Memphis is home to around 630,000 people, according to 2020–2021 U.S. census estimates, making it the second largest city in Tennessee and the 29th largest in America. Credit Karma data from Aug. 17, 2022, shows that the average overall debt of the 192,886 Credit Karma members who live in Memphis is $32,826. In this case, overall debt is made up of auto loans, auto leases, student loans, mortgages, credit card balances and medical debt (check our full methodology).
Read on to see a snapshot of debt in Memphis.
Overall debt in Memphis
The 192,886 Credit Karma members living in Memphis held a combined total debt of about $10.4 billion. The average overall debt for individuals was $32,826, but the median overall debt was only $11,029. This suggests that a small segment of residents carry higher debt compared to the rest of the population, pulling the average higher. The average next payment on that debt is $349.
In contrast, the national average debt for Credit Karma members is $49,454, and the median is $11,223.
Memphis’ debt dial
Image: An orange heat dial labeled with low debt on the left side and high debt on the right. The hand of the dial leans far to the left, illustrating that Credit Karma members in Memphis have lower debt than average in all categories but student loans compared to Credit Karma members in the other top 100 U.S. cities by population.Auto loans, student loans, mortgage and credit card debt in Memphis
The following table contains averages and medians for different types of debt among Credit Karma members in Memphis.
| Debt type | Number of Credit Karma members with debt type | Average debt | Median debt | Average next payment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auto loan | 129,146 | $22,632 | $18,502 | $573 |
| Student loan | 88,362 | $34,010 | $17,019 | $23 |
| Mortgage | 61,375 | $164,424 | $131,608 | $1,203 |
| Credit card | 169,981 | $5,479 | $2,307 | $161 |
So how do residents of Memphis compare to the national member averages? The following table compares the national average against the averages in Memphis among Credit Karma members.
| Debt type | National average debt of Credit Karma members | Memphis member average debt |
|---|---|---|
| Auto loan | $24,042 | $22,632 |
| Student loan | $32,004 | $34,010 |
| Mortgage | $235,194 | $164,424 |
| Credit card | $6,469 | $5,479 |
Overall, Credit Karma members in Memphis had less debt than the national average across all categories, except for student loan debt. Average student loan debt in Memphis is a little over $2,000 more than the national average.
How does Memphis rank against other cities?
We compared averages for Credit Karma members living in the top 100 cities by population according to 2021 U.S. census population estimates.
Out of the top 100 cities, Memphis has the 95th highest overall average debt among Credit Karma members.
Here’s how Memphis members ranked against the other top 100 cities in America.
- Auto loan debt: 59th highest
- Credit card debt: 89th highest
- Student loan debt: 37th highest
- Mortgage debt: 92nd highest
Credit, inquiries and past-due accounts in Memphis
Among Credit Karma members in Memphis, the average VantageScore 3.0 credit score was 628 and the median was 626, both of which are considered fair. The national average VantageScore 3.0 for Credit Karma members was 673, while the median was 682.
Memphis members had an average of 4.7 inquiries on their credit reports, while the national average was 4.2.
Residents of Memphis average 0.82 accounts that were 30 days past due. The national average is 0.74 accounts.
Methodology
To determine averages across categories of debt — including auto lease, auto loan, credit card, mortgage, student loan, medical and total debt — we analyzed the accounts of about 193,000 Credit Karma members living in Memphis who had been active on the site within the last 36 months. Averages were based on information from members’ TransUnion credit reports from the 90 days previous to the data pull, which was on Aug. 17, 2022. For the purposes of this analysis, auto lease, auto loan, credit card, mortgage, medical and student loan debt is defined as any unpaid balances existing on members’ open accounts in aggregate at the time the data was pulled. All numbers in this report were rounded to the nearest whole.
Note that all data for this article were pulled on Aug. 17, 2022.