44.7% of U.S. families had a credit card balance when they were interviewed for the Federal Reserve’s 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances. That compares with 45.2% in 2022 and 45.4% in 2019. Among families with a balance, the median balance was $3,100.
77.0% of families had some kind of debt, 53.0% had an installment loan such as a car or student loan, and 42.0% had debt secured by their home. Card balances were most common among families in the middle of the income distribution: 57.0% for the 40th to 60th percentile, against 29.8% for the bottom fifth and 27.4% for the top tenth. By age, 51.9% of families headed by someone 35 to 44 had a balance, and 27.6% of those 75 or older.
Share of families holding each type of debt, 1989 to 2025
| Survey year | Credit card balance | Installment loan | Home-secured (primary residence) | Any debt | Median card balance, holders |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 39.7% | 49.4% | 39.5% | 72.3% | $900 |
| 1992 | 43.7% | 46.0% | 39.1% | 73.2% | $1,000 |
| 1995 | 47.3% | 46.0% | 41.0% | 74.5% | $1,500 |
| 1998 | 44.1% | 43.8% | 43.1% | 74.0% | $1,700 |
| 2001 | 44.4% | 45.2% | 44.6% | 75.1% | $1,900 |
| 2004 | 46.2% | 46.0% | 47.9% | 76.4% | $2,150 |
| 2007 | 46.1% | 46.9% | 48.7% | 77.0% | $3,000 |
| 2010 | 39.4% | 46.4% | 47.0% | 74.9% | $2,600 |
| 2013 | 38.1% | 47.2% | 42.9% | 74.5% | $2,300 |
| 2016 | 43.9% | 50.2% | 41.9% | 77.1% | $2,300 |
| 2019 | 45.4% | 51.5% | 42.1% | 76.6% | $2,700 |
| 2022 | 45.2% | 53.1% | 42.2% | 77.4% | $2,700 |
| 2025 | 44.7% | 53.0% | 42.0% | 77.0% | $3,100 |
The median balance is in dollars of each survey year, not adjusted for inflation; the Fed’s report uses 2025 dollars, so its medians for earlier years will be higher than these. Figures are copied from the Fed’s published tables.
What this counts
A credit card balance here is money owed on a card after the last payment, so families who pay in full each month do not count. It is a snapshot at the interview, not an average over the year. The survey counts families, not people. This is a different measure from our cardholder survey page, which asks individuals how often they carried a balance over the year.
Source
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Survey of Consumer Finances, historical tables in nominal dollars (scf2025_tables_public_nominal_historical.xlsx), Table 13, downloaded October 14, 2026. Federal Reserve data are public domain. Our table is available under CC BY 4.0. Credit "My Credit Guide (mycreditguide.org)".
Steven Reynolds, "Families With Credit Card Debt," My Credit Guide, October 14, 2026, https://mycreditguide.org/data/families-with-credit-card-debt/.