These are the 10 best cities for building your credit score — and the 10 worst

Having a good credit score is the key to unlocking the lowest available interest rates on loans, the best rewards credit cards and even that next apartment you've been eyeing.

There are many factors that play a role in having a solid credit score, and while where you live doesn't magically raise it, there are certain cities that stand out for giving their residents better opportunities to improve their finances, which, in turn, can help to improve one's credit. For example, a large part of building good credit is being able to pay off debt, something that's easier to do in cities where the unemployment rate is lower and the minimum wage is higher than it is in other cities.

A recent study by researchers at Upgraded Points™ took a look at 60 of the largest cities throughout the U.S., analyzed eight different factors — average credit scores, credit card debt, interest rates, cost of living, unemployment rate, minimum wage, personal income and the amount of available financial advisors — and used this information to reveal the best U.S. cities for building your credit score.

The study determined the following 10 U.S. cities to be the best for building your credit score:

1. Boston, MA
2. San Jose, CA
3. Rochester, NY
4. Albany, NY
5. San Francisco, CA
6. Minneapolis, MN
7. Salt Lake City, UT
8. Syracuse, NY
9. Madison, WI
10. San Diego, CA

Boston, San Jose and Rochester took first, second and third place, respectively, as the best cities to bump up your credit score. The minimum wage is higher in each of these cities, with Boston having an average minimum wage of $14.25 per hour, one of the highest in the U.S. Having a comparatively low unemployment rate of 3.7% also helped Boston earn the top spot, as did having interest rates of 3.81%, the lowest of all the cities that were analyzed.

In addition to higher minimum wages, other common threads across the top three cities include lower unemployment rates, a lower cost of living, higher average credit scores and an abundance of financial advisors.

Of the top 10 cities, Salt Lake City has the lowest cost of living index, while the three New York cities that made the list — Rochester, Albany and Syracuse — reveal an average cost of living index that is 30% cheaper to live in than the national average.

Regarding the amount of available financial advisors, Boston has 121 of them per capita, while some of places on the list of worst cities for building credit, which we'll get into next, have significantly fewer resources for their residents — Austin, for instance, has just 70 available advisors per capita, while New Orleans and Oklahoma City each have 30 available advisors per capita.

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To get the rankings, each factor was assigned a certain numerical amount based on its importance relating to boosting one's credit score, which was then converted to a number between 0 and 5, calculated (click here for more on their methodology) and ranked accordingly to determine the cities that were most conducive to improving one's finances and, ultimately, one's credit score.

The study determined the following 10 U.S. cities to be the worst places to build your credit score:

1. Houston, TX
2. El Paso, TX
3. Dallas, TX
4. New Orleans, LA
5. San Antonio, TX
6. Memphis, TN
7. Austin, TX
8. Atlanta, GA
9. Oklahoma City, OK
10. Nashville, TN

One obvious observation here is the prevalence of cities in Texas showing up on the list — in fact, they make up half the list.

Despite a low cost of living, Texas residents have a lot working against them — an average credit score of 674 (one of the nation's lowest), the highest average credit card debt in the country (at $5,308) and a minimum wage of just $7.25 per hour, one of the lowest in the U.S. In Houston specifically, which takes the No.1 spot for the worst city to build your credit score, the unemployment rate is currently at 5.3%, compared to Boston's unemployment rate of 3.7%.

Across the 10 worst cities, the average credit score lands at 675, significantly lower than the average credit score across the the 10 best cities, which is 713. By contrast, as the number one best city overall, Boston has a high average credit score of 720.

While where you live won't directly send your credit score soaring, every major U.S. city offers certain external variables such as minimum wages, unemployment rates and the cost of living, among others. These factors can end up playing a role in helping you develop your finances, which, in turn, can help you to build up and manage your credit score.

The study really drives that home, showing that it's easier to improve your credit score when the city you live in offers greater financial opportunities to its residents.

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*Results may vary. Some may not see improved scores or approval odds. Not all lenders use Experian credit files, and not all lenders use scores impacted by Experian Boost.