Americans’ Average Monthly Debt Payment Increases to $1,237 in 2025

Balances, Monthly Payments Rising for Consumer Debt

Credit card payments increased an average of only $2 from 2024 to 2025, to $181. Slightly lower APRs may be part of the explanation for the small growth in average payments. A more direct explanation is that average credit card balances barely budged in the past year.

As of Q1 2025, the average credit card balance was $6,618, a mere 1.2% increase from the Q1 2024 balance of $6,541. Some quick math shows that the average monthly payment of $181 would pay down about 2.7% of that balance—just slightly higher than the minimum required by many issuers (2%).

Average Loan Payments, 2024-2025

Similar math also applies to fast-growing auto loan balances and payments. The average auto loan payment was $675 as of Q1 2025, up from $646 in 2024. Currently, the average auto loan balance of $24,408 is 1.7% higher than the $24,009 average balance in 2024.

However, the monthly mortgage payments that are typically a consumer's largest monthly bill continue to climb amid a yearslong housing shortage. The few who are buying homes in 2025 are paying significantly more in interest than homeowners with mortgages who financed their mortgage prior to recent rate hikes. Although homeowners with these higher-rate mortgages still comprise a small portion of the overall average, they are paying hundreds of dollars more per month and driving the overall average monthly payment higher.

Source: Experian data as of Q1 of each year
Note: Total also includes other consumer debt types

Average Total Monthly Payments Increased in All States

Among the states, the average total monthly payments range from a low of $920 in West Virginia to as much as $1,558 for residents of Colorado.

Average Monthly Payment

Typically, California, Hawaii or Texas—all expensive states to call home—will lead the nation in various credit-related payments and balances. But Colorado has attracted working-age households who are more likely to be in the market for what are now larger car and mortgage payments. Although the state's economy has cooled in the past year, above-average growth in prior years has elevated real estate prices in this car-dependent state. According to the Colorado Association of Realtors, median home prices in the state reached $575,000 in March 2025—well above the national average of $417,000.

The Uncertainty of 2025 Continues Apace

So what can consumers with debts like these expect for the rest of 2025? Let's step through a few of the many policy items that are expected to change the economic landscape for consumers in coming years. Some may provide relief, though others will undoubtedly be a negative for the consumer economy.

• Tariffs: When the levels are finally settled, tariffs are expected to raise the baseline costs of many products. This includes the obvious examples, such as new vehicles shipped to the U.S. from overseas, but also home construction needs such as timber, labor and construction equipment. That will necessarily raise monthly auto and mortgage payments in a straightforward way by raising the cost of the final product.
• Inflation: Then there's inflation's impact on price increases, which puts the Federal Reserve in a bind should they consider further lowering interest rates. Lowering rates would ease access to borrowed funds, but would likely result in even higher consumer costs. If rates are left unchanged, however, the domestic economy could get squeezed and result in higher unemployment.
• Mortgage rates: Meanwhile, Congress still has a budget to pass—one that's likely to be a departure from prior federal budgets. It could also result in increased long-term interest rates if federal revenues are deemed insufficient by the world's bondholders of billions in U.S. Treasury debt. That's obviously not good for prospective homebuyers, as it would likely cause mortgage rates to increase further.
• Student loans: New student loan repayment schemes are being introduced, which may result in much higher monthly payments, if not loan defaults, of more student loan borrowers. Either outcome will result in less purchasing power for a significant percentage of consumers.

Small wonder, then, that more economists, CEOs, CFOs, and others in the C-suites of both U.S. and international corporations are hesitating or aggressively hedging their forecasts for economic growth and earnings in 2025 and beyond. For consumers, the prices they'll be paying—for both financing as well as everyday goods—will be the factor that brings economic and earnings forecasts back into focus.