To have and to hold: An analysis of young adult debt

Abstract

Today's young adults often have been characterized as a generation of borrowers. But are they any different from past generations, or the current generation of adults, in the amount of debt they carry?In this Issue Brief Ngina Chiteji takes a careful look at debt in young adulthood, finding that, contrary to popular perception, most of today's young adults are not carrying an unusual or excessive amount of debt, at least not by historical standards or given their time in life, just starting out. The fraction of indebted young adult households age 25 to 34 has barely changed in 40 years, and while, in general, young households carry more debt than the population at large, this is consistent with the predictions of economic theory and most young adults appear to have manageable debt loads.