Buffalo-area residents are getting high marks for living within their means in a new national study. The region ranks number four on a LendingTree list that ranks residents based on how effectively they stay within spending limits. LendingTree looked at four factors: housing debt, car or student loans, credit utilization and the number of people seeking credit.
Research vice president Brian Karimzad says Buffalo-area residents make 15 percent less than their counterparts in the average large metro area, but low housing prices keep mortgage costs in check.
"The average user on our platform from the Buffalo area had a mortgage balance of just $39,000 and that’s 42 percent less than the average of the 50 metro areas that we looked at,” Karimzad said.
Karimzad says local millennials are making smart financial decisions.
"Millennials, when you look at the studies, they tend to anecdotally shy away from what I’ll call ‘bad debt,’ so things like financing the flashy car or taking out debt for a vacation, but they seem certainly willing to save up and stretch for a good quality home,” Karimzad said.
Greenville, South Carolina and Greensboro, North Carolina top the list of regions where residents live within their means. San Antonio and Las Vegas are at the bottom of the list.