Households headed by millennials and younger adults held $2.37T of the $5.12T in U.S. consumer credit in the second quarter of 2026, or 46.3%, according to the Federal Reserve’s Distributional Financial Accounts. Generation X households held 32.7%, baby boomers 19.5% and the silent generation 1.4%.
Consumer credit here means credit card balances, student loans, auto loans and other loans to individuals that are not secured by real estate. Mortgages and home equity lines are not included.
Per household, generation X carried the most: an average of $48,088, compared with $47,082 for millennial-and-younger households, $24,348 for boomers and $8,252 for the silent generation. These are averages across all households in each group, including those with no consumer debt, so the typical household owes less.
By income
Consumer credit rises with income in dollar terms. Households in the bottom 20% of the income distribution held $361.1B (7.1% of the total), an average of $13,354 per household. Households between the 80th and 99th percentiles held $1.62T (31.7%), or $63,224 each on average, and the top 1% held $176.5B (3.4%), $130,437 each on average. Higher-income households borrow more partly because they can qualify for larger loans; owing more is not the same as being more strained.
What changed
Total consumer credit in the DFA rose from $5.00T in the second quarter of 2025 to $5.12T, up 2.5%. The millennial-and-younger share rose from 44.6% to 46.3%, and from 36.9% at the end of 2019. That shift is consistent with age: more of this group is now in the years when people typically buy cars, carry card balances and repay student loans, and the group keeps growing as younger adults form households. The silent generation’s share keeps shrinking as that group gets smaller. Average consumer credit per household rose from $46,037 to $47,082 for millennial-and-younger households over the year and from $47,597 to $48,088 for generation X.
By generation
| Generation of household head | Consumer credit, Q2 2026 | Share of total | Share, Q4 2019 | Households (millions) | Average per household | Average per household, Q2 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Millennials and younger (born 1981 or later) | $2.37T | 46.3% | 36.9% | 50.4 | $47,082 | $46,037 |
| Generation X (born 1965-1980) | $1.68T | 32.7% | 34.6% | 34.8 | $48,088 | $47,597 |
| Baby boomers (born 1946-1964) | $1.00T | 19.5% | 24.1% | 41.1 | $24,348 | $24,433 |
| Silent generation and earlier (born before 1946) | $73.6B | 1.4% | 4.5% | 8.9 | $8,252 | $8,336 |
By household income
| Household income group | Consumer credit, Q2 2026 | Share of total | Share, Q4 2019 | Households (millions) | Average per household | Average per household, Q2 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 1% | $176.5B | 3.4% | 1.3% | 1.4 | $130,437 | $126,633 |
| 80th to 99th percentile | $1.62T | 31.7% | 28.1% | 25.7 | $63,224 | $61,920 |
| 60th to 80th percentile | $1.33T | 25.9% | 27.3% | 27.0 | $49,136 | $48,041 |
| 40th to 60th percentile | $962.0B | 18.8% | 21.2% | 27.0 | $35,571 | $34,802 |
| 20th to 40th percentile | $668.0B | 13.0% | 14.4% | 27.0 | $24,709 | $24,126 |
| Bottom 20% | $361.1B | 7.1% | 7.7% | 27.0 | $13,354 | $13,082 |
By age of household head
| Age of household head | Consumer credit, Q2 2026 | Share of total | Share, Q4 2019 | Households (millions) | Average per household | Average per household, Q2 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 40 | $1.78T | 34.8% | 40.5% | 37.2 | $47,905 | $46,440 |
| 40 to 54 | $1.73T | 33.8% | 31.2% | 33.5 | $51,636 | $50,052 |
| 55 to 69 | $1.12T | 21.9% | 20.2% | 34.9 | $32,096 | $31,282 |
| 70 and older | $485.0B | 9.5% | 8.1% | 29.5 | $16,430 | $15,932 |
Consumer credit in current dollars. Averages per household and shares are our calculations from the Fed’s totals and household counts. The DFA groups households by the household head; the millennial group is open-ended and includes generation Z. Income groups are percentiles of household income.
Why it matters
Knowing who holds consumer debt helps explain how rising interest rates, student loan repayment changes or a weaker job market might hit different households. Debt held mostly by younger, working-age households depends heavily on jobs and wages; debt held by lower-income households is a larger burden relative to what they earn, even when the dollar amounts are smaller.
What you can do
- Compare your own balances with your income, not with national averages. A useful check is how much of your take-home pay goes to monthly debt payments.
- If you carry credit card balances, those usually cost the most. Paying down the highest-rate balance first saves the most interest.
- If student loan payments are a strain, federal borrowers can ask their servicer about income-driven repayment plans.
What these numbers are
The Distributional Financial Accounts combine the Fed’s quarterly Financial Accounts of the United States with its triennial Survey of Consumer Finances to estimate how household wealth and debt are spread across groups. Quarters after the latest survey are estimates, and the Fed revises the series when a new survey is incorporated. The Q2 2026 figures were published in September 2026, before the 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances was released, so later releases may revise them. DFA totals can differ from the Fed’s monthly G.19 consumer credit figures because of differences in scope and timing.
Source
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Distributional Financial Accounts, Q2 2026 data (dfa.zip, generation, income and age level detail files), downloaded October 19, 2026. Generation definitions are the Fed’s. U.S. government data. Our tables are available under CC BY 4.0. Credit "My Credit Guide (mycreditguide.org)".
Steven Reynolds, "Consumer Credit by Generation and Income," My Credit Guide, October 19, 2026, https://mycreditguide.org/data/consumer-credit-by-generation-and-income/.