Jul 18, 2023 - News
Charted: Detroit's financial health on upswing since bankruptcy
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Detroit's bond rating is a way to measure whether it's on solid financial footing — like a person's credit score.
- It shows how risky Detroit is for potential investors buying the city's bonds by estimating how likely it is that the city pays back those debts.
Flashback: When Detroit's rating crashed to an all-time low in 2013, it was skipping pension debt payments altogether.
State of play: Since then, rating agencies like S&P have grown more confident in Detroit's financial health as it has balanced budgets, saved money, grown revenue and weathered the pandemic.
Yes, but: S&P wrote this year about the city's remaining financial challenges, including resuming large pension debt payments after a 10-year reprieve, poverty, population decline and other economic uncertainties.