7 states with high shares of broke households, per SmartAsset

In 11.3% of U.S. households, debts match or exceed the value of everything the household owns. That leaves a net worth of zero or less. It is the line SmartAsset uses to define a broke household.

The figure is the national benchmark in SmartAsset's "Where Americans Are Broke — 2026 Study," written by Toby Nelson and reviewed by Tanza Loudenback, CFP®. The label describes a balance sheet, not a paycheck. A household counts if what it owes is as large as or larger than what it owns.

The numbers come from the U.S. Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation, known as SIPP. Estimates for calendar year 2024 were released on July 15, 2026. Estimates for calendar year 2023 were released on July 24, 2025. The study covers 43 states rather than all 50. When small samples led to suppressed data, SmartAsset excluded that state for that year.

Each state is compared with the 11.3% national rate. A state is rated higher or lower only when its gap from that rate is larger than 1.645 times the standard error. That threshold matches a 90% confidence level. A state that does not clear the bar is rated similar.

Three states cleared the bar on the high side: Oklahoma, Mississippi and New York. Six cleared it on the low side: California, Hawaii, Idaho, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington state. Their shares range from 4.1% in Hawaii to 8.5% in Washington state. Across the 43 states measured, the share rose from the prior year in 22. SmartAsset cautions that small year-over-year differences should be read carefully because of sampling variability.

The six slides that follow are a selection drawn from SmartAsset's data on broke households by state, not the full list of 43 states. Three cover the states rated significantly higher. The others cover Nevada, Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama, whose estimates sit above the national rate without a significantly higher rating. SmartAsset does not publish an explicit rank order. Any comparison between states rests on the percentages and margins of error themselves.

Illustration: Quartz

Oklahoma has the highest estimated share of households with zero or negative net worth in SmartAsset's 2026 state data, at 20.1%. SmartAsset rates the state significantly higher than the U.S. rate of 11.3%.

A 20.1% share means about one in five Oklahoma households owe as much as or more than they own. The figure sits 8.8 percentage points above the national rate. That makes it nearly 1.8 times the U.S. share.

The estimate carries a 90% confidence interval of 13.5% to 26.7%. That range spans 13.2 percentage points. Half of that width, 6.6 points, is the margin on either side of the estimate. It reflects the uncertainty of estimating one state's share from a survey sample.

The bottom of that range decides Oklahoma's rating. At 13.5%, it still sits 2.2 percentage points above the national rate. Even at the low end of the interval, Oklahoma stays above the U.S. figure. That is why SmartAsset labels the state's share significantly higher rather than similar.

The margin also shows how far Oklahoma clears the bar. Working back from it, the standard error on Oklahoma's estimate is about 4.0 percentage points. The state's 8.8-point gap therefore equals roughly 2.2 standard errors, more than the 1.645 standard errors SmartAsset's test requires.

The top of the range points the other way. At 26.7%, it allows for more than one in four Oklahoma households having zero or negative net worth.

Among the three states rated significantly higher, Oklahoma's point estimate is the largest. It runs 2.5 percentage points above Mississippi's 17.6% and 4.5 points above New York's 15.6%.

Oklahoma's 20.1% also tops Nevada's 17.7%, the next-highest estimate in the data, by 2.4 percentage points. Unlike Nevada's, Oklahoma's estimate clears the significance test.

SmartAsset's state figures stop at the share and its margin of error. The study does not break Oklahoma's figure down by income, city, age or cause.

Illustration: Quartz

Mississippi has 17.6% of households with zero or negative net worth, according to SmartAsset's 2026 study. SmartAsset rates that share significantly higher than the 11.3% national rate.

The state's figure sits 6.3 percentage points above the U.S. rate. Put another way, more than one in six Mississippi households owe as much as or more than they own. The national share is just over one in nine.

SmartAsset puts Mississippi's 90% confidence interval at 12.0% to 23.2%. That range spans 11.2 percentage points. Its lower edge sits 0.7 points above the national rate. Its upper edge sits 11.9 points above it.

Even the low end of that range stays above 11.3%. That is why Mississippi gets the significantly higher rating rather than a Similar label. The cushion is thin. The rating rests on a lower bound less than one percentage point clear of the benchmark. A slightly wider range would have dipped below the national rate and produced a Similar label instead.

The rating speaks to confidence, not size. At that confidence level, the data places Mississippi's share above the national figure. It does not settle how far above.

Among the states with that rating, Mississippi's estimate falls 2.5 points below Oklahoma's 20.1% and 2.0 points above New York's 15.6%. That middle position is less fixed than the two gaps suggest. Mississippi's upper edge reaches past Oklahoma's estimate. Its lower edge falls below New York's. On Mississippi's range alone, its place between the two states is not settled.

A comparison with Nevada shows why the interval matters as much as the headline number. Nevada's point estimate of 17.7% is 0.1 point above Mississippi's. Nevada's range, however, reaches down to 8.2%, which is 3.1 points below the national rate. SmartAsset does not rate Nevada significantly higher.

The two states post nearly identical estimates but land in different categories. Mississippi's interval is narrower, so its range does not reach down to the national rate.

Illustration: Quartz

New York has an estimated 15.6% of households with zero or negative net worth, meaning they owe as much as or more than they own. SmartAsset rates the state significantly higher than the national rate, with a 90% confidence interval of 13.1% to 18.1%.

