Utah and Colorado Are an Island in a Sea of Credit Card Extremes

Utah has a normal amount of Credit Cards, number 31 on the list, but we are surrounded by low and high states.

To the north Idaho is number 47 on the least amount of credit cards side of the list. I don’t know why. You would think regionally we shop about the same, but for some reason, Idaho feels the need for thin wallets unless they are paying in cash.

Why is that? Maybe it’s too cold to be fumbling through a bunch of credit card options. The lowest state is Iowa, so perhaps it’s not temperature-related.

To add to the mystery just down I-15 our sister state Nevada is number 3 on the list with an average of 5.4 cards per person. Hop over to Wyoming and they are at the number 4 spot. What gives?

Maybe the spirit of risk that is so prevalent in Nevada is also evident in the old west gambling houses of Wyoming where they toss credit cards into the anty pool instead of poker chips.

A second look shows that most of the states under Utah have more credit cards. Arizona and New Mexico are also high.

We are in the midst of credit card extremes. If you imposed this map over another map like a topical map would it make sense? Maybe the Rocky Mountains keep Utah more regulated in the number of credit cards we carry.

Those are some theories as to why Utah is an island of credit card ownership normalcy compared to our neighboring states which are so out of whack. (You say out of whack because any statistic that varies from what you are doing is crazy). I'm sure one of them is close to explaining the phenomenon.