PHILADELPHIA – A new study is shedding light on the cost of student loan debt in the United States.

GOBankingRates used the Education Data Initiative’s Student Debt by Generation 2023 to find each state’s total number of millennials with student debt and the total outstanding debt held by the generation. 

The company then used the data, collected earlier this month, to determine the average millennial student debt in every state.

GOBankingRates found the highest average student loan debt among millennials was on the East Coast, with nine of the top 10 most expensive student debts found in the region. Illinois was the only outlier.

Here is a list of the top 10 states with the highest student debt among millennials: 

1. Maryland: $37,337
2. New York: $37,173
3. Illinois: $35,976
4. Virginia: $35,846
5. Georgia : $35,246
6. Massachusetts: $34,821
7. New Jersey: $34,801
8. South Carolina: $34,672
9. Florida: $34,561
10. North Carolina: $34,440

Of the top ten, New Jersey is ranked seventh with an average debt for millennials of $34,801. 

Among the full list, Pennsylvania has an average student debt of approximately $33,951. The PA’s total outstanding millennial student debt is over $23 billion.

And in Delaware, the average millennial student debt is $33,110.

While $1.48 billion is no small tab and approximately 44,700 millennials share it in outstanding student loan debts for DE.

“It’s no surprise that states such as New York, Massachusetts and Illinois have some of the highest student debt amounts,” Andrew Murray, the lead data content researcher at GOBankingRates, told FOX Television Stations. “Cities such as Chicago, Boston and New York are popular destinations for college graduates, who take their student debt with them when they move.” 

A recent survey shows that students throughout the country agree that student loan forgiveness is a must. An Axios survey found that students on both sides of the political spectrum think the government should be doing more to help them pay off their debts.

Of the 4,168 students surveyed, 89% of the Democratic students and 81% of Republicans said the government should offer more relief options.

NEW JERSEY — Over 200 NJ zip codes saw home values skyrocket in March, according to data published this month by real estate company Zillow.

The analysis found home values for 248 zip codes rose year-over-year in metro areas spanning North Jersey to Philadelphia to Atlantic City from March 2023 to March 2024.

Home values will continue to spike into the warmer months, according to Zillow’s latest real estate forecast, with over 500 zip codes in the Garden State projected to see a drop of less than 1 percent in June.

Camden City near Philadelphia saw the largest spike in home values per the analysis, with a 26.78 percent increase year-over-year. Since 2014, home values rose 115.68 percent, according to Zillow.

Branchburg Township in Hunterdon County and Gloucester City in South Jersey also saw increases at 20.92 and 17.31 percent, respectively.

You can view the full analysis by municipality below or click here to view it in another window.

Editor’s Note: Duplicate cities reflect data for different zip codes within those municipalities.

OPINION

New Jersey – home to the Sopranos, the Jersey Shore, full-service gas stations and the long-running debate over pork roll versus Taylor ham.  Gritty, smart as hell, and loyal to our Jets . . . or Giants . . . or Eagles – that’s Jersey.  As a proud New Jersey native, I’ve fiercely defended our great state to those interlopers who criticize us as merely “that place between New York and Philly” (but with better beaches).

New Jersey is so much more than the memes and tropes that fly around the internet.  Often overlooked is the fact that for nearly 150 years, New Jersey has been one of the most important places on Earth when it comes to saving lives and improving the quality of life for patients, families and our loved ones all over the world.

Our long, proud and storied (but often unrecognized) history of leading the world stretches from Thomas Edison opening his laboratory in Menlo Park in 1876, to Johnson & Johnson establishing itself in New Brunswick in 1886, to Bell Labs opening its headquarters in Murray Hill in 1967.  The advances resulting from such a research-oriented state include the first steam locomotive to actually pull a train, the world’s first submarine, first light bulb, first movie, and even the first brewery in America.

The crown jewel of these transformative contributions – the one that also serves as the beating heart of New Jersey’s workforce and economy is our vibrant and robust life sciences ecosystem.  Our state’s medical technology, biotech, diagnostic, pharmaceutical and medical device companies have been at the forefront of cutting-edge medical innovations that have transformed global health, helping patients live longer, with less pain, with more independence while enjoying a greater quality of life.  These companies are the envy of our neighbors.  Rarely does a week go by without states like Pennsylvania or California, or other countries like Singapore or Ireland, trying to lure the operations of these great companies away from the Garden State.

These and other life sciences companies have driven breathtaking advances in medicine that have delivered new treatments and cures for some of the world’s most dreaded diseases.  For the first time in human history, we have cured hepatitis C – the days of liver transplants and life-long treatments are over.  We now have a simple vaccine that prevents cervical cancer, something unheard of less than two decades ago.  HIV/AIDS has become a chronic, manageable condition instead of the death sentence it once was.  A few years ago, we saw the first-ever Ebola vaccine – a life-saving advance for millions of people in Africa and around the world – followed a few years later by a vaccine (and diagnostics and treatments) for COVID-19 as well as the first-ever treatment to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s.

These are merely some of the latest extraordinary breakthroughs in health care these companies work so hard to discover.  New Jersey’s life sciences companies are working at breakneck speed to discover new treatments and cures for diabetes, any one of 7,000 rare diseases such as Pompe disease and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, many types of cancer, and a vaccine against HIV/AIDS.  Drug discovery is a highly risky and costly proposition, with only one out of every 5,000 researched compounds making it to market after a 10-to-15-year development process at an average cost of $2.6 billion.  However, recent successes and cutting-edge advances in research and technology signify that we’re on the cusp of even more astounding medical progress than was imaginable even a few short years ago.

Recently, I became the new President and Chief Executive Officer of the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ – www.hinj.org), a trade association representing the New Jersey companies that are working so hard to research and discover the next generation of treatments and cures.  Our mission – and one that I am immensely proud to help champion – is to ensure that New Jersey and our life sciences community continues to do what we’ve done so extraordinarily well for over a century – help patients around the world by finding cures here in New Jersey.