Student Debt and Young America in 2022

This map showcases the state-level impacts of student debt cancellation according to President Biden’s plan. The map below shows how 2022 student loan balances would decrease if all eligible debtors received the maximum possible cancellation. States shaded dark green would see the largest declines on average—like with Mississippi, the state with the worst repayment rates on student debt, where borrowers are estimated to receive the highest level of average relief from cancellation, $15,908.

You can also map other variables related to student debt, across states, counties or zip codes. Toggling the map’s legend to student loan balance shows how deep red areas have higher indebtedness and toggling to median income shows dark blue areas with higher borrower income. The info pane on the left shows all the data associated with the map, plus relevant statistics broken down by racial characteristics. The final section on the info pane lists the data pertaining to the higher education market (plus, zoom into a geographic area to see the different colleges nearby).

Systemic improvements to student loan forgiveness and discharge programs, debt cancellation, and the nearly three-year federal student loan repayment pause have had lasting impacts on the student debt crisis. This map is an accompaniment to our annual report, which focuses on the consequences of debt relief and the changing nature of the student debt crisis during the pandemic. Read more about the impact of these policy changes on the landscape of student indebtedness in 2022: Student Debt and Young America in 2022.

Download the Data

The data provided on the map is available for download. If used, please provide attribution to Jain Family Institute. Files are available in this folder:

• Student Debt data at the geographic level: ZCTA, County, State, National
• Higher Education data at the geographic level: ZCTA, County, State, National
• Debt Relief data at the geographic level: State, National
• Higher Ed Campus data
• Data Dictionary & Methodology

Researchers & Sources

For inquiries, please email communications@jainfamilyinstitute.org. This project was produced by the Higher Education Finance Team at Jain Family Institute. Contributing researchers were Francis Tseng, Eduard Nilaj, Laura Beamer, Bakari Sibert, Sergio Pinto, and Marshall Steinbaum.