Texas Financial Literacy Statistics
The Texas Financial Educators Council carries out research and collects data regularly about the condition of financial health in the Lone Star State. This webpage summarizes and periodically updates these data to inform policymakers, organizations, researchers, and concerned citizens with the latest Texas financial literacy statistics. The goal is to support advocacy efforts that give the financial wellness movement forward momentum.
Cost of Financial Illiteracy Survey
Texans report that lack of financial knowledge carries a high cost, according to this 2021 survey. Participants across the state responded to the single question: “During the past year (2021), about how much money do you think you lost because you lacked knowledge about personal finances?” The results are shown below. Interestingly, almost 9% of survey respondents believed they had lost $10,000 or more in the past year due to financial illiteracy (percentages are rounded).
Cost of Financial Illiteracy
$0 – $499
$500 – $999
$1,000 – $2,499
$2,500 – $9,999
$10,000 +
The latest data from Feeding America indicate that 13.7% of Texans, representing more than 4 million people, currently face food insecurity. Yet less than half (48%) of those families are eligible to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP; formerly “food stamps”) benefits. Food insecurity is defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as lack of access, at times, to enough food to live an active, healthy life; and is considered a critical public health issue.
Texas also joins the six states in the country with the highest rates of housing insecurity, according to the Center for Economic Policy and Research’s 2021 report. The term “housing insecurity” encompasses a range of housing issues facing the nation’s citizens, which may include affordability, quality, and safety of shelter and even housing loss or homelessness. In 2021 a proportion of 27.89% of Texans were experiencing some form of housing insecurity, with more than 20% of homeowners facing potential foreclosure.
Financial Situation Data
Debt Load Rates
In 2022, Texans had $88,537 Average Consumer Debt (All sources combined).
Also as of 2022, credit rating agency Experian reported that credit card balances among Texans averaged $6,542, up 12.4% from the previous year. Experian data further indicate that the Texas average auto loan balance was $27,739 in 2022, average outstanding student loan balance was $36,385 in 2021, and average amount owed on a home mortgage was $217,461 in 2022.
Personal Credit Score
Experian also collects credit score data by state. In 2022, the Experian Consumer Debt Review placed the average FICO® credit score among Texans at 693, below the national average of 714. Using VantageScore® calculations from February 2021, Equifax found that an average credit score in Texas was 674, with a national average of 698.
The median credit scores of five mid- to large-sized Texas cities according to WalletHub are shown at right.
Texas Financial Literacy Legislation & Educational Stats
The National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education annually updates its Common Core of Data (CCD) which summarize state-by-state educational statistics. The CCD showed 9,105 total public schools operating in Texas during the 2021-2022 school year, representing approximately 9.2% of the national total (99,271). Also during 2021-2022, the Lone Star State had over 5.4 million students and 371,002 total full-time teachers, representing a student-to-teacher ratio of 14.6.
As noted above, the 87th Texas Legislature passed SB1063 in 2021. This bipartisan bill mandates that the State Board of Education “shall ensure that a personal financial literacy & economics course [be] taken to comply with the curriculum requirement” and that the requirement “allocates two-thirds of instruction time to instruction in personal financial literacy.”