Dive Brief:
- Las Vegas is the top U.S. city where people are experiencing "financial distress" during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, according to a WalletHub analysis of the country's 100 largest cities.
- The rankings were determined by a weighted average across six categories, including credit scores, average number of accounts in distress and changes in the numbers of bankruptcy filings in June 2020 versus June 2019. The 10 cities with the most people in financial distress include: Las Vegas; Chicago; Houston; San Antonio; Dallas; Phoenix; Los Angeles; Austin, Texas; Miami and Fort Worth, Texas.
- The cities with the lowest rates of financial distress are Anchorage, Alaska; Madison, Wisconsin; Jersey City, New Jersey; Fremont, California; and Newark, New Jersey.
Dive Insight:
The national unemployment rate was 7.9% in September, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), compared to the 3.6% unemployment rate in January. The actual rate of unemployment, however, is likely closer to 26%, Axios reports.
Hawaii holds the highest rate of unemployment among states at 15.1%, followed by Nevada at 12.6%, according to Forbes, in part due to the pandemic's heavy toll on tourism industries.
Las Vegas; Henderson, Nevada; Reno, Nevada; and North Las Vegas, Nevada, were among the top five cities to see the highest change in the average number of accounts in distress this September compared to January, according to the WalletHub study.
Casinos and resorts are slowly starting to reopen, however. And employment in leisure and hospitality industries grew by 318,000 people in September, with 69,000 jobs added in amusement, gambling and recreation, according to BLS.
Orlando, Florida, another tourist hub which WalletHub ranked among the top 15 cities for financial distress, has also seen some relief from the reopening of Walt Disney World Resort. The parks furloughed 70,000 workers at the onset of the pandemic, contributing to the leisure and hospitality sector's staggering 40% unemployment rate in April.
