Overland Park residents get high marks for “wallet fitness”

People from Overland Park do a good job of managing their credit, and watching how much they spend. They also get good marks for socking money away and making their mortgage payments on time.

These are among the hallmarks of people who are in good financial shape, generally speaking.

Indeed, in a comparison of 150 large U.S. cities by the WalletHub personal finance website, Overland Park ranked as the sixth-best city for “wallet fitness.”

WalletHub based its rankings — timed for the holiday shopping season — on a review of 27 metrics, ranging from unemployment, poverty and foreclosure rates to income volatility and savings habits to see where people broadly are in the best and worst financial shape.

Among some of the categories reviewed, Overland Park had the third-lowest percentage of residents without health insurance, and reported the second-highest level of median household income.

Overall, Overland Park ranked behind San Francisco, which topped the list, followed by Fremont, Calif., Seattle, San Jose, and Madison, Wisc.

The worst cities for money management were Newark, N.J., Brownsville, Texas, Hialeah, Fla., North Las Vegas, Nev., and Miami.

If you’re feeling the holiday stress over money, WalletHub offered the following pointers:

▪ Always pay our credit card bill on time.

▪ Don’t allow luxuries to become necessities.

▪ Get trained in a new skill.

▪ Plan for the worst; hope for the best

▪ Let compound interest work for you.

This story was originally published December 7, 2016 at 9:59 AM with the headline "Overland Park residents get high marks for “wallet fitness”."