 TITLE: High Debt and Cost of Living Haven’t Hurt Hawaii’s Credit Scores CONTENT: Mortgage Balances Account for Almost All Consumer Debt in Hawaii\n----------------------------------------------------------------\nHawaii's total debt levels are not extraordinary—the state's debt balance ranks 34th in the country—which makes sense given it ranks 40th in terms of state population. But even though its overall debt isn't high, some of the state's average consumer debt levels—like credit card and mortgage balances—are top in the nation.\nWhen it comes to housing, Hawaii is the most expensive place in the U.S. to buy a home, with the median home value coming in at $619,000—six times that of the median in West Virginia, the country's cheapest state for homes.\nOverall, Hawaii's total of $64 billion in outstanding mortgage debt makes up 86% of all major consumer debt there—that's the third-highest ratio in the country following California (87%) and the District of Columbia (90%), according to Experian data from Q2 2019.\nIndividually, consumers in the state owed an average of $345,963 in mortgage debt in Q2 2019. That's a 13% increase from the average of $306,585 they owed in the same quarter five years ago. The heavy mortgage burden Hawaiians deal with is the third-highest in the nation, and could be another factor contributing to consumers in the state having such good FICO® Scores on average.\nSource: Experian data from Q2 2019. Total debt figure includes only mortgage, bank card, auto and personal loan debt. END