Analysis of the debt share in the U.S. shows that people aged 40-49 hold the largest amount of debt at $4.21 trillion in total. People aged 50-59 have the most credit card debt in total at $0.21 trillion, and people aged 30-39 have the most student loan debt at $0.5 trillion.
Japan and China have been the largest foreign holders of US debt for the last two decades. From 2000 to 2023, annual totals are based on data from December, while the 2024 data is updated through April.
The Gen X debt situation
Across all generations in the 100 largest metros, Gen Xers have the highest median non-mortgage debt at $33,859. The cohort also has the largest share of people with debt, nearly 99% carry some type of balance, LendingTree found. Gen Xers led the way in three of the four categories analyzed.
Gen Z Is the unhappiest generation in America: Report. Jessica Burbank and Amber Duke react to new findings in the world happiness report that a great percentage of the Gen Z population is unhappy.
Running up $50,000 in credit card debt is not impossible. About two million Americans do it every year. Paying off that bill?
Approximately three-quarters of Black- and White-headed families have debt, but the median debt-to-asset ratio is 50% higher among Black than White families (Copeland, 2020), with Black borrowers less likely to fully repay loans (Brevoort et al., 2021).
The Standard Route is what credit companies and lenders recommend. If this is the graduate's choice, he or she will be debt free around the age of 58. It will take a total of 36 years to complete. It's a whole lot of time but it's the standard for a lot of people.
Who owns the most U.S. debt? Around 70 percent of U.S. debt is held by domestic financial actors and institutions in the United States. U.S. Treasuries represent a convenient, liquid, low-risk store of value.
Higher percentages of Black (88 percent) and American Indian/Alaska Native (87 percent) students received grants than students who were of Two or more races (79 percent), White (74 percent), and Asian (66 percent).
Wealthy people aren't afraid of borrowing. But they typically don't borrow money to live beyond their means or because they failed to save for emergencies or make a plan to cover expenses. Instead, rich people tend to use debt as a tool to help them build more wealth.
In 2021, households with a White householder made up 65.3% of all U.S. households and held 80.0% of all wealth.
In total, other territories hold about $7.4 trillion in U.S. debt. Japan owns the most at $1.1 trillion, followed by China, with $859 billion, and the United Kingdom at $668 billion. In isolation, this $7.4 trillion amount is a lot, said Scott Morris, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development.
In a recent NerdWallet survey, 57% of Americans said they were living paycheck to paycheck.
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.
According to data on 78.2 million Credit Karma members, members of Generation X (ages 43 to 58) carry the highest average total debt — $61,036. In this study, debt includes the following account types: auto leases, auto loans, credit cards, student loans and mortgages.
The average FICO credit score in the US is 717, according to the latest FICO data. The average VantageScore is 701 as of January 2024.
New York Federal Reserve: Gen Z Has Largest Percentage of Credit Card Debt. A growing number of Americans are maxed out on credit cards, with Gen Z leading the way, The Washington Post reported, citing a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.