Millennial Car Debt: The 5 Cities With the Most Debt for Generation

1. McAllen, Texas

McAllen, Texas, is right by the Mexican border. It’s a mid-sized city with a population of a little over 140,000. The larger metro area is home to about 750,000 people. It’s also one of the poorest areas in the entire country.

This is especially true of the Millennial population in the area. LawnStarter analyzed U.S. Census data from 2015 and found that 52 percent of Millennials living in the McAllen area were still living with their parents. LawnStarter pointed to several indicators as to why so many Millennials live at home, including cultural and family reasons, unemployment, and a low level of education, which is obviously linked to unemployment and lower-paying jobs.

With this in mind, you’d think that the Millennial residents don’t have much money to spend on vehicles. Unfortunately, they’ve managed to rack up quite a lot of car debt.

The median auto debt for the community is $23,704, and the average car debt is a whopping $31,598. That means that the people in McAllen are buying more expensive vehicles, and with the economic struggles of the community, according to Lending Tree. And that can’t be good. In fact, the study showed that 61.2 percent of Millennials in the community had a current balance of some kind.

Millennials have had a hard go of things when it comes to debt, but it’s important to note that nobody forced them to take on this kind of auto debut. While they may have gotten a raw deal in some respects, they’ll have to deal with those choices, now.