What is the average debt per person in the us

Think of it like this: If you multiply Let that sink in. Young adults say the weight of student loans keeps them from basic financial and life decisions. So, how much are these people paying each month? There are over 4.

For most people, housing is their biggest monthly expense. That means they pay a larger percentage of their monthly income to rent or mortgage than any other budget category think of categories like utilities, groceries, insurance, etc. Note: These averages include all American adults, both those with and without debt.

Notice younger Americans have a higher percentage of student loans, but older Americans have a higher percentage of mortgage debt. For more information on debt levels across generations, check out our research study. Businesses have closed, and job loss has become far too common. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau questioned that decline.

In their research, they suggest one cause of the drop in credit card balances during is simply that consumers were spending less. To compare your credit profile with the averages above, pull your free credit report and sign up for a free credit monitoring service. Experian offers a free credit monitoring service that allows you to sign up without providing a credit card number and gives you a one-stop look at your entire borrower profile. See all of your credit cards and loans, plus their balances, in one place.

Keep track of your on-time payments and monitor your accounts for fraudulent activity. As you can see, it's normal to carry debt, but staying on top of it will protect your credit score and ensure that you have access to the right kinds of products at lower interest rates for years to come.

Skip Navigation. Follow Select. Our top picks of timely offers from our partners More details. SoFi Personal Loans. The answers to questions like these can give us insight into the financial state of the average American household.

We pulled together as much data as we could find on Americans' average household debt in to give you a snapshot of how we handled our debt this year.

Keep reading for more detailed statistics on each type of debt, including comparisons of debt over time and breakdowns by race, age, and more. Editor's note: You may be wondering why there are some data points in our piece on household debt in This is because some surveys -- including the Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Consumer Finances , which is carried out every three years -- release data the year after they've been conducted.

The global coronavirus pandemic was the biggest news of No aspect of life went untouched, including personal finances. Unemployment rose to Fortunately, the unemployment rate came back down to 6. In June, we surveyed American adults who had lost income because of the coronavirus. We found that women, low-income earners, and non-white workers were hit hardest by income loss. Respondents were preparing to cut their expenses, get side jobs, file for unemployment, and borrow more money.

Almost half of the people who had lost income said that it would take them at least six months to recover. The data we've gathered also shows increases in personal and auto loans in hardship, including deferred payments and forbearance programs.

In contrast, personal bankruptcies, credit card delinquencies, and mortgage foreclosures have decreased. This suggests that Americans are using assistance programs and raises questions about what will happen when those programs expire. The numbers we report here are the best we've been able to find. But when employment, compensation, loans, and financial relief are all up in the air -- as they are now -- these things can change very quickly.

That's a record high as far as the HHDC goes. That includes a wide range of debt, from mortgages to personal loans, credit cards, and more. The St. Louis Federal Reserve tracks the nation's household debt payments as a percentage of household income. The most recent number, from the second quarter of , is 8. That's a big drop from 9. This drop could be related to debt relief programs and other allowances made for coronavirus-related income loss -- though it could also indicate that consumers have paid off their high-interest debts.

This could be because Americans are spending a bit more conservatively with their credit cards than they were before the pandemic. According to Experian's Oct. Americans also have 2. A revolving credit card balance is one that persists between payments -- in other words, it's what people pay interest on.

It's one of the most important figures when looking at credit card debt. The latest figures reported on revolving credit card balances come from the SCF, which took place before COVID threw our finances into a tailspin.

As we know, outliers can skew means, so we also report medians where we can. Here's how the mean and median revolving credit card debt have changed over time:.

Editor's note: we're not reporting gender breakdowns of this metric, because the Survey of Consumer finances asks for household, not individual, data. Despite coronavirus-related financial woes, Americans remained surprisingly steady in paying their credit card bills on time. In the second quarter of , the delinquency rate of credit card loans from commercial banks was 2. That's the lowest it's been since early -- and while it's possible that consumers are getting better about paying their debts, it seems more likely that it's related to credit card providers and banks letting borrowers postpone their payments and otherwise avoid delinquency.

Will that number go up as we face continued effects of the coronavirus pandemic? We'll have to see when the St. Louis Fed releases its Q3 data. That number has risen consistently since mid So how much mortgage debt does the average American have? That's the lowest it's been since the St. Louis Fed started compiling this data in These low rates have also led to a rush on refinances, especially before the new 0. The U. This data covers survey results from Auto loan debt has been creeping up over the past several years, though we saw a slight dip in Q2 What does that mean for individual borrowers?

Experian's State of the Auto Finance Market report from Q2 gives average car payments on new auto loans by credit score:. Debt tends to peak somewhere around middle age.

As a whole, this suggests that Americans tend to pay off debt going into retirement and tend to keep debt balances low in retirement, especially people over age For those under age 30, the largest source of debt is student loans. While data separated into ages wasn't available, Insider took data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York that specified total debt per age group and divided it by number of people in each age group to find the average.

It's worth noting that this calculation spreads the debt load over the whole population, including those that don't have that type of debt. Debt per person may be higher if only calculated based on the population with that type of debt. Here's how the average debt balance breaks down by age group. Scroll right to see more data. In this data, it's worth noting that low average mortgages and HELOC balances for people 29 years old and younger are caused by low homeownership rates.

According to Census Bureau data , only Whichever method you choose, the first step is going to be to take stock of everything you owe, how much you owe in total, and the interest rate. Then, you can start to prioritize what you owe. Two popular strategies are the debt avalanche and the debt snowball. The debt snowball tackles the smallest debt first to build momentum, working through bigger debts next, while the debt avalanche focuses on paying down higher-interest debt first to decrease the amount you pay overall.

For borrowers with credit card debt and other relatively small debts with high interest rates, consolidating your debts could make them more manageable. Debt consolidation loans roll all of your existing debts into one debt, with one monthly payment and one balance. You could pay less in interest on a debt consolidation loan than you would on a credit card, especially while interest rates are low. Refinancing could be a smart move for people with larger debts, like mortgages , private student loans , and car loans.

Refinancing replaces your current loan with a new loan, and can often help to bring down the interest rate. With interest rates currently much lower than they have been in the past, refinancing could be a smart move to lower your interest costs and make headway on your debt.

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