A new analysis is putting life in Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Michigan into perspective, and it isn’t a pretty picture.
The personal finance website WalletHub on Tuesday released a ranking of “States with the Most People in Financial Distress” to highlight where folks are struggling the most, using data like average credit score, change in the number of bankruptcy filings over the last year, and share of residents with accounts in distress.
“Measuring the share of residents in financial distress is a good way to take the pulse of a state and see whether people are generally thriving or having trouble making ends meet,” said WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe. “When you combine data about people delaying payments with other metrics like bankruptcy filings and credit score changes, it paints a good picture of the overall economic trends of a state.”
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The picture in the Great Lakes State is not so great.
“Michigan residents are the most financially distressed people in the country,” according to the report. “In Q1 2024, Michigan had the most accounts per person in financial distress, meaning accounts where the account holder was temporarily allowed to not make payments due to financial difficulty.
“Michigan also had the second-highest increase in the share of people with distressed accounts between Q1 2023 and Q1 2024, at over 70%,” it read. “In addition, the Great Lakes State had the fourth-highest overall share of people with accounts in distress, at 7.9%.”
The findings, unfortunately, are not surprising, aligning with a trend of depressing reports detailing Michigan’s decline since the pandemic under Whitmer’s leadership.
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Research from the National Poll on Healthy Aging released by the University of Michigan last week shows the financial struggles in the Mitten – a key battleground state in the 2024 presidential race – are especially bad for the state’s seniors.
“In the last year, 58% of older Michiganders say they’ve cut back on spending 51% say they’ve been impacted by inflation a great deal, 57% say they have felt some or a lot of stress about personal finances, and 15% say they’ve avoided or delayed spending on health care or health-related costs,” according to the report.
The research highlighted the fact that the percentage of Michigan residents over the age of 50 in survival mode is significantly higher than in most states.
A staggering “35% of older Michiganders said they rarely or never have money left at the end of the month, compared with 25% of non-Michiganders.”
Many of Michigan’s struggling seniors are among a broader group of Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed residents, and those living below the federal poverty line, featured in a 2024 United for ALICE report produced by the United Way.
Between ALICE residents and families living in poverty, the report shows, nearly 200,000 more Michiganders are struggling to afford basic necessities than when Whitmer took office in 2019.
“The cost of basics is increasing faster than the overall rate of inflation, as reported by the ALICE Essentials Index,” the report reads. “And it has gotten even harder for ALICE to keep up with bills than at the height of the pandemic.”
“In 2019, 1,508,284 households in Michigan were below the ALICE Threshold; by 2022, that number had changed to 1,671,196,” according to a report overview.
In 2019, 38% of Michiganders were struggling to survive, a figure that increased to 41% by 2022.
Similar findings have come from UM’s Michigan Poverty & Well-being Map, a 2024 Kids Count Data Book, a WalletHub analysis of the “Best and Worst-Run Cities in America,” U.S. News & World Report’s “50 Best Places to Live & Retire,” news reports on skyrocketing homelessness, a national “Best States” ranking, the U.S. Census Bureau and even Whitmer’s own Growing Michigan Together Council.
Michigan residents are “lagging in median income, educational outcomes, and attainment and have fallen behind faster-growing peer states in key measures of infrastructure, community well-being, and job opportunities,” the council wrote in a December report.
“We are losing more young residents than we’re attracting, and our population is aging faster than those of our neighbors.”
Other reports have detailed Michigan’s significant business losses, falling educational outcomes, deteriorating roads, violent crime, population declines, and other troubling trends in Whitmer’s Michigan.