Winston-Salem is home to a population of just over 250,000 people, according to 2020–2021 U.S. census estimates, making it one of the largest cities in North Carolina. According to Credit Karma data from Aug. 17, 2022, of the 12,705 Credit Karma members who live in Winston-Salem, the average overall debt is $33,626. 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 Winston-Salem.
Overall debt in Winston-Salem
The 12,705 Credit Karma members living in Winston-Salem held a combined total debt of approximately $705.1 million. The average overall debt for individuals was $33,626. The median overall debt was only $9,398, suggesting that a small segment of Winston-Salem residents carry higher debt compared to the rest of the population, pulling the average debt much higher than the median. The average next payment on that debt is $331.
In contrast, the national average debt for Credit Karma members is $49,454, and the median is $11,223.
Winston-Salem’s 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 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 Winston-Salem
The following table contains averages and medians for different types of debt among Credit Karma members in Winston-Salem.
| Debt type | Number of Credit Karma members with debt type | Average debt | Median debt | Average next payment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auto loan | 8,082 | $20,570 | $16,564 | $507 |
| Student loan | 5,007 | $31,514 | $16,171 | $29 |
| Mortgage | 3,394 | $170,510 | $139,630 | $1,163 |
| Credit card | 11,516 | $4,657 | $2,010 | $141 |
So how do residents of Winston-Salem compare to the national member averages? The table below compares the national average against the averages in Winston-Salem among Credit Karma members.
| Debt type | National average debt of Credit Karma members | Winston-Salem member average debt |
|---|---|---|
| Auto loan | $24,042 | $20,570 |
| Student loan | $32,004 | $31,514 |
| Mortgage | $235,194 | $170,510 |
| Credit card | $6,469 | $4,657 |
Overall, Credit Karma members in Winston-Salem had less debt than the national average across all categories. Average student loan debt in Winston-Salem is close to the national average, off by close to $500. Average mortgage debt in Winston-Salem, on the other hand, is more than $60,000 less than the national average.
How does Winston-Salem 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, Winston-Salem has the 94th highest overall average debt among Credit Karma members. In other words, Winston-Salem has the 7th lowest overall average debt among Credit Karma members.
Here’s how Winston-Salem members ranked against the other top 100 cities in America.
- Auto loan debt: 91st highest
- Credit card debt: 99th highest
- Student loan debt: 56th highest
- Mortgage debt: 89th highest
Credit, inquiries and past-due accounts in Winston-Salem
Among Credit Karma members in Winston-Salem, the average VantageScore 3.0 credit score was 653 and the median was 658, both of which are considered fair. The national average VantageScore 3.0 for Credit Karma members was 673, while the median was 682.
Winston-Salem members had an average of 4.1 inquiries on their credit reports, while the national average was 4.2.
Residents of Winston-Salem average 0.78 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 12,700 Credit Karma members living in Winston-Salem 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.