New Jersey residents as a group are in the top 10 nationally when it comes to financial literacy, according to a new study released by WalletHub. 

The personal-finance site graded all 50 states and the District of Columbia across 17 different metrics, such as the percentage of adults in each state covering only the minimum credit-card payment.  New Jersey placed 6th overall in the WalletHub rankings, which also considered factors like high school financial literacy standards and the percentage of unbanked households in each state.  

The strong showing for New Jersey comes as state officials in recent years have emphasized improving the financial literacy of both students and adults. In public schools in New Jersey, financial literacy training begins as early as the 6th grade, with lessons covering budgeting, credit, insurance, investment and savings.   

And in 2022, the state Department of Treasury launched a “financial wellness platform” that offers free financial education courses on topics like banking and college savings, as well as personal-finance calculators and real-time budgeting tools. In its study, WalletHub said financial literacy is “more important now than ever,” citing things like persistent inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic among the reasons.