National Credit Score: 735

(LoanRateUpdate)

According to the results of a recent state by state study conducted by Mortgage Marvel, the national credit score average is 735. The study was conducted by analyzing over 340,000 first mortgage applications that also revealed that the state with the highest average was California, with the state of Mississippi having the lowest average credit score of 695.


"These are interesting results," said Rick Allen, Mortgage Marvel's Product Manager. "With all of California's well-publicized issues with decreasing property values and foreclosures, I would have expected it to be well down the list. Many Californians have clearly figured out how to weather the financial storms."

The study found that credit scores in western region and the northeast region had the highest credit scores, while the southwest and the southeast had the lowest credit scores. What causes the variances between the regions? Income appears to be a factor. Based on data from U.S. Census Bureau from 2008, the western and northeastern markets also have the highest per capita income.

Region	Avg. Credit Score	Average Per Capita Income
West	747	40,121
Northeast	738	44,037
Midwest	734	38,272
Southeast	726	35,130
Southwest	719	35,381

"When I first looked at the results, I was a bit surprised that the results did not more closely follow the most troubled real estate markets," observed Allen. "After we looked closer, however, we found that per capita income levels for 2008 as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau show a similar landscape with the West and Northeast at the top of the list and the Southwest and Southeast at the bottom. This led us to conclude that there is a closer correlation between the strength of the credit score and the per capita income of the region."

Here’s a list of the ten states with the highest average credit score:

Rank	State	Region	Average Credit Score
1	California	West	755
2	Hawaii	West	752
3	Connecticut	Northeast	751
4	Oregon	West	751
5	Wisconsin	Midwest	747
6	Minnesota	Midwest	745
7	Rhode Island	Northeast	745
8	Massachusetts	Northeast	744
9	New Hampshire	Northeast	744
10	Vermont	Northeast	744

And the 10 states with the lowest average credit scores:

Rank	State	Region	Average Credit Score
41	Michigan	Midwest	716
42	South Carolina	Southeast	716
43	Texas	Southwest	716
44	Wyoming	West	716
45	Oklahoma	Southwest	710
46	Louisiana	Southeast	709
47	Arkansas	Southeast	707
48	Tennessee	Southeast	704
49	West Virginia	Northeast	700
50	Mississippi	Southeast	695

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