--- title: The Average U.S. Household Owes More than $16,000 in Credit Card Debt description: A new analysis from NerdWallet has found that the average U.S. household owes $16,000 in credit card debt, near pre-recession highs. authors: - name: Kerry Close url: https://money.com/author/kerry-close/ at_money_since: 2016 articles: 182 covers: - Credit Cards - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/kerryclose former_staff: true published: '2016-12-20T15:59:22.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T04:51:14.000Z' section: Credit Cards tags: - Credit Card Debt - Credit Cards - Debt - Great Recession - onetime word_count: 266 canonical: https://money.com/household-credit-card-debt/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![hand holding credit card and wallet by laptop](https://img.money.com/2016/12/gettyimages-477981449.jpg) *The average U.S. household has $16,000 in credit card debt.* Americans may soon have as much credit card debt as they did during the Great Recession. The average U.S. household owes $16,061 in credit card debt, up from 10% from $14,546 from 2006, according to [an analysis](https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/average-credit-card-debt-household/) released by personal finance company NerdWallet. That figure is still down from the recent high of $16,912 at the height of the recession in 2008. Credit card debt levels aren't expected to hit pre-recession levels until the end of 2019. Interest rates play a large role in the debt: The average household that owes money on credit cards pays about $1,292 in interest each year. That could jump to $1,309 after the Federal Reserve voted on a rate hike of a quarter of a percentage point. If you find yourself in credit card debt, check out Money's recommendations for the best cards to get you out of debt. Total debt—including mortgages, student loans and auto loans—is expected to surpass the amounts owed at the start of the Great Recession by the end of 2016. That's largely due to the growth of mortgage debt, which surged from $159,020 per household in 2010 to $172,086 this year, and debt from auto loans, which jumped from $20,032 in 2010 to $28,535 in 2016. Total household debt now hovers at $132,529 per household, or nearly $12.4 trillion total. Its strong growth is that the cost of living has significantly outpaced median household income. For instance, while earnings have grown 28% over the last 13 years, medical costs spiked by 57% and food and beverage costs increased by 36% during the same time frame. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/household-credit-card-debt/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Credit Cards", "item": "https://money.com/credit-cards/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Credit Card", "item": "https://money.com/credit-card/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The Average U.S. Household Owes More than $16,000 in Credit Card Debt" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/household-credit-card-debt/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/household-credit-card-debt/", "name": "The Average U.S. Household Owes More than $16,000 in Credit Card Debt", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-12-20T15:59:22.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/household-credit-card-debt/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/household-credit-card-debt/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T04:51:14.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "The Average U.S. Household Owes More than $16,000 in Credit Card Debt", "articleSection": "Credit Cards", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/12/gettyimages-477981449.jpg", "width": 6048, "height": 4032, "caption": "hand holding credit card and wallet by laptop" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kerry Close", "url": "https://money.com/author/kerry-close/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/kerry-close/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/kerryclose" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-12-20T15:59:22.000Z", "description": "A new analysis from NerdWallet has found that the average U.S. household owes $16,000 in credit card debt, near pre-recession highs.", "abstract": "A new analysis from NerdWallet has found that the average U.S. household owes $16,000 in credit card debt, near pre-recession highs.", "@id": "https://money.com/household-credit-card-debt/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-17T04:51:14.000Z", "wordCount": 266, "keywords": [ "Credit Card Debt", "Credit Cards", "Debt", "Great Recession", "onetime" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Credit card", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card" ] } ] } ] } ```