Average Monthly Debt Payments Throughout the U.S.

When it comes to monthly expenses, consumers spend a good chunk of their income paying down debt: an average monthly total of $1,233, a LendingTree study found.

To better understand which debts are weighing down Americans the most, the LendingTree research team compiled data from anonymized reports of over 585,000 LendingTree accountholders. They determined how much the average American pays toward different kinds of debt each month across the U.S.

The average monthly debt payment across all Americans
The average monthly debt payment by state
Methodology

The average monthly debt payment across all Americans

*The average amount paid towards credit cards in the previous month. Unlike the set installment payments for most loans, revolving credit lines have no fixed monthly payment.

Note: Average monthly payments for each debt type do not add up the average total monthly payments per person because not everyone has every or any type of debt. The value for joint accounts was halved for individual debtors to reflect shared responsibility for the payment.

Americans pay $1,233 toward debt each month, on average. The three biggest monthly payments are mortgages ($1,255), car payments ($493) and personal loans ($458).

Not all Americans have a mortgage — or every type of debt, for that matter — which is why the average monthly mortgage payment is higher than the average total monthly payment. Keep in mind that although those who don’t have a mortgage will have other debt payments, they’ll also likely pay rent, which is not accounted for here.

The average monthly debt payment by state

As expected, average monthly debt payments are higher in areas with pricey home values and higher costs of living, such as Washington state ($1,812), New Jersey ($1,519), Washington, D.C. ($1,457) and Connecticut ($1,434). Surprisingly, though, Utah has the second-highest monthly debt payments of any other state, at $1,573.

Another surprise is New York state ($1,211), which falls just under the $1,233 national average. New York is a big state, and the cost of living in other cities like Buffalo, Albany and Rochester is lower than they are in New York City. Plus, the Big Apple has a high proportion of renters compared with the rest of the country, meaning that people will have less mortgage debt but far higher rental payments than residents in certain other areas.

Three states have monthly debt payments under $1,000: Iowa, Kentucky and West Virginia.

Methodology

LendingTree analysts compiled monthly payment data from February 2020 anonymized credit reports of over 585,000 LendingTree users to determine their total monthly debt payments by state and for the U.S. as a whole.

Analysts also determined the average monthly payments, by state and for the U.S. overall, for people who had active debts in each of the following categories: mortgage, auto, student, personal and other. Because credit cards do not have set monthly payments and lenders do not report variable monthly minimum payments each month, analysts used the average total payments for cards in the previous month. The monthly payment values of joint accounts were halved to avoid double counting shared debt.