The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) issued a report today with state-by-state comparisons of financial well-being scores. The scores are based on Bureau analysis of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Foundation’s 2018 National Financial Capability Study. The report shows that the average financial well-being scores for all adults (ages 18 and older) in the United States ranged from a low of 50 in Mississippi to a high of 54 in California, the District of Columbia and Hawaii. For the United States, the average financial well-being score was 52.
The scores are standardized numbers between 0 and 100 that quantified a person’s underlying level of financial well-being. They are calculated by an individual’s responses to the ten questions in the Bureau’s Financial Well-Being Scale. Financial well-being is defined as the state wherein an individual has a sense of: control over day-to-day and month-to-month finances; capacity to absorb a financial shock; being on track to meet financial goals; and ability to make financial choices to enjoy life.
The report also examines financial well-being by age groups. The average financial well-being score for younger and middle age adults (ages 18 to 61) in the United States was 49 in 2018. During this same period, the financial well-being score for older adults (ages 62 and older) was 62. The report also describes how score patterns vary by these age groups by state.
The report may be found here: https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/201911_cfpb_fwb-state-report.pdf