With good money management skills being crucial for financial success and a good credit score, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on the Cities Where People Have the Best Money Management Skills in 2024, as well as expert commentary. Alongside this report, WalletHub also released its Emergency Savings Survey, which found that 35% of Americans’ say inflation makes it harder to save for emergencies.
In order to determine where Americans are best at handling their finances, WalletHub compared more than 2,500 cities based on 10 key indicators of money-management skills. The data set ranges from the median credit score to the average number of late payments to the mortgage debt-to-income ratio.
| Cities with Best Money-Management Skills | Cities with Worst Money-Management Skills |
| 1. Cupertino, CA | 2538. Greenwood, MS |
| 2. Los Altos, CA | 2539. Hampton, GA |
| 3. Lexington, MA | 2540. Davenport, FL |
| 4. Palo Alto, CA | 2541. Covington, GA |
| 5. Chevy Chase, MD | 2542. Maple Heights, OH |
| 6. Sunnyvale, CA | 2543. Locust Grove, GA |
| 7. Saratoga, CA | 2544. Ruston, LA |
| 8. Scarsdale, NY | 2545. Jonesboro, GA |
| 9. McLean, VA | 2546. Leesville, LA |
| 10. Mountain View, CA | 2547. Canton, MS |
Emergency Savings Survey
- Hidden danger of inflation: 35% of Americans say inflation makes it harder to save for emergencies.
- Unprepared for emergencies: 44% of people are not confident they can cover an unexpected expense.
- Dipping into the cookie jar: 3 in 5 Americans say inflation has caused them to dip into their emergency savings to cover day-to-day expenses.
- Financial priorities: 2 in 5 Americans say paying off debt is their top financial goal, prioritizing it over things like building an emergency fund and contributing to their retirement savings.
- Broke & bailed out: Nearly 1 in 3 people expect someone else to bail them out if they run out of money.
- No savings to save the day: More than 2 in 5 Americans don’t have the financial means to come up with $5,000 in a day to save a loved one’s life.
