The Federal Reserve reported in March 2010 that total U.S. household debt, including mortgages and credit cards, was at $13.5 trillion. Although it's a staggering amount, the total actually represented the first drop in household debt since records began in 1945; it was down just under 2 percent from the previous year.
Average
Dividing that $13.5 trillion among every U.S. resident--man, woman and child--the average debt load across the nation is $43,874 per person. That's certainly a lot, but it becomes a little more understandable if you remember that it includes mortgage debt, which for most people is the single biggest financial obligation they'll take on in their lives.
As a Percentage of Income
Taking a look at how much each household earns, total household debt is at more than 122 percent of disposable income. Most experts say that debt of 100 percent of your disposable income is the highest level you can sustain over a long period.
What Kind of Debt?
Slightly more than $1 trillion of the debt--more than 70 percent--is mortgage debt. The other $2,481 billion is what's known as consumer debt; that includes both credit cards and other types of debt such as auto loans and student loans.
Net Worth
Your net worth is the total amount of your assets--real estate, stock holdings, savings and personal property--minus the amount of debt you hold. If you subtract that huge U.S. household debt from the combined total assets of each American, the average U.S. resident's net worth in 2009 was $175,600.
Savings Rate
If you're servicing a big debt load, often you don't have dollars left over to save, and that's certainly been the evidence of recent years. Over most of the last 5 years, Americans have saved less than 3 percent of their income each year. In 2005, the savings rate actually dipped below zero percent. As of late 2009, it stood at around 4 percent.
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