This dashboard contains information derived from a 4 percent nationally representative panel of deidentified, consumer-level records from a major credit bureau. The credit bureau data are from August 2026 and contain more than 10 million records. We also incorporate estimates from summary tables of the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS). We use ACS one-year estimates (2024) where possible, but for areas with smaller populations and for metrics that incorporate zip code–level information, we use the ACS five-year estimates (2020‒24).

The credit bureau data do not include information about race, so the white and people of color metrics are based on the racial makeup of zip codes within the geographic area (nation, state, and county). Specifically, the majority-white communities are based on credit records for people who live in zip codes where most residents are white (at least 50 percent of the population is white), and communities of color values are based on credit records for people who live in zip codes where most residents are people of color (at least 50 percent of the population is African American, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native, another race other than white, or multiracial).

Data are reported at the national, state, and county levels for the 50 states and Washington, DC. Data on young adults are only reported at the national and state levels. In the dataset, missing and unavailable values are noted with “NA.” Some values are missing because no data are available. Others are missing because credit bureau metrics are not reported when they are based on fewer than 50 people. In other cases, values for white communities and communities of color are not reported because there are no zip codes with predominantly white populations or populations of color in the county or state.

We report credit bureau but not ACS data at the county level for Connecticut because the Census Bureau implemented significant changes to county boundaries for Connecticut in 2022 and our credit bureau data provider has not yet updated these boundaries. We also incorporate estimates from the 2020 Decennial Census.

Starting in 2022, the three nationwide credit-reporting companies made significant changes to medical debt reporting. These changes reduced the share of people with medical debt in collections reported on their credit records but not necessarily the share of people with medical debt in collections. In addition, the following 15 states and Washington, DC, have implemented legislation that further restricts the ability to report medical debt on consumers’ credit reports: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.

For more information, please see the technical appendix.