One Nation, Under the Weight of Crushing Debt

Not much unites Americans these days, except, perhaps, past-due bills. A third of American households are currently in debt, and in the second quarter of 2017, they owed a record $13 trillion altogether.

In a new interactive map, researchers at the Urban Institute visualize how this massive debt burden varies by geography. The map is based on 5 million records sourced from a major credit bureau, and shows each county’s share of households that have their debt in collections. The darker the color, the higher the concentration of people who haven’t been able to pay what they owe, from credit card and medical bills, to parking tickets to child support.