U.S. Household Debt-to-Income by State · Hawaii 2.03x, New York 0.89x
Hawaii households carry 2.03x their annual income in debt — the heaviest load in the country — followed by Idaho (1.91), Utah (1.82) and Arizona (1.78). The District of Columbia is lowest at 0.49, and New York is the lowest state at 0.89; both combine low homeownership rates with high per-capita income. The pattern is regional: the West runs markedly higher than the Midwest, where Illinois (1.06), Kansas and North Dakota (1.08) and Ohio (1.11) sit near the bottom. One factor explains most of it — mortgages are about 75% of all U.S. household debt — so the states where home prices outran incomes carry the most leverage. Texas sits below the middle at 1.23.
Why this matters for B2B
Debt-to-income is the cleanest proxy a wholesaler has for discretionary headroom. In the high-leverage West — Hawaii, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Colorado and Maryland (1.75-2.03) — households service the mortgage first, which pushes spending toward repair, replacement and value tiers and stretches upgrade cycles. The low-leverage Midwest and Northeast — Illinois, Kansas, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York (0.89-1.11) — keeps more room for discretionary home goods even where headline incomes are lower. Texas at 1.23 is the useful middle: real headroom plus population growth, which is why Houston reads as both a value and a mid-tier market rather than one or the other. Pair with home price-to-income (c91), housing cost burden (c85) and income left after bills (c26).
Source: Federal Reserve Enhanced Financial Accounts, household debt-to-income by state (data as of Q4 2025). Visualization: Visual Capitalist / Voronoi. Original infographic reproduced above with source attribution intact.