Financial Distress Differences Seen At The Zip Code Level

Examining the data in more depth, Vice President and Economist Vice-President Juan Sanchez and Research Assistant Ryan Mather found that even within the same city, neighboring postal codes faced various consequences that challenged the national trend. 

Although both periods showed an equally stable growth in net wealth (7.4% for 2010–15 and 6.2% for 2015–18), they stated that the structure of this growth was completely different. If housing prices fall again, households may be more vulnerable and fragile than at the beginning of 2015, the authors said.

Postal Code Financial Distress

Sanchez and Mather showed that growth rates spread in postal codes. For example, between 2010 and 2015, postcodes, which were 90 percent in terms of debt accumulation, showed that their debts increased by 6.2 percent annually and the national average was 0.5 percent higher. The distribution is wider for a later period.

For the period of 2010-15. The study also found that 10% of postal codes reduced financial difficulties by more than 1.9 points. On the other hand, 10% of postal codes suffered financial difficulties of at least 1.1 points.

Sanchez and Maser noted that the difference was more significant in the following period: 10% of the best performing postal codes reduce financial difficulties by more than 1.8 points each year between 2015–18 and 10% of worse results. Each year at least 2.7 points financial difficulties.