Ridgewood Named In Top 20 Towns That Spend Least On Cars

RIDGEWOOD, NJ – When it comes to cars, Ridgewood residents aren’t breaking the bank.

The village was just recognized by consumer finance website WalletHub for demonstrating frugal spending habits when purchasing a car. Ridgewood was just one of two New Jersey towns to rank in the top 20 cities in the U.S. that spend the least on cars, according to WalletHub.

Click here to see WalletHub's 2020 Cities that Overspend on Cars report.

Ridgewood residents also ranked in the first percentile for car loan debt with a median debt of $12,394 on an income of $123,168. The debt to income ratio for Ridgewood is 10 percent, according to the report.

Hoboken landed in the top 20, ranking in the first percentile for car loan debt with a median debt of $9,764 on an income of $92,374. The city's debt to income ratio is 11 percent, WalletHub said.

According to WalletHub's findings, auto sales in the U.S. were down slightly in 2019 but car manufacturers still sold over 17 million vehicles for the fifth consecutive year. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s latest report on household indebtedness, auto loan balances have grown steadily over the past eight years, increasing by another $18 billion in Q3 2019.

Wallet Hub found that interest rates for new cars are at one of their lowest points in three years, with the average new-car loan today charging 14 percent less interest than the average used-car loan.

WalletHub analysts looked at the average auto loan balance of residents in more than 2,500 cities nationwide to determine where Americans are overspending on cars.