Debt in Collections · District of Columbia
Across the 1 counties in District of Columbia measured by the Urban Institute's Debt in America survey, 20.5% of adults have at least one account in collections. The county-level range is wide: District of Columbia, DC sits at 20.5% while District of Columbia, DC is just 20.5% — a 1.0× spread within a single state.
The median dollar amount in collections for District of Columbia residents is $2,000 per affected adult, based on Urban Institute's 2024 release.
State averages — debt subtypes
The Urban Institute reports debt in collections in four categories. Across District of Columbia's 1 counties, the average rates are:
These figures are county averages weighted equally — the underlying Urban Institute sample uses credit-bureau records, which exclude adults who do not have a credit file. Rates can be substantially higher for credit-active adults than for the full adult population.
Top 10 — Highest Debt Counties
Bottom 5 — Lowest Debt Counties
Frequently asked — debt in District of Columbia
20.5% of adults in District of Columbia have at least one account in collections, based on the Urban Institute's 2024 Debt in America survey. That figure is the average across the 1 District of Columbia counties measured. The county-level rate varies widely from 20.5% in District of Columbia, DC to 20.5% in District of Columbia, DC.
District of Columbia, DC has the highest debt-in-collections rate in District of Columbia at 20.5%. The next four highest counties are . Rates are credit-bureau-derived and reflect the credit-active adult population only.
District of Columbia, DC has the lowest rate in District of Columbia at 20.5%. The five lowest-debt counties in District of Columbia are District of Columbia, DC (20.5%).
The median dollar amount in collections per affected District of Columbia adult is $2,000, averaged across the 1 measured counties. That figure represents the typical balance owed by individuals who have at least one account in collections — not the average across all adults.
1.7% of District of Columbia adults have medical debt in collections, on average across measured counties. That figure follows the 2022 credit-bureau reporting change, which excludes medical debts under $500 from collection reports. Actual medical-debt exposure (including smaller balances and paid-down accounts) is materially higher.
Methodology & sources
The figures on this page are sourced from the Urban Institute Debt in America (2024) release. The Urban Institute calculates each county-level rate from a 2-percent random sample of credit-bureau records, then publishes the share of credit-active adults with at least one account that has been sent to a third-party collection agency or in-house collections unit.
"In collections" means a debt is 90+ days past due and has either been written off by the original creditor or assigned to a collection agency. The Urban Institute reports four breakdowns — overall, medical, credit-card delinquency, and auto/retail delinquency. Medical debt in collections is reported only when it exceeds $500 per the 2022 credit-bureau reporting change.
Coverage caveat: the survey excludes adults without a credit file, which means the published rates are for the credit-active population only. Rates for the full adult population (including those without credit) are typically lower in absolute terms but follow the same county-to-county ordering. Counties with fewer than 50 sampled adults are not published.
Data is free under the Urban Institute's open-data policy. Figures here are licensed under CC BY 4.0 with attribution to USInsights.
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