Which cities have the most and least student debt this year?

Graduations are coming up and many parents and students are thinking about student debt, which totals $1.63 trillion in the United States. Student loan debt is about $37,600 per borrower.

“In the short term, students are not overly optimistic about their financial situation, as 88 percent are concerned about the economy and 80 percent are worried about inflation,” said Jill Gonzalez, an analyst for WalletHub, a personal finance website. “Inflation has taken a heavy financial toll on the country, and has made higher education less affordable.”

However, students do think that going to college will improve their financial future, according to a WalletHub student money survey. About 63 percent of students say their tuition is a good investment, and 74 percent believe that they will end up better off financially than their parents.

See below for a listing of the 10 cities where student is the highest and the 10 cities are where it’s the lowest. For more information, see “Cities with the Most and Least Student Debt in 2023.”

To determine where borrowers have the most by student debt, WalletHub compared the median student-loan balance against the median earnings of adults aged 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree in more than 2,500 U.S. cities.

To keep your student loans low, consider having your student attend community college or an instate college. If the student can live at home, that will reduce costs considerably.