College debts are one of the largest financial burdens for Americans. They make up the second highest type of household debt after mortgages, totaling a record $1.61 trillion. That’s about $37,000 per borrower.

High balances combined with a payoff timeline that lasts into middle age force many graduates to delay or give up other financial goals such as buying a home and saving for retirement. Paying back Student loans has also become even more difficult due to the covid-19 pandemic, although the government allowed temporary halted payments on federal student loans through May 1, 2022.

While the country has a huge student-loan debt crisis, student-loan debts are more higher in some cities than others. To find out where borrowers are burdened the most, WalletHub, a personal-finance website, compared the median student-loan balance against the median earnings of adults aged 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree in more than 2,510 U.S. cities.

The top and bottom cities in its report, “Cities with the Most & Least Student Debt in 2022,” are shown below:

WalletHub also conducted a student money survey. It found:

• 93 percent of students are concerned about the economy.
• The No. 1 post-graduation fear among students is not finding a job, 36 percent, followed by student loan debt, 30 percent.
• 20 percent of students think that a college education is less important due to the covid-19 pandemic.
• 52 percent of students say their school isn’t doing enough to educate them about personal finance.
• Having emergency savings, 44 percent, is the most important financial lesson students have learned from the pandemic, followed by not going into debt, 23 percent, and having a steady job, 22 percent.