More Than 1 Million Homeowners are Delinquent on Their Mortgage. Here Are the States and Counties Where the Problem is the Worst.
These 50 counties have the highest mortgage delinquency rates in the country, according to our analysis of 2022 data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Learn which states have the highest rates of mortgage delinquency and find out what may be contributing to the problem.
- West Virginia, Mississippi and Louisiana have the highest rates of mortgage delinquency in the U.S.
- Over 1.34 million American households are at least 30 days behind on a mortgage payment.
- The rate of reported mortgage delinquencies is quickly approaching pre-pandemic levels after a sharp decrease during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mortgage rates surged to their highest levels in 20 years in 2022, while the average mortgage debt increased by more than 7%.
Rising mortgage delinquency rates indicate at least more than a million American families are struggling to keep up.
Our analysis of data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found an average of 1.6% of U.S. residential mortgages were at least 30 days delinquent during 2022.
While that rate is much lower than the 4% rate experienced during the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009, delinquency rates have increased sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic and show no sign of stopping amidst inflation and rising interest rates.
The delinquent 1.6% of mortgages represents over 1.34 million U.S. homeowners.1
Using Consumer Financial Protection Bureau data from 2008 to 2022 (the most recent data available), we identified the counties and states with the highest rates of mortgage delinquency in the U.S.
The chart below shows the 50 U.S. counties that had the highest average monthly rate of mortgages that were delinquent by 30-days or more.
There are 3,144 counties, parishes and equivalents in the U.S. as of July 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
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Webb County, TX, is home to the highest rate of mortgage delinquency in the U.S.
Situated along the U.S.-Mexico border in South Texas, Webb County saw a 4.75% average monthly rate of 30-day mortgage delinquency in 2022, more than three times the national average. The county seat of Webb County is Laredo, the 11th-most populated city in Texas.
Hidalgo County and Jefferson County, TX, also ranked in the top 10 counties in the U.S. for mortgage delinquency.
Hidalgo County (3.59% mortgage delinquency rate in 2022) is situated near Webb County on the southern border and is the home of McAllen, Texas.
Jefferson County (3.13%) is located east of Houston along the Louisiana border.
Mississippi had the second-highest rate of overall mortgage delinquency (see state rankings below) but had only one county in the top 35 of 2022 delinquency rates.
Hinds County is the state’s most populous county and is home to Jackson, the capital city of Mississippi. The county’s 3.96% rate of mortgage delinquency in 2022 was the second-highest rate in the country.
Clayton County, GA, makes up part of the Atlanta metro area and accounted for the third-highest mortgage delinquency rate in the U.S. at 3.90%.
West Virginia ranked as the top state for mortgage delinquency thanks in large part to Kanawha County.
Kanawha accounted for the 4th-highest delinquency rate of all U.S. counties, at 3.70%. Kanawha is the state’s most populous county and home to the capital city of Charleston.
Three of the next four counties on the list can all be found in Louisiana: Livingston Parish (3.65%; 5th in the U.S.), Calcasieu Parish (3.61%; 6th) and Caddo Parish (3.51%; 8th).
The chart below shows the average monthly mortgage delinquency rate for each state in 2022.
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An average of 3.22% of homeowners in West Virginia were at least 30 days delinquent on their mortgage each month in 2022, which was the highest rate of any state in the U.S.
Mississippi (2.83%), Louisiana (2.79%), Delaware (2.18%), Texas (2.08%) and Pennsylvania (2.0%) were the only other states with a delinquency rate of 2% or more in 2022.
Below is a look at the 30-day mortgage delinquency rates as of December 2022 (the most recent data available) in the 10 most populated metropolitan areas in the U.S.
- New York/Newark/Jersey City: 1.1%
- Los Angeles/Long Beach/Anaheim: 0.7%
- Chicago/Naperville/Elgin: 1.3%
- Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington: 1.5%
- Houston/The Woodlands/Sugar Land: 2.1%
- Washington/Arlington/Alexandria: 1.1%
- Philadelphia/Camden/Wilmington: 1.8%
- Atlanta/Sandy Springs/Roswell: 1.6%
- Miami/Fort Lauderdale/West Palm Beach: 1.1%
- Phoenix/Mesa/Scottsdale: 1.0%
The graph below illustrates an interesting trend about national mortgage delinquency rates.
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National mortgage delinquency rates were above 2% in the early months of 2020 but fell sharply as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded. Delinquency rates remained at or below 1% until the spring of 2022.
The 2-year dip in delinquency rates can partly be explained by the way mortgage delinquencies are reported during a public emergency.
As detailed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau:
“Mortgage servicers may adjust how they report payments to the credit repositories for homeowners in areas affected by a public emergency such as a natural disaster or the COVID-19 pandemic. They may report missed payments as current, report performance data as missing, or not report data at all.
As a result, the delinquency rate may appear lower than expected during a public emergency.”
Furthermore, some mortgage owners were granted a forbearance plan during the pandemic that allowed them to temporarily reduce or suspend their monthly mortgage payment. Mortgages under such circumstances are often reported as current.
We analyzed aggregated mortgage performance trends data provided by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The most recently available data provides monthly mortgage delinquency rates from January 2008 through December 2022.
Average 2022 delinquency rates for states and counties are averages of the 12 monthly delinquency rates reported for each state.
1. There are 84 million open mortgages in the U.S. as of March 2023, according the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit for Q1 2023, the most recent data available.
