Groceries, gas, credit cards: Feeling the squeeze
Analysis: Moore County credit-card, auto, mortgage, consumer debt – and how we compare with surrounding counties
3:19 a.m. Aug. 25, 2026
DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor
For plenty of households, credit card debt does not begin with a vacation or a new television.
It starts with groceries.
Then comes a tank of gas, the electric bill, or a tire that cannot wait until next payday. Before long, the card meant for emergencies has become part of the monthly budget.
A May survey of 2,000 Americans carrying at least $10,000 in unsecured debt found 66% had used a credit card to buy groceries during the previous year. Nearly half had borrowed for gas or transportation, 45% for utilities, and one-third for rent or other housing costs.
Ted Rossman, a finance analyst at Money Management International, points to one culprit behind the squeeze.
“I would attribute a lot of this to inflation,” Rossman said. “Really, this whole post-pandemic surge in prices for just about everything is the biggest thing that’s stressing household budgets.”
Moore County is not immune. An Observer analysis using statewide Federal Reserve debt averages suggests local residents could collectively carry roughly $309 million across mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, student loans and other consumer debt.
That figure is a rough estimate, not a reported county balance. No credit bureau publishes an exact countywide debt total for Moore County, so the Observer applied Tennessee averages to the county's estimated credit-report population.
The county-level credit data tell a more encouraging story.
Moore County borrowers are less likely than their counterparts in several surrounding counties to be seriously behind on credit cards, while fewer local consumers with credit records have debt in collections.
Credit cards: Moore County fares better
The Urban Institute's 2025 Debt in America data are based on a nationally representative sample of more than 10 million consumer credit records.
According to those data, about 3% of Moore County borrowers with credit cards were at least 60 days behind on payments. That is lower than every surrounding county examined by the Observer.
Credit-card delinquency stood at approximately 7% in Coffee County, 7% in Franklin County, 6% in Bedford County and 5% in Lincoln County. The Tennessee median was about 6%.
The same pattern appears in collections. About 20% of Moore County residents with a credit record had some debt in collections. That compares with 31% in Coffee County, 29% in Bedford County, 27% in Lincoln County and 26% in Franklin County.
Tennessee's median was about 28%.
Those percentages measure different groups. The credit-card delinquency rate looks only at borrowers carrying card debt, while the collections figure looks more broadly at people with credit records.
Still, the direction is clear: Moore County residents carry debt, but fewer appear to be falling deeply behind.
Moore County may carry about $20 million in card debt
Using Tennessee's average credit-card balance per person in the credit-report population, the Observer estimates Moore County residents could carry roughly $20 million in credit-card balances.
Again, that is a projection rather than a reported county total.
Using the same statewide averages, the Observer estimates:
• $206 million in mortgage debt
• $32 million in auto debt
• $20 million in credit-card debt
• $28 million in student loans
• $23 million in other consumer debt
Combined, that comes to roughly $309 million.
Most of that total is tied to mortgages. A household making regular payments on a mortgage is in a very different financial position from one carrying a revolving credit-card balance because there was not enough cash left for groceries.
“We have maxed out two cards in the past eight or nine months,” one local resident said. She wished to remain anonymous while discussing family finances. “We have not made a major purchase, but we are down to one income; it's been tough.
“We are making it; we are not going hungry – but some months have been a struggle to pay bills and get groceries. I have used the card to get what we need [to eat] and used the paycheck to pay bills.”
Debt alone does not equal financial distress. The more revealing measure is whether borrowers can keep making the payments.
The car payment may be tighter
Moore County's advantage over its neighbors is less pronounced when it comes to auto and retail debt.
About 6% of Moore County borrowers with auto or retail loans were at least 60 days behind, matching Tennessee's median. Coffee and Franklin counties stood at about 5%. Bedford also came in at 6%, while Lincoln was at 7%.
That matters in a rural county where a dependable vehicle is closer to necessity than luxury.
For most Moore County residents, getting to work, school, the grocery store, or a doctor's appointment means getting in a vehicle. A higher grocery bill or utility bill can be painful enough. Add a car repair, and the room in a household budget can disappear quickly.
That is the pressure Rossman describes. Families may absorb a few extra dollars at the grocery store, another few at the gas pump, and more on utilities, but all of it comes from the same paycheck.
For some, credit becomes the bridge.
More households are leaning on borrowed money
The Accredited Debt Relief survey offers a glimpse at what can happen once that bridge becomes routine.
Nearly three in 10 respondents said they relied on credit or borrowing to get through a typical month, while one-third said they depended on credit more than they had a year earlier.
Only 28% said they could both cover expenses and save, while 45% said their income was enough to get by but not enough to get ahead.
The survey is not a measure of Moore County and does not represent all Americans. Every respondent already carried at least $10,000 in unsecured debt.
Still, it shows how credit can shift from a backup plan to a household necessity. When researchers asked what stood in the way of reducing debt, 29% pointed to the cost of everyday expenses.
That pressure can compound quickly. When housing, food, utilities, insurance and transportation consume most of a paycheck, an unexpected expense may leave little choice but to borrow.
Then the next month starts with another payment due.
Homeownership is high in Moore County
Housing also separates Moore County from its neighbors.
Census data show that about 82.5% of Moore County homes are owner-occupied, higher than in Franklin, Lincoln, Bedford, and Coffee counties.
The median value of an owner-occupied home is approximately $285,300, also the highest among the five counties.
Median monthly owner costs for Moore County homeowners with a mortgage are about $1,416.
Those numbers help explain why mortgage debt dominates the county's estimated consumer-debt total. They also reinforce why a large debt balance, by itself, does not necessarily signal trouble.
The better measure is whether those bills are being paid.
The number to watch
The most important figure in the local data may not be the estimated $309 million owed across all forms of debt.
It may be 3% – the share of Moore County credit-card borrowers estimated to be at least 60 days behind, which is half the Tennessee median and below every neighboring county in the Observer's comparison.
Another number bears watching: 20% of Moore County residents with a credit record have some debt in collections. That is still one in five people with a credit file, even if it remains well below surrounding counties.
For now, Moore County's delinquency numbers remain comparatively strong. The question is whether that holds if everyday costs continue eating up more of the household budget.
The national survey found more than three in 10 heavily indebted respondents said their debt had affected their mental well-being.
The number worth watching is not simply how much Moore County owes.
It is how many families can still buy the groceries, fill the tank and pay the electric bill without putting more of everyday life on the card.