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To many, the Gulf Coast economy, sometimes anecdotal, sometimes empirical, seems like it's doing well.
Then there's a new survey on household debt — a key consumer confidence indicator — that squelches economy-based enthusiasm. The study, from the Urban Institute, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit economic and social policy organization, tags nine Florida cities where at least 30% of the population has an account in debt collection. Those cities include Tampa at 41.6%; Cape Coral in Lee County at 35.5%; and North Port in Sarasota County at 35%. Other Florida cities on the list include Jacksonville, Miami and Orlando.
Lakeland, the survey states, has the highest percentage of the population with a debt collection in Florida, at 47.3%. That rate is the third highest in the country, behind McAllen, Texas at 51.7% and Las Vegas at 49.2%, the survey shows. Jacksonville is the fifth-worst nationwide, at 45%.
The situation in Cape Coral is doubly bleak: The poverty rate in the city, crushed by the foreclosure glut, grew 8% over the last five years, according to a recent report from financial website WalletHub. The WalletHub study says Cape Coral, along with Detroit, Newark, N.J. and Stockton, Calif., is one of the least-recovered cities in the country, post-recession.
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