Private Sector Debt

Government debt isn't the only leverage in the economy. This page tracks how much households and corporations owe, how easily they're keeping up with it, and how that borrowing risk is being priced in the market. We'll keep expanding this page over time as new indicators are added.

Household Debt Service

11.1%

Credit Card Delinquency

2.85%

Mortgage Delinquency

1.86%

Corporate Debt / GDP

28.2%

Household Debt Service Ratio

Structural Indicator

This is the household version of the debt-service metrics on the Government Finances dashboard — the share of after-tax household income that goes to required debt payments (mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, and more) each quarter. It rose above 13% heading into the 2008 financial crisis, fell to historic lows during the 2010s as households deleveraged, and has ticked back up since. A rising ratio means households have less room in their budgets to absorb a job loss, an unexpected expense, or higher interest rates.

Consumer Credit: Revolving vs. Non-Revolving

Coincident Indicator

Revolving credit is mostly credit card debt — balances that can be carried month to month at high interest rates. Non-revolving credit covers auto loans, student loans, and other installment debt with fixed payment schedules. Revolving credit tends to grow fastest when consumers are confident and spending freely, and it's usually the first thing households cut back on when they're under financial stress, since it carries the highest interest rates of the two.

Delinquency Rates: Credit Cards vs. Mortgages

Lagging Indicator

A delinquency is a payment that's late by 30 days or more. Credit card delinquencies (the solid line) tend to rise well before mortgage delinquencies (the dashed line), since households typically fall behind on higher-rate, unsecured debt before they miss a mortgage payment on their home. A sustained rise in both together is one of the clearest signs of broad household financial stress, and it tends to show up here before it's visible in slower-moving data like GDP.

Nonfinancial Corporate Debt to GDP

Structural Indicator

This is the corporate parallel to the government's own debt-to-GDP measure — how much nonfinancial businesses have borrowed (loans and bonds combined) relative to the size of the economy. Companies borrow to invest, but a rising ratio means corporate profits and cash flow have to stretch further to cover debt service. This matters most when it's paired with weakening earnings or rising interest rates — the combination is what typically drives corporate defaults higher.

How is this borrowing risk being priced? The charts above show how much private debt exists and how well borrowers are keeping up with it. They don't show what the market currently charges to take on that risk. For that, see the Credit Spreads dashboard — credit spreads are the real-time market price of corporate borrowing risk. Widening spreads mean investors are demanding more compensation to hold corporate debt, often before delinquencies or defaults actually show up in the data on this page. Reading the two pages together answers both "how much debt is out there" and "what does the market think that debt is worth."

Coming soon to this page: bank lending standards (a leading indicator of credit tightening), total bank credit outstanding as a broader measure of private credit creation, and corporate bond issuance/maturity trends. We'll keep building this section out over time.

Putting It All Together

Government, household, and corporate debt don't move in isolation — they all draw on the same economy's capacity to service borrowing. Comparing this page to the Government Finances dashboard shows whether public and private leverage are rising together (a broader economy-wide buildup) or moving in opposite directions (often a sign that one sector is de-risking while another takes on more). For the macro backdrop driving all of this, see the GDP Growth dashboard.