Household debt in the U.S. 2023, by category | Statista (2024)

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Household debt in the U.S. 2023, by category | Statista? ›

Consumers in the United States had over 16 trillion dollars in debt as of the third quarter of 2023. The majority of that debt were home mortgages, amounting to approximately 11.4 trillion U.S. dollars. Student and car loans were the second and third largest component of household debt.

According to Experian, average total consumer household debt in 2023 is $104,215. That's up 11% from 2020, when average total consumer debt was $92,727.

U.S. Household Debt Is at an All-Time High

The total household debt of $17.3 trillion entering 2024 is a new high for the U.S. The largest increase in any category was credit card debt, which swelled by 16.6% between Q3 2022 and Q3 2023, the most recent term for which federal data was available.

Tax cuts, stimulus programs, increased government spending, and decreased tax revenue caused by widespread unemployment generally account for sharp rises in the national debt.

The deficit is projected to fall to $1,154 billion billion in 2023, and debt held by the public is projected to grow to $26,033 billion, but fall as a percent of GDP, to 101.8 percent. After 2023, the deficit is projected to roughly stabilize at around 5 percent as a percent of GDP.

Of the $33T of debt, roughly 78% is owned by the public (70% US vs 30% International). The major US public owners include the FED ($6T, but they are no longer buyers), mutual funds, banks, states, pension funds and insurance companies.

As of December 2023, total federal debt was $33.1 trillion; $26.5 trillion held by the public and $12.1 trillion in intragovernmental debt.

Why is US household debt so high? ›

It seems that auto loans and credit card balances are the main culprits. And what's more, the amount we are paying in interest on this debt — as a percentage of our income — has been moving up sharply. In just the final three months of last year, we added to our household debt $271 billion.

1. Denmark. Denmark had the highest household-debt-to-income ratio of all the nations we looked at, with a reported debt of 252.18%.

The average American owed $103,358 in consumer debt in the second quarter of 2023, the latest data available, according to credit bureau Experian.

Between 1980 and 1990, the debt more than tripled. The debt shrank briefly after the end of the Cold War, but by the end of FY 2008, the gross national debt had reached $10.3 trillion, about 10 times its 1980 level.

How many Americans are currently delinquent with their credit card payments? Just 3.10% of Americans' total outstanding credit card balances are currently at least 30 days delinquent.

Around 23% of Americans are debt free, according to the most recent data available from the Federal Reserve. That figure factors in every type of debt, from credit card balances and student loans to mortgages, car loans and more.

The average American owed $103,358 in consumer debt in the second quarter of 2023, the latest data available, according to credit bureau Experian.

How much credit card debt the average American has (and how to pay it off) The average American household now owes $7,951 in credit card debt, according to the most recent data available from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the U.S. Census Bureau. But that's just the average.

Generally speaking, a good debt-to-income ratio is anything less than or equal to 36%. Meanwhile, any ratio above 43% is considered too high. The biggest piece of your DTI ratio pie is bound to be your monthly mortgage payment.