People in these cities are better at living within their means

Some of the most expensive US housing markets have some of the highest levels of financially responsible residents.

That’s one of the findings of a study by LendingTree which considered where Americans are spending within – and beyond – their means, using anonymized credit report data from the platform’s users.

With data from August 2018 and average household income figures from the latest US Census Bureau data, the analysis suggests that higher levels of education and income may be the most salient factors for living within your means.

San Jose, Calif. (Silicon Valley), San Francisco and Raleigh, N.C., top the list for cities in which people are living within their means. High incomes help residents of San Jose and San Francisco pay their bills (despite exceptionally high housing costs), while a modest mortgage-to-income ratio gives Raleigh a big boost.

But residents of San Antonio, Riverside, Calif., and Las Vegas are struggling to meet their bills. Previous studies show that people spend a lot on vehicles in San Antonio, incomes are very low in Riverside and unemployment runs high in Las Vegas.

Best and worst
The top ten cities among the largest 50 metros for living with their means were: San Jose, San Francisco, Raleigh, Minneapolis, Boston, New York, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and Denver.

Meanwhile, the bottom ten were: Tampa, Jacksonville, Virginia Beach, Memphis, Atlanta, Orlando, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Riverside, and San Antonio.