Gen X Has a Debt Problem

A sales associate works on a customer's transaction at Cut Rate Toys December 6, 2004 in Chicago. Gen Xer Americans are struggling with debt.

American Gen Xers have the highest median debt spread among credit card loans, car debt and outstanding student loans, according to an analysis by LendingTree.

In the 100 metro areas LendingTree examined, Gen X Americans—a group between 44 and 59 years old—have the largest median percentage of people with non-mortgage debt. They owe about $34,000, according to LendingTree. Millennials owe about $30,500, followed by Baby Boomers who have outstanding debt of $19,000 with Gen Z coming in last at a little over $16,500. Overall, Americans have close to $25,000 in non-mortgage debt.

The data suggests that Texan Gen Xers are struggling the most with debt. In the city of McAllen, Gen Xers had the highest non-mortgage debt of any generation owing more than $12,000 more than the overall median debt for the group.

"Notably, four of the five metros where Gen Xers owe the most are in Texas," LendingTree said in its analysis.

Gen Xers with the highest credit card debt aren't from Texas, though. They're from Bridgeport, Connecticut. That group has outstanding credit card debt of about $8,700, which is higher than the overall median balance of close to $6,300. They were followed by New York and Miami Gen Xers who owed about $1,000 less than their Connecticut counterparts.

"Meanwhile, Gen Xers have a higher share of those owing auto loan debt than any other generation," LendingTree analysis pointed out.

This was calculated to be a little over 61 percent and their $23,000 of debt was the highest of any other group.

"Gen Xers in McAllen owe the most toward auto loans, with a median balance of $29,862," LendingTree noted.

Gen Xers appear to have been paying back their student loans with about 25 percent share of the group having education debt. But for those who do owe student loans, their median share is the highest of any other group at more than $31,000.

Southerner Gen Xers appear to be grappling with this issue more than from any other part of the country. Jackson, Mississippi, led with more than $53,000 and had a 32 percent share of student debt, LendingTree pointed out.

Elsewhere, when it came to personal loans, 14.5 percent of Gen Xers have a balance of that debt which came to $5,000.

"While Gen Xers have the second-lowest share of consumers owing personal loans, their median balance is also the second-highest," LendingTree pointed out.

To conduct the analysis, LendingTree examined about 428,000 anonymized credit information of its users, the personal finance platform pointed out.

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