Americans owed $1.651 trillion in student loans at the end of June 2026, according to the New York Fed. That was $7 billion less than in the first quarter and $13 billion more than a year earlier. The highest quarter in the file is Q4 2025, at $1.664 trillion.
Student loans were 8.8% of all household debt. They are smaller than auto loans ($1.713 trillion) and larger than credit card balances ($1.263 trillion). In the first quarter of 2003, student loans were $241 billion.
Student loan balances over time
| Quarter | Student loans | Auto loans | Credit cards | Student loans as share of all household debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2003 | $0.241T | $0.641T | $0.688T | 3.3% |
| Q1 2010 | $0.758T | $0.705T | $0.762T | 6.3% |
| Q4 2019 | $1.508T | $1.331T | $0.927T | 10.7% |
| Q4 2024 | $1.615T | $1.655T | $1.211T | 9.0% |
| Q2 2025 | $1.638T | $1.655T | $1.209T | 8.9% |
| Q3 2025 | $1.653T | $1.655T | $1.233T | 8.9% |
| Q4 2025 | $1.664T | $1.667T | $1.277T | 8.9% |
| Q1 2026 | $1.658T | $1.685T | $1.242T | 8.8% |
| Q2 2026 | $1.651T | $1.713T | $1.263T | 8.8% |
Trillions of dollars, not adjusted for inflation. The CSV has every quarter from Q1 2003. Changes and shares are our calculation.
What this counts
These are student loan balances on credit reports in the New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel, a sample of Equifax files, and include both federal and private loans. Balances can fall because of payments, forgiveness or discharge, or because loans leave credit files, so a drop is not by itself a sign that borrowers are paying faster. For late payments, see student loan delinquency by state.
Source
New York Fed Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, 2026 Q2 (released August 2026), underlying data page 3, from the New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax. We pulled the workbook on October 14, 2026.
© 2026 Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Content from the New York Fed subject to the Terms of Use at newyorkfed.org.
The New York Fed does not endorse this page, My Credit Guide, or any use of these figures. We have not changed the source figures. Anything labelled as a rank, a change, or a comparison is our calculation.
Our table is available under CC BY 4.0. Credit "My Credit Guide (mycreditguide.org)".
Steven Reynolds, "Student Loan Balances," My Credit Guide, October 14, 2026, https://mycreditguide.org/data/student-loan-balances/.
Related
- Large student loan balances
- Older student loan borrowers
- Federal student loans by repayment plan
- Parent PLUS loan debt by college
- Federal student loan debt by state
- Student loan delinquency by age
- Student loan delinquency by state
- Federal student loans in the Treasury receivables report
- New student loans by credit score
- U.S. household debt by type
- Student loan complaints