According to a 2020 Experian study, the average American carries $92,727 in consumer debt. Consumer debt includes a variety of personal credit accounts, such as credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, personal loans, and student loans.
The average American has $90,460 in debt, according to a 2021 CNBC report. That included all types of consumer debt products, from credit cards to personal loans, mortgages and student debt. The average amount of debt by generation in 2020: Gen Z (ages 18 to 23): $16,043.
Mortgage Debt
Americans with a mortgage pay a median monthly payment of $1,595. Accounting for 70% of all American debt, mortgage debt carries the highest total at $10.44 trillion. Forty-two percent of households have mortgages. (That's over 51.5 million total American households).
If you have credit card debt, you're not alone. On average, Americans carry $6,194 in credit card debt, according to the 2019 Experian Consumer Credit Review. And Alaskans have the highest credit card balance, on average $8,026.
So how much non-mortgage debt do Americans have? According to Northwestern Mutual's 2021 Planning & Progress Study, U.S. adults aged 18 and over who carry debt hold an average of $23,325 outside of their mortgages.
Kevin O'Leary, an investor on “Shark Tank” and personal finance author, said in 2018 that the ideal age to be debt-free is 45. It's at this age, said O'Leary, that you enter the last half of your career and should therefore ramp up your retirement savings in order to ensure a comfortable life in your elderly years.
Here's the average debt balances by age group: Gen Z (ages 18 to 23): $9,593. Millennials (ages 24 to 39): $78,396. Gen X (ages 40 to 55): $135,841.
And according to data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances by the US Federal Reserve, the most recent year for which they polled participants, Americans have a weighted average savings account balance of $41,600 which includes checking, savings, money market and prepaid debit cards, while the median was only ...
In August 2021, about 64 million people with a credit record (about 28 percent of Americans) had debt in collections on their credit report, down from 68 million in 2019.
The average American's net worth: $121,760
The median net worth of Americans in 2019 was $121,760, according to the Federal Reserve. That's a $30,000 increase since 2010 but still below the median wealth recorded in 2007, 2004, and 2001 -- all before the 2008 recession. Data source: Federal Reserve (2020).
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 average debt for individual consumers dropped from $6,194 in 2019 to $5,315 in 2020. In fact, the average balance declined in every state.
If your total balance is more than 30% of the total credit limit, you may be in too much debt. Some experts consider it best to keep credit utilization between 1% and 10%, while anything between 11% and 30% is typically considered good.
Former Société Générale rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel owes the bank $6.3 billion.
35—49 year olds = $135,841
Credit card debt is the next main source of debt, followed by education and auto loans.
Yes. An Experian study found that as of 2019, 1.2% of all credit-holding Americans had a FICO score of 850. A perfect score generally requires years of exemplary financial behavior, like making on-time payments, keeping a low credit utilization ratio, and maintaining a long history of credit accounts.
And yet, over half of Americans surveyed (53%) say that debt reduction is a top priority—while nearly a quarter (23%) say they have no debt. And that percentage may rise.
Experts recommend you try to have at least 3x your salary saved in retirement accounts by age 40. That means if you make $50,000 a year, it would be best to have $150,000 stacked away in various retirement accounts like a 401(k) and IRA.
American households had a median balance of $5,300 and an average balance of $41,600 in their transaction bank accounts in 2019, according to data collected by the Federal Reserve. Transaction accounts include savings accounts as well as checking, money market and call accounts and prepaid debit cards.
On average, Americans carry $5,315 in credit card debt, but if your balance is much higher—say, $20,000 or beyond—you may be feeling hopeless. Paying off a high credit card balance can be a daunting task, but it's possible.
Debt is part of the average American's life, and you can start to accumulate it as young as your 20s. New findings from Experian's 2020 State of Credit report show that the average Gen Z consumer (ages 24 and younger) has about $10,942 worth of debt, not including mortgages.
Overall, the average millennial carries about $28,317 in debt, not including mortgages, according to Experian's 2021 State of Credit report, which classifies millennials as those born between 1982 and 1995. When including mortgages, millennials' total debt averages $255,527 per person.
Is being debt-free the new rich? Yes, as long as you have money and assets, in addition to no debts. Living loan-free is a fantastic way to stay financially secure, and it is possible for anyone. While there are a couple of downsides to being debt-free, they are minimal.