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Americans have a record amount of credit card debt $1.252 trillion, to be precise. This credit card financial obligation statistics page tracks Americans' credit card utilize each month.

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While credit card debt tends to increase year over year, it generally falls from Q4 of one year to Q1 of the next. Even with this quarter's decrease, credit card balances have increased by $482 billion since Q1 2021, when credit card financial obligation bottomed out at $770 billion throughout the pandemic.

Americans' credit card debt is $325 billion greater than the pre-pandemic record set in Q4 2019, when balances stood at $927 billion. (That's a 35% boost.) Charge card balances have actually traditionally rebounded after first-quarter decreases, though future loaning trends will depend on factors including interest rates, inflation and broader economic conditions.

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Charge card financial obligation rose steadily till the financial crisis, then declined from $866 billion in Q4 2008 to $660 billion in Q1 2013 before resuming its upward trajectory. When the pandemic took hold in 2020, credit card balances plunged again from $927 billion in Q4 2019 to $770 billion in Q1 2021.

Credit cardholders in Connecticut have the greatest average credit card financial obligation of any state, according to LendingTree data, while those in Mississippi have the most affordable. Source: LendingTree analysis of the anonymized credit reports of more than 400,000 LendingTree users in the third quarter of 2025 and more than 410,000 in Q3 2024.

Joint accounts were divided in half to reflect shared obligation between the account holders. LendingTree analysts examined anonymized credit report data from Q3 2025 for more than 400,000 LendingTree users to determine these averages and produce a list of states with the most financial obligation. The analysis was likewise compared to Q3 2024 information from more than 410,000 reports.

Eleven states had average balances of at least $9,000. Washington has the fastest-growing card financial obligation in the period examined.

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Three other states saw double-digit increases, consisting of South Dakota (up 11.7%), Nebraska (up 11.3%) and Wisconsin (up 10.2%). New Mexico saw the biggest year-over-year reduction in financial obligation, with its homeowners' debt falling 10.3% from $6,543 to $5,871. In all, seven states saw credit card balances decrease in the previous year.

Less than half of adult credit cardholders (45%) carried a balance on a charge card for a minimum of one month in the previous year, according to a May 2026 Federal Reserve study using 2025 data. Paying a credit card balance in full monthly is the most effective method to avoid interest charges and keep debt from accumulating.

For cards accruing interest, the average in Q2 2026 was 22.15%. For new credit card uses, the average is 23.79%.

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Consumers opening a new credit card account may face greater rates than the averages for existing accounts. The current LendingTree data on charge card APRs shows that the typical APR with a brand-new charge card offer is 23.79%, with the average card using an APR variety of 20.18% to 27.41%.

The 23.79% average was the same for the second straight month and 3rd in 4. It's the first time given that LendingTree started tracking card rates month-to-month that they went unchanged in back-to-back months. That stability is most likely the result of the Fed leaving rates the same throughout 2026. When the Fed raises or lowers rates, a lot of credit card APRs in the U.S.No matter when the Fed acts next, any motion is likely to be small, meaning credit card APRs would likely stay raised by historic standards. And as the chart listed below programs, APRs can vary considerably by card type. Source: LendingTree evaluation of openly readily available conditions for about 220 U.S.Of course, your finest move is to make those rates of interest a moot point by paying your card financial obligation completely, however that's often easier stated than done. Just 2.92% of Americans' outstanding credit card balances were at least one month delinquent in the very first quarter of 2026. According to the most current delinquency data from the Fed, the 30-day delinquency rate the share of outstanding charge card balances that were at least 30 days past due dipped to 2.92% in the very first quarter of 2026, the seventh straight quarterly decline.