Credit: Pennsylvania ranks fourth among the states with the lowest credit card debt

Americans increased their collective credit card debt by a record $179.4 billion last year and the grand total at over $1.1 trillion, according to a report by the personal-finance website WalletHub on the States with the Highest and Lowest Credit Card Debts

The authors drew upon data from TransUnion, the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Census Bureau and WalletHub’s proprietary credit card payoff calculator to determine the cost and time required to repay the median credit card balance in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Pennsylvania ranked fourth among the states with the lowest credit card debt. According to the WalletHub report for Pennsylvanians:

Median credit card balance: $2,439

Median income: $54,210

Cost of interest until payoff: $249

Expected payoff timeframe: 11 months and 15 days

By contrast, Alaska is the state with the highest credit card debt with a $3,517 median credit-card debt, a $540 cost to pay off and an expected payoff timeframe of 17 months and 14 days.

The state with the lowest credit card debt is West Virginia with a $2,131 median credit-card debt, a $211 cost to pay off and an expected payoff timeframe of 11 months and three days.