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A higher percentage of Miamians don’t have bank accounts than any other large city in America. A new survey finds 20.1 percent of Miamians have neither a checking nor a savings account. Another 21.4 percent are considered “underbanked,” meaning while they do have a bank account, they rely more on things like check-cashing stores and payday loans to help pay the bills.
These statistics, of course, reflect the high rates of poverty and large number of working poor in South Florida. The Miami Herald reports that those less likely to have accounts are the unemployed, low-paid workers and immigrants who don’t yet trust banks.
Miami is followed by Detroit (20 percent), El Paso (17.4 percent), Cleveland (17 percent), and Memphis (16.7 percent). Dallas, Houston, Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Baltimore round out the top ten.
However, the rest of the cities in the top ten have higher percentages of citizens who are “underbanked” than Miami. That’s likely in part because Miami already has such a high population that is “unbanked.”
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Just another reminder that Miami remains a poverty-stricken economic hell hole, but hey, at least we’re building new high-rise condos!
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