That estimate sits 4.3 percentage points above the U.S. figure. The gap is smaller than the gaps for Oklahoma and Mississippi, the other two states with a significantly higher rating. Oklahoma's estimate is 20.1%, and Mississippi's is 17.6%.

New York's interval spans 5.0 percentage points from end to end. That is the narrowest range among the three states rated significantly higher. Oklahoma's interval runs from 13.5% to 26.7%, a span of 13.2 points. Mississippi's runs from 12.0% to 23.2%, a span of 11.2 points.

Even the low end of New York's range clears the national rate. The bottom of its interval, 13.1%, is 1.8 points above 11.3%. SmartAsset builds each interval by adding 1.645 standard errors to the estimate and subtracting the same amount. New York's interval reaches 2.5 points on either side of 15.6%. That puts its standard error at roughly 1.5 points. Its 4.3-point gap from the national rate is well beyond that 2.5-point margin.

Arkansas and Tennessee show how much precision matters. Each has an estimated 15.7%, a tenth of a point above New York. Neither is rated significantly higher. Their shared interval, 10.9% to 20.5%, dips below the national rate. It spans 9.6 points, nearly twice the width of New York's.

Several states in the study post higher point estimates than New York. Oklahoma, Nevada, Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee all do. Of those five, only Oklahoma and Mississippi share New York's significantly higher rating.

New York is also the only state outside the South among the three rated significantly higher. SmartAsset does not offer a reason for this pattern. Its data gives no city, income or demographic breakdown for the state.

Pennsylvania, one of the states SmartAsset rates significantly lower, offers a contrast. Its estimate of 7.8% is half of New York's 15.6%. Pennsylvania's interval runs from 5.0% to 10.6%. The two states' intervals do not overlap, since Pennsylvania's upper bound sits below New York's lower bound of 13.1%.

Illustration: Quartz

Nevada's estimated share of households with zero or negative net worth is 17.7%. SmartAsset does not rate it significantly above the 11.3% national rate. Its margin of error is too wide for that call.

At 17.7%, the estimate sits 6.4 percentage points above the national figure. Among the state estimates SmartAsset shows, only Oklahoma's 20.1% is larger. On the point estimate alone, Nevada looks like one of the higher states in the study.

The 90% confidence interval tells a different story. It runs from 8.2% to 27.2%, a span of 19.0 points. The low end sits 3.1 points below the national rate. The high end sits 15.9 points above it.

Because the range reaches below 11.3%, the survey data cannot rule out that Nevada's true share matches the U.S. figure. That is why Nevada lands in the similar category rather than the higher one.

The math behind that result is direct. Nevada's interval extends 9.5 points on either side of its estimate. Working back from that margin gives a standard error of roughly 5.8 points. For Nevada to clear the bar, its estimate would have needed to exceed 20.8%. That is higher than any state estimate SmartAsset lists, including Oklahoma's.

Nevada's spread is wide next to other states' intervals. Oklahoma's runs 13.2 points, from 13.5% to 26.7%. Mississippi's covers 11.2 points. Texas, with an estimate of 12.4%, has a range of just 3.6 points, from 10.6% to 14.2%.

Mississippi makes the sharpest contrast. Its 17.6% estimate is only 0.1 point below Nevada's. Its interval of 12.0% to 23.2% stays entirely above 11.3%, and it is rated significantly higher.

SmartAsset's figures do not explain why Nevada's standard error is so large. They also give no income, industry or demographic detail that would account for the estimate itself.

The 17.7% figure works best as the center of a broad range rather than a precise reading. Nevada's actual share could sit somewhat below the national rate or well above it.

Illustration: Quartz

Arkansas and Tennessee post the same estimate in SmartAsset's 2026 study. In each state, 15.7% of households have zero or negative net worth. That is 4.4 percentage points above the 11.3% national rate.

The two states share more than the headline number. Both carry an identical 90% confidence interval, which runs from 10.9% to 20.5%. That range spans 9.6 percentage points.

Ranked by the percentages alone, their shared 15.7% is tied for the fourth-highest estimate in SmartAsset's state figures. Only Oklahoma at 20.1%, Nevada at 17.7% and Mississippi at 17.6% sit higher. Ohio, at 14.2%, sits 1.5 percentage points lower.

Neither state is among the three that SmartAsset rates significantly higher than the U.S. rate. The low end of the interval explains why. At 10.9%, the bottom of the range falls 0.4 percentage points below the 11.3% national figure. Because the national rate sits inside the range, the 4.4-point gap does not clear the study's significance bar for either state.

The interval also shows how far short the gap falls. Each side of the range extends 4.8 percentage points from 15.7%. That distance equals 1.645 standard errors, which puts one standard error at about 2.9 points. A significantly higher rating would require a gap of more than 4.8 points. The actual gap of 4.4 points works out to roughly 1.5 standard errors.

New York shows the role the margin of error plays. Its 15.6% estimate is 0.1 percentage points below the Arkansas and Tennessee figure. Its interval is narrower, and SmartAsset does rate New York significantly higher.

The shared range runs from slightly below the national rate to above 20%. The 15.7% estimate is the midpoint of that span, not a firm count. SmartAsset reports only the share and its interval for each state. It gives no breakdown by income, age or location and no explanation for why the two figures match.