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Nowadays, it feels as if more and more people have one glaring thing in common: student loan debt. And while federal student debt payments have been deferred through Sept. 30, 2021, the forbearance hasn't alleviated the anxiety of many federal borrowers who are wondering how they'll afford to start making payments again — or any anxiety at all for people with private loans.
With all that in mind, it's no wonder #CancelStudentDebt started trending after Democrats proposed a plan to wipe out $50K for every federal student loan borrower. So we got curious about the average amount of student debt borrowers have in each state and calculated those numbers using data from the office of Federal Student Aid.
Remember, these numbers are averages, so it's totally possible that you (or someone you know) have a loan balance that's higher or lower than what you see here. It might be hard to really process the size of these debt balances, so we figured out how many months rent these balances could afford you (using Zillow data on the median monthly cost of rent for an apartment in each state).
FYI, this data does not include private student loan balances.
Here's the average amount of federal student loan debt in all 50 states and Washington, DC:
1. Alabama's average student debt is $36,825, which is enough to cover about 37 months of rent in the state.
2. Alaska has an average student debt amount of $33,082. It works out to be worth 21 months of rent.
3. Arizona's average student debt amount is $35,046. That's about 25 months of rent.
4. Arkansas's average student debt is $33,112, which is enough to cover around 37 months of rent.
5. California has an average student debt amount of $36,351, but it also has a higher median rent. This works out to be about 14 months' worth of rent in the state.
6. Colorado's average student debt is $36,609, which works out to be about 20 months of rent.
7. Connecticut's average student debt amount is $34,677, which is enough to cover around 23 months' worth of rent.
8. Delaware's average student debt is $37,221. It works out to be about 27 months of rent.
9. DC has an average student debt amount of $54,983, which is about 23 months of rent. The total debt balance and the average rent price are both quite high here.
10. Florida's average student debt amount is $38,160. That works out to be about 23 months' worth of rent.
11. Georgia has an average student debt amount of $41,256, which is equal to approximately 30 months of rent.
12. Hawaii's average student debt is $35,803. That works out to be around 15 months of rent, since rent in the state is on the higher side.
13. Idaho has an average student debt amount of $32,425. This is the equivalent of around 25 months of rent in the state.
14. Illinois has an average student debt of $37,460, which works out to be around 23 months' worth of rent.
15. Indiana's average student debt amount is $32,630. That's equivalent to about 31 months of rent.
16. Iowa's average student debt is $30,381, which works out to be around 32 months' worth of rent.
17. Kansas has an average student debt amount of $32,352. It's enough to cover around 34 months of rent in the state (literally, almost three years of rent money!!!).
18. Kentucky's average student debt is $32,622, which works out to be around 32 months' worth of rent.
19. Louisiana has an average student debt of $34,164. This ends up being equivalent to about 30 months of rent.
20. Maine's average student debt amount is $32,543. It's about 22 months' worth of rent.
21. Maryland has an average student debt amount of $42,592. This works out to be about 25 months of rent.
22. Massachusetts has an average student debt of $34,075. That's the equivalent of around 15 months of rent in the state, since rent in the state is on the higher end.
23. Michigan's average student debt is $35,819, which is about 29 months' worth of rent.
24. Minnesota's average student debt amount is $33,252. That's the equivalent of about 23 months of rent in the state.
25. Mississippi has an average student debt of $36,508, which works out to be around 37 months of rent in the state (on average, the rent here is less than $1,000 per month).
26. Missouri has an average student debt amount of $35,260. It's about 37 months' worth of rent.
27. Montana's average student debt is $32,626. That's about 26 months of rent.
28. Nebraska has an average student debt amount of $31,726. It's around 29 months of rent in the state.
29. Nevada's average student debt amount is $33,573, which works out to be around 24 months' worth of rent.
30. New Hampshire has an average student debt of $33,459. It's about 21 months of rent.
31. New Jersey's average student debt amount is $35,095, and the state has a high number of borrowers. The average debt works out to be around 19 months' worth of rent.
32. New Mexico has an average student debt amount of $33,632. That's equivalent to around 28 months of rent.
33. New York has an average student debt amount of $37,639, which works out to be about 17 months of rent. The number of borrowers and the average rent are both on the high end here.
34. North Carolina's average student debt amount is $37,216. That's about 30 months' worth of rent in the state.
35. North Dakota's average student debt is $28,402, which works out to be around 28 months of rent.
36. Ohio has an average student debt amount of $34,496. That's around 33 months' worth of rent in the state.
37. Oklahoma's average student debt is $31,376. That's the equivalent of about 35 months of rent.
38. Oregon's average student debt amount is $36,988, which works out to be about 23 months' worth of rent.
39. Pennsylvania has over a million borrowers and an average student debt amount of $35,205. It's the equivalent of around 27 months of rent in the state.
40. Rhode Island's average student debt amount is $31,953. That's approximately 22 months of rent.
41. South Carolina's average student debt is $38,063, which works out to be the equivalent of about 30 months' worth of rent.
42. South Dakota has an average student debt amount of $30,946. That's about 31 months of rent in the state.
43. Tennessee has an average student debt amount of $36,035 that works out to be around 30 months of rent.
44. Texas has an average student debt amount of $32,670. That ends up being the equivalent of 24 months' worth of rent.
45. Utah's average student loan debt is $32,150, which is enough to cover around 22 months of rent in the state.
46. Vermont's average student loan debt amount is $37,284. That's about 22 months' worth of rent.
47. Virginia has an average student debt amount of $38,903. It's equivalent to about 24 months of rent.
48. Washington's average student debt amount is $35,117, which is around 19 months of rent in the state.
49. West Virginia's average student debt is $31,532. That works out to be around 36 months of rent in the state.
50. Wisconsin has an average student debt amount of $31,766, which is equivalent to around 28 months' worth of rent.
51. Lastly, Wyoming's average student debt amount is $30,476. That works out to be around 27 months of rent.
So all of this kinda has me wondering... What would you be able to do with your money if you weren't paying off student loan debt? Share your thoughts in the comments!
BTW, we also rounded up tips for paying off student loans (and a wealth of other personal finance posts!).