Sky-high credit card debt and a future dedicated to paying off persistent balances are the hallmark of some of the states in the U.S., which really isn't all that surprising when you realize that Americans owe more than a trillion dollars to their credit cards. That's just credit cards—not store cards or mortgages or student loans or any of the other items on which Americans customarily owe money. Of course some states are better off than others, but that doesn't mean it's a piece of cake to get those bills paid off. WalletHub wanted to see which states might have lower levels of credit card debt, where people might find it a tad easier to keep making those easy monthly payments till the balance is finally laid to rest. It examined the median credit-card balances and credit card payments of residents in each of 50 states and the District of Columbia as of September, 2018, based on TransUnion data. Using that and data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Federal Reserve, it then figured out how many months it would take to get those balances paid off—along with the accompanying finance charges (figured at an average of 16.91 percent on card balances)—based on median payments that residents were making. The picture's not pretty, even in the states with the lowest credit card debt. Still, better to be in one of them than the alternative.