In 2023, the gross federal debt in the United States amounted to around ****** U.S. dollars per capita. This is a moderate increase from the previous year, when the per capita national debt amounted to about ****** U.S. dollars. The total debt accrued by the U.S. annually can be accessed here. Federal debt of the United States The level of national debt held by the United States government has risen sharply in the years following the Great Recession. Federal debt is the amount of debt the federal government owes to creditors who hold assets in the form of debt securities. As with individuals and consumers, there is a common consensus among economists that holding debt is not necessarily problematic for government so long as the public debt is held at a sustainable level. Although there is no agreed upon ratio of debt to gross domestic product, the increasing debt held by the Federal Reserve has become a major part of the political discourse in the United States. Politics and the national debt In recent years, debate over the debt ceiling has been of concern to domestic politicians, the owners of federal debt, and global economy as a whole. The debt ceiling is a legislated maximum amount that national debt can reach intended to impose a degree of fiscal prudence on incumbent governments. However, as national debt has grown the debt ceiling has been reached, thus forcing legislative action by Congress. In both 2011 and 2013, new legislation was passed by Congress allowing the debt ceiling to be raised. The Budget Control Act of 2011 and the No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013 successively allowed the government to avoid defaulting on national debt and therefore avert a potential economic crisis.

View monthly updates and historical trends for US Public Debt Per Capita. from United States. Source: Department of the Treasury. Track economic data with…

The average amount of non-mortgage debt held by consumers in the United States has been falling steadily during the past years, amounting to ****** U.S. dollars in 2023. While respondents had ****** U.S. dollars of debt in 2018, that volume decreased to ****** U.S. dollars in 2019, which constituted the largest year-over-year decrease.What age groups are more indebted in the U.S.?The age group with the highest level of consumer debt in the U.S. was belonging to the Generation X with approximately ******* U.S. dollars of debt in 2022. The next generations with high consumer debt levels were baby boomers and millennials, whose debt levels were similar. In comparison, credit card debt is more equally distributed across all ages. There is an exception among people under 35 years old, who are significantly less burdened with credit card debt. However, most consumers expect to get rid of their debt in the short term. College expenses as a source of debtEducational expenses were not among the leading sources of debt among consumers in the U.S. in 2022. Instead, they made up about ** percent of the total. However, around ** percent of undergraduates from lower-income families had student loans, while over a fifth of undergraduates from higher-income families had student loans. Independently of how they cover these expenses, the confidence of students and parents about being able to pay these college costs was high in most cases.

Key information about United States Household Debt

• United States Household Debt reached 18,036.0 USD bn in Dec 2024, compared with the reported number of 17,943.0 USD bn in the previous quarter
• US Household Debt: USD mn data is updated quarterly, available from Mar 1999 to Dec 2024
• The data reached an all-time high of 18,036.0 USD bn in Dec 2024 and a record low of 4,540.0 USD bn in Mar 1999

Federal Reserve Board of New York provides quarterly Household Debt in USD. Household Debt includes Mortgages, Home Equity Revolving, Auto Loans, Bankcards, Student Loans and Others.


Further information about United States Household Debt

• In the latest reports, United States Household Debt accounted for 61.7 % of the country's Nominal GDP in Dec 2024
• Money Supply M2 in United States increased 21,533.8 USD bn YoY in Dec 2024
• United States Foreign Exchange Reserves was measured at 34.9 USD bn in Dec 2024
• The Foreign Exchange Reserves equaled 0.1 Months of Import in Dec 2024
• United States Domestic Credit reached 30,648.3 USD bn in Mar 2024, representing an drop of 0.3 % YoY

Graph and download economic data for Household Debt Service Payments as a Percent of Disposable Personal Income (TDSP) from Q1 1980 to Q2 2025 about disposable, payments, personal income, debt, percent, households, personal, income, services, and USA.

The total average non-mortgage debt of Baby Boomers in the United States amounted to nearly 18,470 U.S. dollars in 2024. Debt balances, however, varied greatly according to the generation. The Generation X held the highest debt on average, while the silent generation held the lowest average debt.

The average consumer debt balance in the United States has peaked in 2024 at roughly ******* U.S. dollars. However, average consumer debt had decreased between 2010 and 2013, when it reached approximately ****** U.S. dollars. Here, consumer debt refers to student and car loans, credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, and other types of debt.

The United States recorded a Government Debt to GDP of 124.30 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product in 2024. This dataset provides - United States Government Debt To GDP - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

In the third quarter of 2022, households in the United States had, on average, ****** U.S. dollars of mortgage debt. That was the biggest component of their personal debt burden. The value per capita of car and student loans was much lower, but still contributed more to the level of household indebtedness than credit cards or HE revolving.

Private Debt to GDP in the United States decreased to 142 percent in 2024 from 147.50 percent in 2023. United States Private Debt to GDP - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on October of 2025.

In early 2025, Texas was one of the U.S. states with the highest debt balances from car loans. The car loan debt balance per capita in the United States as a whole was ***** U.S. dollars. That figure is the result of dividing the total debt balance for that type of loan by the number of people living in the U.S., even those who do not have any car loan debt at all. That means that this figure is not representative of the amount of debt that an individual with a car loan has. In fact, the average car loan debt of people with some debt of that type in the U.S. is significantly higher.

In early 2025, Texas was one of the U.S. states with the highest debt balances from car loans. The car loan debt balance per capita in the United States as a whole was ***** U.S. dollars. That figure is the result of dividing the total debt balance for that type of loan by the number of people living in the U.S., even those who do not have any car loan debt at all. That means that this figure is not representative of the amount of debt that an individual with a car loan has. In fact, the average car loan debt of people with some debt of that type in the U.S. is significantly higher.

