States with the Highest Student Loan Debt in 2022

With the recent announcement that up to $10,000 in student loan debt could be forgiven for individuals, we were curious to know just how this would impact students.

Our analysts at Scholarship Institute took a dive into national numbers to find out the average student loan debt in every state along with which age groups have the most student loans to pay off—and it was not what we expected.

Check out the interactive map below to find out just how much student loan debt individuals in your state have!

Interesting Findings

• The District of Columbia has the highest average student loan debt in the entire country at $55,508 per borrower
• The lowest student loan debt per borrower is in North Dakota, with $29,885
• Borrowers ages 50-61 have the most student loan debt to pay back, with an average of $45,146 per borrower
• While Gen Z has the lowest amount of student loan debt, borrowers that are under the age of 24 still have an average of over $15,000 in student loan debt—and they’re still adding to that as they pursue college degrees

State	Rank 1 = highest student loans	Average Student Loan Debt Per Borrower	Total Student Loan Debt for State	Total Number of Borrowers
District of Columbia	1	$55,508	$6,500,000,000	117,100
Maryland	2	$43,619	$36,300,000,000	832,200
Georgia	3	$42,207	$69,300,000,000	1,641,900
Virginia	4	$39,892	$43,000,000,000	1,077,900
South Carolina	5	$38,915	$28,400,000,000	729,800
Florida	6	$38,889	$102,100,000,000	2,625,400
Illinois	7	$38,526	$62,300,000,000	1,617,100
New York	8	$38,400	$93,900,000,000	2,445,300
Delaware	9	$38,371	$4,900,000,000	127,700
North Carolina	10	$38,287	$49,800,000,000	1,300,700
Alabama	11	$37,832	$23,800,000,000	629,100
Hawaii	12	$37,798	$4,600,000,000	121,700
Vermont	13	$37,760	$2,900,000,000	76,800
Mississippi	14	$37,606	$16,400,000,000	436,100
Oregon	15	$37,560	$20,200,000,000	537,800
California	16	$37,366	$146,000,000,000	3,907,300
Colorado	17	$37,215	$28,700,000,000	771,200
Tennessee	18	$36,869	$31,700,000,000	859,800
Michigan	19	$36,643	$51,300,000,000	1,400,000
New Jersey	20	$36,301	$43,300,000,000	1,192,800
Pennsylvania	21	$36,103	$65,300,000,000	1,808,700
Washington	22	$36,025	$28,200,000,000	782,800
Connecticut	23	$35,931	$17,800,000,000	495,400
Missouri	24	$35,904	$29,700,000,000	827,200
Arizona	25	$35,730	$31,600,000,000	884,400
Ohio	26	$35,240	$62,600,000,000	1,776,400
Louisiana	27	$35,118	$22,700,000,000	646,400
Massachusetts	28	$34,953	$31,300,000,000	895,500
New Mexico	29	$34,407	$7,800,000,000	226,700
New Hampshire	30	$34,373	$6,500,000,000	189,100
Alaska	31	$34,175	$2,300,000,000	67,300
Minnesota	32	$34,161	$26,700,000,000	781,600
Nevada	33	$34,058	$11,900,000,000	349,400
Arkansas	34	$34,056	$13,200,000,000	387,600
Montana	35	$34,046	$4,300,000,000	126,300
Maine	36	$33,889	$6,300,000,000	185,900
Texas	37	$33,442	$121,800,000,000	3,642,100
Indiana	38	$33,363	$30,000,000,000	899,200
Kansas	39	$33,351	$12,700,000,000	380,800
Kentucky	40	$33,322	$19,900,000,000	597,200
Utah	41	$33,214	$10,200,000,000	307,100
Idaho	42	$33,149	$7,200,000,000	217,200
Rhode Island	43	$32,936	$4,700,000,000	142,700
Wisconsin	44	$32,576	$23,500,000,000	721,400
Nebraska	45	$32,573	$8,000,000,000	245,600
West Virginia	46	$32,329	$7,300,000,000	225,800
Oklahoma	47	$32,125	$15,600,000,000	485,600
South Dakota	48	$31,979	$3,700,000,000	115,700
Wyoming	49	$31,365	$1,700,000,000	54,200
Iowa	50	$30,988	$13,300,000,000	429,200
North Dakota	51	$29,885	$2,600,000,000	87,000

Methodology

To find the average student loan debt per borrower in each state and age group, we looked at student loan figures from the Federal Student Aid Office of the U.S. Department of Education. We calculated the average debt by dividing the total amount of loans for each state and age group by the total number of borrowers for their corresponding categories.