Evidence
Card balances among adults finding it difficult to get by
Who should skip this. Readers who need a this-month card action. Use the growing-balance path instead.
Layer: Evidence · Last reviewed: September 29, 2026 · Card ID: EV-SHED-CC-WELLBEING-2025
Plain title
Average credit-card balance change, 2023 to 2025, among SHED respondents with cards who said they were “finding it difficult to get by”
The number
+$2,530
That is a 37 percent rise, from $6,735 in 2023 to $9,265 in 2025.
The contrast number on the same table: adults who said they were “living comfortably” saw +$59 (1 percent).
The overall matched-sample average rose +$748 (11 percent), from $6,531 to $7,279.
Date and source
- Survey: Federal Reserve Board, Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), 2025
- Field period: October 2025
- Report: *Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025*, Credit chapter, Table A
- PDF:
- Method: survey answers matched to credit-record balances. The Fed states the matched file does not include names, addresses, or account numbers.
Exact definition
Table A is limited to SHED respondents who:
- had credit cards, and
- consented to matching their survey answers to credit-record data.
Financial well-being is the person’s 2025 answer to the standard SHED current-situation question. Average card balances for that same person are compared in 2023 and 2025.
The four labels, with the share of *all* adults in the 2025 SHED (not only the matched cardholders):
- Living comfortably — 34 percent of adults
- Doing okay — 39 percent
- Just getting by — 19 percent
- Finding it difficult to get by — 8 percent
“Doing okay” plus “living comfortably” is the familiar 73 percent headline. Table A is not that headline. It is card balances inside each label.
Who is in the number, who is not
Full Table A (dollars, matched cardholders):
| 2025 well-being | 2023 balance | 2025 balance | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finding it difficult to get by | 6,735 | 9,265 | +2,530 |
| Just getting by | 6,782 | 8,581 | +1,799 |
| Doing okay | 6,668 | 7,308 | +640 |
| Living comfortably | 6,248 | 6,307 | +59 |
| Overall matched sample | 6,531 | 7,279 | +748 |
The Fed also reports *shares of total balance growth*:
- “Finding it difficult” plus “just getting by” accounted for 65 percent of card-balance growth in the 2025 matched comparison.
- In the 2023 and 2024 surveys that combined share was about 40 percent.
- “Living comfortably” accounted for about one-fourth of growth in those earlier comparisons, and 3 percent in 2025.
Not in the $2,530 figure:
- People without cards
- People who did not consent to the credit match
- A national total of all revolving debt at the New York Fed
- Pulse “unmanageable debt,” which is a household feeling question, not a matched balance
What changed since the last release
The concentration is the change. The Fed writes that card balances had risen before, but the extent to which growth sat among people already reporting hardship is new in the 2025 match.
What this does not prove
- It does not prove that every person who is “finding it difficult to get by” added $2,530. It is a group average.
- It does not prove the extra balance came only from new spending. Interest, fees, and fewer paydowns can move the same number.
- It does not tell you your APR or your minimum payment.
- It does not rank issuers.
What to read next
- Start here: My credit card balance is growing
- Playbook: Why the minimum payment keeps a card balance alive
- Foundation: The $400 test
- Evidence: Did not pay all bills in full last month
- Evidence: Households with unmanageable debt
FourHundred is an education tool. It is not personalized financial, tax, or legal advice. Evidence cards change when the source changes, not when headlines want a new take.