Poll: Average Debt Load For Americans.

[arakboss]

The average debt load for American households appears to be around $155,000 and growing:

"The average U.S. household with debt now owes $155,622, or more than $15 trillion altogether, including debt from credit cards, mortgages, home equity lines of credit, auto loans, student loans and other household obligations — up 6.2% from a year ago. "

Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cn...prices-us-households-fall-deeper-in-debt.html

That makes me feel better about my roughly $3500 in total debt. Where do you fit in compared to the average American. If you have joint debt with spouse/other cut those debts in half.


Edit: Average American debt (not household debt) is about $90,000 (2019 data):

Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/select/average-american-debt-by-age/


Updated per person debt report from 2021.

Debt In America: Statistics and Demographics

Learn about the demographics of consumer debt including age, gender, ethnicity, income, education level & family type, and how they impact Americans.

www.debt.org

Read More

 

[Alexx1401]

WOW! I knew it was getting bad but did not notice it was this bad. When they manage to make another good crash it will be fun to watch. Most will simply walk away from the debt. The banks will of course then expect to be bailed out again.

 

[arakboss]

WOW! I knew it was getting bad but did not notice it was this bad. When they manage to make another good crash it will be fun to watch. Most will simply walk away from the debt. The banks will of course then expect to be bailed out again.

I am in the Gen X catagory, the average debt for Gen X'r is $135,000, yikes.

 

[TTSX]

If we include my house, I'm Wayyy above "average" debt for my generation. If we don't, I owe something like $100 to an acquaintance.

 

[Alexx1401]

I do have to "guess" the stats here are NOT including a home? Since few outright own the home they live in. Always guessed when they talk about consumer debt they are talking about all the other stuff financed in life other than the home. This should be quite a boom for the bankruptcy lawyers very soon as people walk away from the debt. Wow.

 

[arakboss]

I do have to "guess" the stats here are NOT including a home? Since few outright own the home they live in. Always guessed when they talk about consumer debt they are talking about all the other stuff financed in life other than the home. This should be quite a boom for the bankruptcy lawyers very soon as people walk away from the debt. Wow.

The stats I linked to do include mortgages but keep in mind many people don't have a mortgage and the numbers are averaged out over those that do and those that don't. If they were to separate the groups the debt numbers would be much higher for those with mortgages and much lower for those that don't.

 

[Alexx1401]

The stats I linked to do include mortgages but keep in mind many people don't have a mortgage and the numbers are averaged out over those that do and those that don't. If they were to separate the groups the debt numbers would be much higher for those with mortgages and much lower for those that don't.

OK, in that case it looks like its not anywhere near as bad as I first thought. The way the housing market is right now a hell of a lot of people have debt double what the average is here since its the home loan. This too will be fun to watch at the next crash.

 

[CountryGent]

We have zero debt on anything. Getting there was not easy, but I am glad we did. Disposable income can, and is, plowed into investments.

 

[MTpockets]

 

[arakboss]

Respect

 

[Heyjoe]

Zero debt. That will likely change if and when I buy my first house- plans are to pay off the note in under ten years.

Debt is dumb and poison to a free man's soul.

 

[RicInOR]

Financial Advice That Will Serve You Well On Your Travels Through Life - Caveman Circus

A collection of tried, true and tested financial advice

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[Member 15244]

Im extremely skeptical of the 155k average as including the mortgage. Anyone that has bought a house in the last couple of years likely has much more debt as most decent homes are going for 400-500k plus. Average people aren't putting down payments of 250k or better.

 

[bolus]

The total public debt is twice that at $30.4 trillion as well

Federal Debt: Total Public Debt

Graph and download economic data for Federal Debt: Total Public Debt (GFDEBTN) from Q1 1966 to Q4 2023 about public, debt, federal, government, and USA.

fred.stlouisfed.org

and remember a lot of that debt (mortgages, student loans) is wrapped up into derivatives and sold. There is no way they are going to cancel student loan debt when billionaires are getting richer off of Student Loan Asset Backed Securities (SLABS) and mortgage backed securities. It will go until the entire system eats itself.

 

[Richo877]

Non-mortgage debt average is closer to $25k. Average student loan debt is close to $40k per borrower. About 35% of American households are not homeowners. Median income is around $67k/yr. Do what you will with those numbers.