U.S. Consumer Debt Piles Up to $17 Trillion

By Felix Richter

U.S. consumers are sitting on a historically high pile of debt themselves, as the following chart illustrates. According to the New York Fed’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, total household debt climbed to $17.05 trillion in the first quarter of 2023, an increase of $2.9 trillion since Q4 2019, shortly before the pandemic hit.