The average amount of non-mortgage debt held by consumers in the United States has been falling steadily during the past years, amounting to ****** U.S. dollars in 2023. While respondents had ****** U.S. dollars of debt in 2018, that volume decreased to ****** U.S. dollars in 2019, which constituted the largest year-over-year decrease.What age groups are more indebted in the U.S.?The age group with the highest level of consumer debt in the U.S. was belonging to the Generation X with approximately ******* U.S. dollars of debt in 2022. The next generations with high consumer debt levels were baby boomers and millennials, whose debt levels were similar. In comparison, credit card debt is more equally distributed across all ages. There is an exception among people under 35 years old, who are significantly less burdened with credit card debt. However, most consumers expect to get rid of their debt in the short term. College expenses as a source of debtEducational expenses were not among the leading sources of debt among consumers in the U.S. in 2022. Instead, they made up about ** percent of the total. However, around ** percent of undergraduates from lower-income families had student loans, while over a fifth of undergraduates from higher-income families had student loans. Independently of how they cover these expenses, the confidence of students and parents about being able to pay these college costs was high in most cases.

Key information about United States Household Debt: % of GDP

• United States household debt accounted for 61.7 % of the country's Nominal GDP in Dec 2024, compared with the ratio of 62.3 % in the previous quarter.
• US household debt to GDP ratio is updated quarterly, available from Mar 1999 to Dec 2024.
• The data reached an all-time high of 85.8 % in Dec 2008 and a record low of 49.4 % in Mar 1999.

CEIC calculates quarterly Household Debt as % of Nominal GDP from quarterly Household Debt and quarterly Nominal GDP. Federal Reserve Board of New York provides Household Debt in USD. The Bureau of Economic Analysis provides Nominal GDP in USD. Household Debt includes Mortgages, Home Equity Revolving, Auto Loans, Bankcards, Student Loans and Others.


Related information about United States Household Debt: % of GDP

• In the latest reports, US Household Debt reached 18,036.0 USD bn in Dec 2024.
• Money Supply M2 in US increased 3.9 % YoY in Jan 2025.
• US Foreign Exchange Reserves was measured at 34.9 USD bn in Dec 2024.
• The Foreign Exchange Reserves equaled 0.1 Months of Import in Dec 2024.
• US Domestic Credit reached 30,648.3 USD bn in Mar 2024, representing an drop of 0.3 % YoY.
• The country's Non Performing Loans Ratio stood at 1.7 % in Dec 2024, compared with the ratio of 1.5 % in the previous quarter.

The total average non-mortgage debt of Baby Boomers in the United States amounted to nearly 18,470 U.S. dollars in 2024. Debt balances, however, varied greatly according to the generation. The Generation X held the highest debt on average, while the silent generation held the lowest average debt.

View quarterly updates and historical trends for US Credit Card Debt. from United States. Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Track economic data wi…

The value of the debt per adult in Europe in 2022 varied a lot from country to country. While Swiss adults had on average over ******* U.S. dollars of debt in 2022, adults from Azerbaijan had a debt of *** dollars. Meanwhile, the average volume of debt in Europe that year was almost ****** U.S. dollars per adult. The household debt to disposable income ratio in Europe follows a similarly varied distribution. As varied as the volume of debts in Europe are, the most common forms of debt are still very similar and they tend to include: credit cards, medical debt, student loans, overdrafts, mortgages, automobile financing and personal loans.

The USA: Mortgage debt balance per capita, U.S. dollars: The latest value from is U.S. dollars, unavailable from U.S. dollars in . In comparison, the world average is 0 U.S. dollars, based on data from countries. Historically, the average for the USA from to is U.S. dollars. The minimum value, U.S. dollars, was reached in while the maximum of U.S. dollars was recorded in .

United States Household Debt Service Ratio: sa data was reported at 9.843 NA in Jun 2018. This records a decrease from the previous number of 9.864 NA for Mar 2018. United States Household Debt Service Ratio: sa data is updated quarterly, averaging 11.285 NA from Mar 1980 (Median) to Jun 2018, with 154 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 13.228 NA in Dec 2007 and a record low of 9.839 NA in Dec 2012. United States Household Debt Service Ratio: sa data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal Reserve Board. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.KB005: Household Debt Service and Financial Obligations Ratios: Seasonally Adjusted. Household Debt Service Ratio: sa (id: 51016902) is the ratio of total required household debt payments to total disposable income.

The statistic shows the gross national debt of the United States from 2019 to 2024 in relation to the gross domestic product (GDP), with projections up until 2030. In 2024, the national debt of the United States was at around 120.79 percent of the gross domestic product. See the US GDP for further information. US finances There has been a dramatic increase in the public debt of the United States since 1990, although the month-to-month change has been quite stable over the last few months. Public debt is defined as the amount of money borrowed by a country to cover budget deficits. A ranking of individual state debt in the United States shows that California is leading by a clear margin, with more than double the amount of runner-up New York. Vermont, North Dakota and South Dakota are the states with the lowest amount of debt. Even before the recession of 2008, the national debt of the United States had been increasing steadily and excessively, and it is predicted to rise even further. Budget cuts and fewer job opportunities as a result of the crisis are taking their toll on the American economy, which is still recovering. Trade figures as well as unemployment are still below average. Subsequently, the national debt and the national debt of the United States per capita have more or less quadrupled since the 1990s. Interestingly, the United States is not even among the top ten of countries with the highest public debt in relation to gross domestic product in international comparison. Japan, Greece and Italy – among others – report far higher figures than the United States.