The state of Mississippi has the most sustainable credit card debt with a median credit card balance of $2,287. 

WalletHub looked at data from TransUnion, the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Census Bureau and WalletHub’s proprietary credit card payoff calculator to determine the cost and time required to repay the median credit card balance in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

“To create this ranking we looked at median credit card balances and credit card payments of residents in each state,” said Jill Gonzales, an analyst of WalletHub. “We included credit cards that carried a balance, and excluded store cards.”

Data from WalletHub showed that Mississippi residents had a median credit card balance of $2,287 and a median income of $38,368. The cost to pay off the interest of the credit card was a total of $4,163. Based on this information, the expected time frame to pay off the credit card debt would be 10 months and 14 days.

Ken Cyree, dean at the University of Mississippi’s School of Business, did not find WalletHub’s findings surprising.

“Low income is a big factor in credit card debt,” he said. “It is harder to afford basic necessities and any ‘emergency’ creates a need to borrow. That emergency could be a sick child or flat tire that is unexpected but planned for by saving if there were enough income to do so. The pandemic is an unforeseen emergency.”