Study: Pawtucket, Providence residents worse at managing money than others in R.I.

Providence residents are the worst money managers among all the Rhode Island communities included in a new WalletHub study. / COURTESY WALLETHUB
Providence residents are the worst money managers among all the Rhode Island communities included in a new WalletHub study. / COURTESY WALLETHUB

PROVIDENCE – A new study released last week shows citizens of Pawtucket and Providence are much worse at managing money than those from other Rhode Island communities.
WalletHub, a personal finance research company, released a report last week comparing 2,570 cities throughout the country. The study compared eight key personal finance metrics, including credit scores, average number of late payments and debt-to-income ratios to determine the rankings.
“Money management is a life skill that unfortunately doesn’t come with a manual. If it did, and assuming everyone followed the rules, we’d all have flawless credit and zero debt,” according to the site. “But the average credit score in the U.S. – 669, which is considered ‘fair’ by the most common scoring models – reflects a shortage of fiscal prowess in our nation.”
Pawtucket, ranking among the 40th percentile, has an average credit score of 647.8 with an average credit-card debt-to-income ratio of 17.8 percent. But the city fared better than its neighbor, Providence, which ranked among the 23rd percentile, with an average credit score of 635.8 and a 22 percent credit-card debt-to-income ratio.
Cumberland was the highest-ranking Rhode Island community at the 78th percentile. The town’s average credit score was 702.6 with an average credit card debt-to-income ratio of 15 percent. Warwick and Cranston didn’t quite make the top quarter of communities, ranking among the 73rd and 71st percentiles, respectively. Newport ranked among the 59th percentile and Woonsocket ranked among the 55th percentile.
The highest-ranking community for money management is Cupertino, Calif., and the lowest ranking community is Boone, N.C. See a full list of rankings here.

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