At the end of the first quarter of 2023, total outstanding college-loan balances stood at nearly $1.64 trillion, according to the Department of Education. That comes out to an average of over $37,000 for each of the 43.8 million borrowers. Not all states are equal when it comes to the burden of student loans, though. With student-loan debtors in mind, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 12 key measures of indebtedness and earning opportunities. Our data set ranges from average student debt to unemployment rate among the population aged 25 to 34 to share of students with past-due loan balances.
