Ohio Financial Literacy Statistics
In the Buckeye State, the Ohio Financial Educators Council conducts ongoing research and gathers up-to-date data to clarify the current financial wellness status among Ohioans. This webpage provides researchers, organizations, and concerned individuals with the latest statistics regarding Ohio financial literacy so they can use them to advocate and help propel the financial wellness movement forward.
Cost of Financial Illiteracy Survey
Ohioans report that lack of financial knowledge carries a high cost, according to this 2021 survey. Participants across the state responded to the single question: “During the past year (2021), about how much money do you think you lost because you lacked knowledge about personal finances?” The results are shown below. Interestingly, almost 13% of survey respondents believed they had lost $10,000 or more in the past year due to financial illiteracy.
Cost of Financial Illiteracy
$0 – $499
$500 – $999
$1,000 – $2,499
$2,500 – $9,999
$10,000 +
Many Ohioans definitely face financial vulnerability, as data from Feeding America show. Their most recent report on hunger in Ohio indicates that 1,351,090 people – of whom 412,670 are children – experience food insecurity today. That means 1 in 9 Ohio residents and 1 in 6 children are going hungry. And over 40% of the Ohio households that receive SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly food stamps) benefits have children in the home.
Housing insecurity also plagues a sizeable proportion of Ohioans, with 19.17% of state residents facing housing challenges, according to a 2021 report from the Center for Economic Policy and Research. “Housing insecurity” is an umbrella term that covers several dimensions of housing problems people may experience, including affordability, safety, quality, and even loss of housing or homelessness. A total 18.68% of Ohio homeowners say they are at risk of foreclosure, and 52.84% of renters report likelihood of eviction.
Financial Situation Data
Debt Load Rates
$72,264 Average Ohio Consumer Debt (all sources combined) in 2022.
Credit rating agency Experian reports that credit card balances in Ohio averaged $5,320 in 2022. Also according to Experian data, the average Ohioan had an auto loan balance of $18,411 (2021), outstanding student loan balance of $38,048 (2021), and owed $139,618 on a home mortgage (2022).
Personal Credit Score
The Experian 2022 Consumer Debt Review data indicated that the average FICO® credit score among Ohioans was 715 that year, very close to the national average of 714. Using VantageScore® calculations from February 2021, Equifax found that an average credit score in Ohio was 695, compared with the national average of 698. The median credit scores of five mid- to large-sized Ohio cities according to WalletHub are shown at right.
Ohio Financial Literacy Legislation & Educational Stats
The National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education annually updates its Common Core of Data (CCD) which summarize educational statistics by state. The CCD shows that Ohio had 3,659 total public schools in the 2021-2022 school year, about 3.7% of the total 99,271 schools operating across the country. During the same year, the Buckeye State had nearly 1.7 million students and 99,442 total full-time teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.9.
The Ohio state legislature first set aside a financial literacy education fund in 2008 with passage of House Bill 545. In 2021 the Ohio Senate passed SB1, mandating that one-half credit of financial literacy instruction would be required for high school graduation for students entering 9th grade on or after July 1, 2022. SB1 also specifies that high school teachers must have a license validation in financial literacy before teaching the course – unless the educator already has a social studies, family and consumer sciences, or business education teaching license.