit card debt than Texans in other big cities

If you’ve felt strapped during the pandemic and had to rely more heavily on credit cards to get by, you’re not the only one. But when it comes to the Alamo City’s share of people with crushing credit card debt, San Antonians seem to be more in charge than some other Texans.
A report released by personal finance platform LendingTree shows San Antonio rose from No. 27 to No. 26 among the 100 largest U.S. metro areas for the share of people (18.4 percent) with credit card balances totaling at least $10,000. LendingTree says 1.2 percent in San Antonio owe at least $50,000.
Nearby Austin ranks sixth, the highest ranking for any Texas city, with 20.8 percent of people carrying credit card balances of at least $10,000, and 1.7 percent of cardholders in Austin owing at least $50,000. Austin jumped 20 spots in the ranking compared with its 26th-place showing in LendingTree’s 2019 report.
Here’s how other Texas metros ranked:
- Houston climbed from No. 32 two years ago to No. 10 this year. According to LendingTree, 20 percent of cardholders in the metro have credit card debt of at least $10,000, and 1.6 percent have credit card debt of at least $50,000.
- Dallas-Fort Worth moved from No. 33 to No. 18. Today, 19.2 percent of cardholders in the metro have debt totaling at least $10,000 and 1.5 percent have credit card debt totaling at least $50,000.
LendingTree offers perhaps a partial explanation for the increase in five-digit credit card balances among Texas metros: “While the saying goes that ‘everything is bigger in Texas,’ that hasn’t traditionally been the case with salaries in the Lone Star State. The big metros in Texas have generally trailed behind the big coastal metros in that measure.”
Bridgeport, Connecticut, holds the No. 1 spot for the largest share of cardholders (24.3 percent) with at least $10,000 in debt.