By the numbers
Consumer debt owed by Wisconsinites is reaching all-time highs in nominal terms.
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Wisconsinites’ debt reached $49,210 per person in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Mortgages made up the bulk of that debt, at $33,260 per capita. Student loans were the second-largest category, at $4,600, followed by auto debt at $4,560 and credit card debt at $3,400. The remainder fell under categories which were not reported separately, such as home equity lines of credit.
Nominal figures mask the effect of inflation, though: As the money supply, prices and wages have risen, debtors repay with dollars that are worth less, making for lower real-dollar debt burdens. Adjusted for inflation using the personal consumption expenditures index, Wisconsin consumer debt peaked in 2008, declined through 2017, held roughly steady through 2019, ticked up in 2020, then fell substantially again through 2025.
Lower real debt loads have not translated into better repayment, however. Delinquency rates, defined as percentage of debts that are 90 or more days past due, have been climbing. Credit card delinquency rose from about 4.9 percent in 2022 to 8 percent in 2025, while auto delinquency climbed from 2.5 percent to 3.6 percent over the same span.
The remarkable drop in the student loan delinquency rate, falling from 8.9 percent in 2019 to just 0.65 percent in 2022, was the result of the Biden administration’s pause of federal repayment obligations. After the Trump administration restarted repayment, delinquency jumped from 0.4 percent in 2024 to 4.3 percent in 2025.
Wyatt Eichholz is a policy and legislative associate at the Badger Institute.
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