Metropolitan Areas with the Best and Worst Credit Grades

Is your credit better or worse than your neighbors’? TransUnion has revealed a ranking of metropolitan areas with the best and worst credit grades in the country. At the very top are Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN and Bloomington, WI. The Memphis, TN (MS-AR) metropolitan area ranked lowest.

Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI … 23.5%
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA … 23.5%
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA … 22.9%
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA … 22.4%
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA … 21.6%

Memphis, TN-MS-AR … 27.3%
Las Vegas-Paradise, NV … 26.2%
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA … 25.2%
Orlando-Kissimmee, FL … 23.2%
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL … 22.8%

(A) = 10.9% , (B) = 26.9% , (C) = 20.5% , (D) = 22.3% , (F) = 19.4%

“Because lenders have so many scoring models, it’s rare when the credit score they receive for a consumer and the score the consumer obtains for himself actually match,” said Heather Battison, director of education for TransUnion consumer products. “If my grade is an ‘A’, I understand that means a lender is likely to view my creditworthiness in a very positive light.”

The ranking is the first of its kind from TransUnion, which used the VantageScore® Credit Score by TransUnion model to determine scores. As always, TransUnion recommends that you proactively manage your credit and risk for identity theft with an ongoing credit monitoring product. This will help you understand your financial situation; then create a plan to position yourself better in the eyes of the lender.