A new state scorecard shows people in North Carolina are lagging behind the rest of the country when it comes to basic money management.
The North Carolina Financial Literacy Council report shows that state residents scored up to six percentage points lower than the national average on questions about inflation, interest rates, and investing. The data shows that while overall financial knowledge is low nationwide, North Carolina’s progress is moving slower than neighboring states.
But there is a silver lining. The scorecard reveals that people who received formal financial education saw a 13-percentage-point spike in their financial literacy scores.
Council Chair Stuart Mills says the data will serve as a baseline to help schools, nonprofits, and state agencies target resources and build better financial resilience across North Carolina.
