Enhanced Financial Accounts: Household Debt

Board of Governors

A growing body of research documents the importance of household debt to the Great Recession and subsequent sluggish recovery. Notably, counties in which households were heavily indebted relative to their income at the beginning of the downturn experienced sharper declines in consumption expenditure and employment. The tables and interactive maps allow users to explore the ratio of debt to income by state, metropolitan statistical area, and county for each year since 1999.