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Student-Loan Borrowers, by Age Group, Amount Owed, and Repayment Status, 2017

Almanac 2018

August 19, 2018

More than 44.7 million people, or 14 percent of the population of the United States, owed money on student loans at the end of 2017. Nearly two-thirds of those borrowers owed $25,000 or less. But the total of $1.4 trillion of student-loan debt remains a concern. Only 37 percent of student-loan borrowers were managing to pay down their debt from the previous quarter at the end of 2017, while nearly 5 percent were at least 90 days delinquent in repayment, and almost 11 percent were in default.

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Borrowers, by age group

Age group	Number	Percentage of all borrowers
Under 30	16,778,200	37.5%
30-39	12,289,200	27.5%
40-49	7,284,400	16.3%
50-59	5,188,500	11.6%
60+	3,162,400	7.1%
Total	44,702,700	100.0%

Debt, by age group

Age group	Amount owed	Percentage of all owed
Under 30	$383,814,700,000	27.7%
30-39	$461,032,900,000	33.3%
40-49	$278,918,300,000	20.1%
50-59	$177,170,000,000	12.8%
60+	$85,445,350,000	6.2%
Total	$1,386,381,250,000	100.0%

Distribution of borrowers by balance owed

Amount	Number of borrowers	Percentage of all borrowers
$1-$5,000	8,547,500	19.1%
$5,001-$10,000	7,425,400	16.6%
$10,001-$25,000	12,277,200	27.5%
$25,001-$50,000	8,609,700	19.3%
$50,001- $75,000	3,681,000	8.2%
$75,001- $100,000	1,612,600	3.6%
$100,001-$150,000	1,347,400	3.0%
$150,001-$200,000	604,900	1.4%
$200,000+	609,800	1.4%
Total	44,715,500	100.0%

Repayment status

Status	Number of borrowers	Percentage of all borrowers
Current, with balance lower than previous quarter	16,551,100	37.0%
Current, with balance same or higher than previous quarter	21,256,400	47.5%
90 or more days delinquent	2,090,400	4.7%
Default	4,817,400	10.8%
Total	44,715,300	100.0%

Note: Figures are from the fourth quarter of 2017. The number of total borrowers varies in each section because the components are rounded. To determine repayment status, the balance is compared with that of the previous quarter. Repayments that are 30 to 60 days late are underreported as delinquent by lenders, and so they are classified as current. More data are available here. Questions or comments on the Almanac should be sent to the Almanac editor.

Source: Chronicle analysis of data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Consumer Credit Panel/Equifax</small></p>