As Nevada continues to recover from the Great Recession, new data shows Nevadans are not very responsible when it comes to money.
A new study from WalletHub says Nevada ranks 49th out of the 50 states and Washington, DC in terms of personal financial responsibility.
It gets worse – Nevada also has the least sustainable spending habits in the country.
Jill Gonzalez with WalletHub told KNPR's State of Nevada their researchers looked a lot of different sources for the study, from the Census Bureau to education statistics.
They also considered a number of criteria when making their assessments, examining overall financial literacy and daily habits to how many people are using payday loans or only making a minimum credit card payment.
Nevada had the worst credit score in the country, but Gonzalez admitted that a lot of that could could be tied to recovery from the Great Recession. Any negative mark on a person's credit score stays there for seven to 10 years.
“The recession is absolutely still kind of weighing down people," she said.
The other problem is Nevada's public educational system. Gonzalez said there is a correlation between someone's education and their financial literacy, or the overall understanding of the financial system and how it impacts personal finances.
Since Nevada has one of the lowest high school graduation rates in the country and one of the lowest rates of residents with bachelor degrees, Nevada also has low financial literacy.
Gonzalez said improving graduation rates and adding a financial literacy component to the state's education requirement will help.
“I think going an extra step here and actually working financial literacy into the curriculum in Nevada schools would absolutely improve financial literacy as a whole,” she said.
Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub
