Six Florida cities in lowest percent of homes with emergency savings, study finds

A WalletHub study ranked six Florida cities in the lowest percentage of households with emergency savings.

Tampa and St. Petersburg, tied at No. 113, and Miami, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale and Pembroke Pines, all tied at No. 115, took the bottom spots.

According to the survey, those cities had the lowest percentage of homes that saved for unexpected expenses or emergencies in 2016, and ranges from 37 to 42 percent, according to WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez.

The data came from the from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The statistic, however, was just a factor in a larger survey on the country’s safest cities – of which no Florida cities cracked the top 20.

“Miami and Hialeah residents might have a hard time saving money for emergency situations because the median income is low, on average (just above $30,000 in Miami and almost $26,000 in Hialeah), so many residents are living paycheck to paycheck,” Gonzalez said in an email.

Miami (179) and Hialeah (181) also were noted in the survey as having some of the highest percentage of uninsured population.

This story was originally published December 4, 2017 at 12:39 PM with the headline "Six Florida cities in lowest percent of homes with emergency savings, study finds."