For some, use of credit cards is a carefully planned luxury — perhaps used to ensure the accumulation of lots of airline or hotel points — for purchases that can be paid off within a month or two.

But for Tri-State Area residents between the ages of 18 and 34, a recent analysis of Federal Reserve data shows the use of credit cards feels like a necessity — and one that is causing them to rack up higher-than-average levels of debt. Along with those high levels of debt come high levels of delinquency, according to reports on the data by the Ohio Capital Journal and Upgraded Points, an Austin, Texas-based website that studies ways consumers can maximize benefits from their credit card points and miles and conducts additional research.

“For millions of Americans, credit cards have become a lifeline for groceries, gas and other essentials amid the aftershocks of historic inflation and the highest (annual percentage rates) in decades,” reads a statement that came with the analysis. “The strain is hitting young adults hardest: Earlier in their careers with thinner savings, facing a tough entry-level job market and budgeting around the return of student loan payments, a growing share of 18- to 34-year-old cardholders now face serious delinquency.”

Ohio ranks 16th in the nation for severe credit card delinquency — 17.1 percent of young people had that status in the first quarter of this year, up from 12 percent in 2022. The average credit card debt among young cardholders in the state was $3,352 and the share of cardholders using more than 75 percent of their limit was 35.5 percent.

Numbers were similar in Pennsylvania, which ranks 21st, with 15.9 percent of young cardholders having severely delinquent debt, up from 11.3 percent in 2022. The average credit card debt among young cardholders in the state was $3,745, and the share of cardholders using more than 75 percent of their limit was 33.3 percent.

Young people in West Virginia are faring far worse — the state ranks sixth on the list, with 21.1 percent of young cardholders having severely delinquent debt, up from 15 percent in 2022. The average credit card debt among young cardholders in the state was $3,461 and the share of cardholders using more than 75 percent of their limit was 42.5 percent.

The Steubenville-Weirton Metropolitan Statistical Area ranks 23rd among small metro areas, with 23.2 percent of young card holders having severely delinquent debt, up from 14.1 percent in 2022.

The average credit card debt among young cardholders in our area was $3,870 and the share of cardholders using more than 75 percent of their limit was 43.8 percent.

For the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, what is happening in our region and across the country is “signaling a growing crisis for the nation’s youngest adults,” who are also facing increasing utility and housing costs, cuts in social safety net funding such as Medicaid and other challenges that cannot be solved by making fewer runs for iced coffee and avocado toast.

Those in older generations thinking “not my problem,” must remember a couple of things. Not only are younger adults the present and future of our workforce (and, therefore, our economy), there’s also a good chance they are trying to raise families while they face financial challenges that would have been unfathomable to their children’s grandparents.

Are we working to educate and support young adults while we develop policies that diversify and expand our economy so that they have hope? Or, are we looking so far backward that we’ve left them running into a brick wall and just trying to survive.

Lawmakers and other public officials who don’t know the answer to that question would do well to step out of the way and let someone else get to work.