California Policy Lab

California is the fifth largest economy in the world, and one of every eight US loans is originated by a consumer in California. What happens in California affects the world. The California Credit Dashboard provides detailed information about household finances and debt, information that has not historically been available to the public at the state-level. The Dashboard, which we aim to update quarterly, will help measure the financial health of California households. What type of debt do Californians have? What is the current pace of originations? How many people are struggling to make payments? Are credit scores up or down? We also break out data by loan types, regions, and age groups, and hope to add more breakouts and functionality over time (tell us what you want to see!). Our data come from the University of California Consumer Credit Panel, a dataset of credit-bureau data provided by Experian, one of the three nationwide credit reporting agencies. A technical appendix with methodology information is available on the dashboard website.

This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grants MRP-19-600774 and M21PR3278