The color-coded map above provides a glimpse at the impact America’s student loan debt crisis is having on Maine, town by town. Generally speaking, the darker the color on the map, the higher the delinquency rate for students trying to repay their loans and the bigger the problem.
The example highlighted above, for instance, is the Aroostook County village of Wytopitlock (which, in fairness, may have disproportionately high percentages because of its small population of around 400 residents).
According to a 2014 report, Maine is among the top 10 states overall in terms of student debt load, with statewide average balances of more than $29,000.
The map above was developed by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. It’s interactive — you can scroll over any town in America and get a brief synopsis like the one shown above — and that full interactive version can be found by clicking here.
The organization used credit reporting data on student debt from Experian and income numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, and at least the debt information is current as of this fall. To read more details about the center’s methodology, click here.
The map shows 11 Maine towns with what the group describes as “extremely high” student loan delinquency rates among their residents:
- Cambridge, Somerset County
- Eagle Lake, Aroostook County
- Frenchboro, Hancock County
- Mattawamkeag, Penobscot County
- Oakfield, Aroostook County
- Perham, Aroostook County
- St. Francis, Aroostook County
- Shirley Mills, Piscataquis County
- Springfield, Penobscot County
- Wesley, Washington County
- Wytopitlock, Aroostook County
In addition, there many other Maine towns on the map with delinquency rates somewhere else in the “high” range, from the “somewhat high” category all the way up through “very high.”
As you can see from the Wytopitlock example at the top of this page, the center also compared income levels and student loan debt balances to develop a fuller picture of the relative financial tolls student loan debt is taking on each community.
Debts that have fallen into some kind of delinquency — generally with overdue payments of 60 or more days — can put people in downward financial spirals that are sometimes hard to escape. They jeopardize individuals’ abilities to spend on other necessities, like vehicles, which can then hamper their abilities to find work. Forbes magazine once described the snowballing student loan debt crisis as “a problem that will cripple economic possibilities and success to come.”
According to the center, the average student loan debt balance nationwide is $24,271, so a town where residents are facing what the group is calling “somewhat high” debt balances have average balances between 25 percent and 35 percent higher than that number, for instance. Or between approximately $30,339 and $32,766.
When sorted by average student loan debt balances, the Maine map looks much brighter — again, the darker the color, the greater the problem (in this case, the higher the debt balance).
There are nine Maine communities that show up with average student loan debt balances the center categorizes as somewhere between “high” and “astronomical” — a wide range, in dollar figures, between $35,193 and upwards of $175,000:
- Isle au Haut, Knox County (Astronomical)
- Cumberland Foreside, Cumberland County (Extremely High)
- Swans Island, Hancock County (Extremely High)
- Cape Elizabeth, Cumberland County (Very High)
- Castine, Hancock County (Very High)
- Newfield, York County (Very High)
- Falmouth, Cumberland County (High)
- Hallowell, Kennebec County (High)
- Yarmouth, Cumberland County (High)
When looked at the two maps together, a few things become apparent.
One, that the country’s student loan debt — now topping $1.1 trillion — has a far reaching effect and most communities feel it in some way. Second, that the communities with the heaviest debt are predominantly found in southern Maine, but in part because of higher income levels there, those same residents don’t have as much trouble making payments.
In contrast, the towns were people are furthest behind in paying off their debt often had lower balance numbers, but were in more trouble because of lower relative income levels.
