People who live in cities in the Southeast are holding the most student debt.

Of the 10 cities in which people carry the most education debt, nine of them are below the Mason-Dixon line, according to a new analysis by LendingTree, a marketplace for loans.

The website utilized data from its eight million users.

"We were surprised that rates of debt are higher in the South than in New England," said Kali McFadden, a researcher at LendingTree.

But she said it appears that people with large student loans are attracted to cities filled with nonprofit and government jobs, possibly because such positions can lead to public service loan forgiveness.

The loan forgiveness program, established by President George W. Bush in 2007, allows student loan borrowers who pursue government or non-profit public service jobs to wipe out their remaining debt after 10 years of on-time payments.

Here are the five cities where people have the most education debt: