Credit Card Debt Tops $3,500 Per Adult, $7,200 Per Household

Using government debt data and census data, IndexCreditCards.com has determined that the average American adult is carrying $3,560 in revolving debt and the average American household is carrying $7,271 in revolving debt. Revolving debt is mainly debt from credit cards, although certain other open-end lines of credit may be included as well.

Data released earlier this week from the Federal Reserve Board estimates that revolving consumer debt in the United States totals $799.1 billion. Using census data from 2004 and 2005, IndexCreditCards.com estimates the adult (18 and over) population of the U.S. at 224,444,930 and the total number of households at 109,902,090. Dividing the total revolving debt by the population/household figures gives the resulting debt averages.

“Those are scary numbers,” says Justin McHenry, Research Director for IndexCreditCards.com, “especially when you consider that the credit scoring company Fair Issac says that 40 percent of credit card holders carry a balance below $1,000. That means there are many, many people with debt far above these averages, people whose credit card debt has gotten out of control.”