Total U.S. credit card debt rose to $1.23 trillion in the third quarter of 2025, an increase of $24 billion from the previous quarter and up about 50 percent over the past five years, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s latest Household Debt and Credit report.
And a report from the personal finance website WalletHub found that outstanding credit card debt is now about 1 percent below the all-time high reached last year, and that average credit card debt is currently at more than $11,000 per household.
Why It Matters
Rising debt burdens have continued to weigh on Americans’ finances this year, a product, some say, of broad-based economic strains and the inability of consumers’ wages to keep pace with rising costs. Student loan delinquencies have surged following the end of pandemic-era assistance, and millions are behind on payments across nearly every type of credit from mortgages to auto loans.
What To Know
The New York Fed’s report found that overall household debt levels climbed $197 billion to $18.6 trillion in the third quarter, driven in part by the increase in credit card debt.
According to TransUnion, one the U.S.’s three largest credit reporting agencies, the average American held $6,523 in credit card debt at the end of September, up $143 from the same point last year and over $1,000 more than in the third quarter of 2022.
At the same time, the number of credit cards in circulation has risen by about 60 million, as have delinquency rates, with the share of those 90+ days past due climbing to 2.4 percent from 1.9 percent over the past three years.
An analysis by Visual Capitalist, which draws on the TransUnion report, found that Washington, D.C., leads the nation with an average credit card balance of $7,684, followed by Alaska at $7,683 and Hawaii at $7,330.
What People Are Saying
Ohio State economics professor Lucia Dunn previously told Newsweek: “I think all the debt figures pose as very significant threat to our economy. Probably any policy to deal with this may just be kicking the can down the road.”
Economist Domonkos F. Vamossy recently told Newsweek that the trend of rising debt and delinquencies “is deeply concerning and signals a potential long-term structural issue rather than a temporary blip….My worry is less about a sudden ‘Great Recession’-style crash and more about a slow, grinding deterioration of financial health that impacts fertility rates, homeownership age and stability.”
What Happens Next
According to a TransUnion forecast published Wednesday, credit card balances are expected to grow in 2026, albeit at a more moderate pace than in 2022 and 2023.
