How many young credit cardholders in Olympia have ‘severely delinquent’ debt?
When you’re hit with a hefty total at the grocery store, gas pump or elsewhere, it can be tempting — or even necessary — to pay with your credit card rather than cash or debit.
Credit cards have become a stop-gap for many, helping cover day-to-day expenses. But swipes can add up to debt, and that can take a toll — including on younger people.
Upgraded Points, a site with news about credit cards and more, released a report Sept. 22 examining where in the country younger people most struggle with credit card debt.
The company looked at data including the share of people ages 18-34 with severely delinquent debt.
So, how did the Olympia area fare? And what does the report say about Washington as a whole?
How does Olympia compare to other cities?
Younger people in the Olympia area don’t seem to be struggling as much overall with credit card debt as many of their peers, according to Upgraded Points’ report.
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater falls toward the bottom of the list for small metro areas, coming in at No. 165 out of 231 analyzed nationwide.
About 13.1% of younger cardholders in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater had “severely delinquent” debt — meaning debt at least 90 days overdue — in 2025, per the report.
That’s lower than the national figure of 15.5%, according to a news release. It does represent an increase of 1.6 percentage points over 2022, and it’s higher than the state share.
Meanwhile, the average debt for younger cardholders in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater was $4,434, and the share of younger cardholders using more than three-quarters of their credit limit was 37%, per the data.
Among large metro areas, Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue stood out for its low share — 9.2% — of younger cardholders with “severely delinquent” debt. It ranked No. 53 out of 55 in the large metro area category.
How does Washington rank among other states?
The share of younger credit cardholders with “severely delinquent” debt grew from 8.1% to 10.6% in Washington between 2022 and 2025, according to Upgraded Points’ report.
However, the Evergreen State still had one of the lowest percentages nationwide. In fact, only four other states had lower shares.
Here are the 10 states with the highest percentages, according to Upgraded Points:
- Mississippi, 23.9%
- Louisiana, 21.9%
- Arkansas, 21.7%
- Alabama, 21.6%
- Georgia, 21.3%
- West Virginia, 21.1%
- South Carolina, 19.6%
- Nevada, 18.8%
- Delaware, 18.6%
- North Carolina, 18.6%
Meanwhile, the average debt among younger credit cardholders in Washington was $4,178, and the share of younger credit cardholders using more than three-quarters of their credit limits was 28.9%.
Why are some younger people struggling with credit card debt?
High interest rates and inflation have hit people in the pocketbooks, the report said.
And several factors can make it tough for younger people in particular, per the report, including a difficult entry-level job market and less money in savings.
“The fact that federal student loan payments have recently resumed has only compounded these financial challenges, squeezing monthly budgets even tighter,” the report said.
How did Upgraded Points come up with the rankings?
Upgraded Points used Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Consumer Credit Explorer to help create its report.
“The analysis looked at credit cardholders ages 18 to 34 and used their data to calculate the share of young cardholders with severely delinquent credit card debt in both Q1 2025 and Q1 2022, as well as their average credit card debt and the share of them utilizing over 75% of their credit limits,” the report said.
Metro areas were put into groups according to size, with the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater falling into the “small” category with fewer than 350,000 people.
This story was originally published September 25, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
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