Original research · New York Fed data
Auto loan debt by state, 2026
How much car loan debt the average adult carries in every state, how fast it has grown since 2019, and where borrowers are falling behind. Compiled from the New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel, data through Q4 2025.
Published September 20, 2026 · Download the CSV · How to cite
Key findings
$5,660
Auto loan debt per adult nationally at the end of Q4 2025, -0.4% in a year and +16.7% since the end of 2019.
$8,000
Texas carries the highest balance per adult. Louisiana ($7,000) and New Mexico ($7,000) follow.
$3,350
District of Columbia has the lowest, 58% below Texas. Hawaii and Massachusetts are next lowest.
5.2%
Share of auto loan balances 90+ days delinquent nationally, against 4.9% at the end of 2019. District of Columbia is highest at 13.6%.
+28.1%
West Virginia saw the fastest growth in auto debt since 2019. Mississippi and Maine were next at +28.0% and +25.5%.
23 of 51
States (plus DC) above the national per-adult figure.
Auto loan debt per adult, every state ranked
Balance per adult with a credit file at the end of Q4 2025. The dashed line marks the national figure of $5,660.
Full table: balances, growth and delinquency by state
Click a column header to sort. Share of auto loan balances 90+ days delinquent.
| # | State | Per adult, Q4 2025 | vs 2024 | vs 2019 | Seriously delinquent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | $8,000 | +1.0% | +16.3% | 5.8% |
| 2 | Louisiana | $7,000 | +1.6% | +17.6% | 6.5% |
| 3 | New Mexico | $7,000 | +3.2% | +23.0% | 6.1% |
| 4 | Mississippi | $6,680 | +3.2% | +28.0% | 7.7% |
| 5 | West Virginia | $6,650 | +5.2% | +28.1% | 5.3% |
| 6 | North Dakota | $6,640 | +0.2% | +20.1% | 2.9% |
| 7 | Florida | $6,570 | +0.2% | +22.1% | 5.5% |
| 8 | Georgia | $6,490 | -0.6% | +15.1% | 7.0% |
| 9 | Arkansas | $6,420 | +1.4% | +16.3% | 5.6% |
| 10 | Alabama | $6,370 | +2.4% | +23.7% | 6.5% |
| 11 | Oklahoma | $6,370 | +1.6% | +15.6% | 5.5% |
| 12 | Nevada | $6,230 | 0.0% | +15.2% | 6.2% |
| 13 | Arizona | $6,130 | 0.0% | +14.6% | 5.6% |
| 14 | Vermont | $6,110 | -0.5% | +16.4% | 2.8% |
| 15 | South Carolina | $6,050 | +2.0% | +21.0% | 6.2% |
| 16 | Utah | $6,030 | -0.7% | +12.3% | 3.0% |
| 17 | North Carolina | $5,980 | -0.5% | +14.3% | 6.1% |
| 18 | New Hampshire | $5,930 | -2.8% | +6.7% | 3.0% |
| 19 | Maine | $5,860 | +1.0% | +25.5% | 3.1% |
| 20 | Maryland | $5,850 | -2.5% | +7.7% | 6.0% |
| 21 | Tennessee | $5,810 | +0.3% | +21.5% | 5.7% |
| 22 | Alaska | $5,790 | -0.3% | +16.7% | 2.9% |
| 23 | Idaho | $5,670 | +1.1% | +19.1% | 3.3% |
| 24 | Delaware | $5,650 | -0.5% | +12.1% | 6.1% |
| 25 | Virginia | $5,560 | -1.2% | +13.5% | 4.6% |
| 26 | Wyoming | $5,430 | -0.7% | +0.7% | 3.5% |
| 27 | Ohio | $5,410 | +0.4% | +17.9% | 5.3% |
| 28 | South Dakota | $5,370 | -2.9% | +16.5% | 3.6% |
| 29 | Colorado | $5,340 | -2.7% | +10.1% | 4.0% |
| 30 | Indiana | $5,220 | -1.3% | +17.0% | 6.3% |
| 31 | California | $5,210 | -3.0% | +10.6% | 4.8% |
| 32 | Missouri | $5,150 | +1.8% | +15.5% | 5.5% |
| 33 | Iowa | $5,130 | -1.2% | +10.8% | 3.5% |
| 34 | Kentucky | $5,080 | +1.6% | +23.3% | 4.9% |
| 35 | Montana | $4,990 | +0.8% | +15.0% | 4.0% |
| 36 | Michigan | $4,960 | -0.8% | +24.6% | 6.3% |
| 37 | Nebraska | $4,960 | -1.4% | +16.7% | 3.3% |
| 38 | Kansas | $4,930 | +0.8% | +17.7% | 4.0% |
| 39 | Illinois | $4,880 | -1.2% | +11.9% | 5.6% |
| 40 | New Jersey | $4,860 | -4.5% | +16.8% | 4.2% |
| 41 | Pennsylvania | $4,850 | -0.8% | +12.5% | 4.8% |
| 42 | Washington | $4,810 | -2.4% | +7.6% | 3.8% |
| 43 | Minnesota | $4,570 | -2.6% | +8.3% | 3.0% |
| 44 | Wisconsin | $4,560 | -0.2% | +14.0% | 3.6% |
| 45 | Connecticut | $4,460 | -1.3% | +18.6% | 3.1% |
| 46 | Rhode Island | $4,380 | -9.1% | +10.3% | 3.5% |
| 47 | Oregon | $4,360 | +2.1% | +8.7% | 3.6% |
| 48 | New York | $4,320 | -3.1% | +14.3% | 4.3% |
| 49 | Massachusetts | $4,310 | +0.5% | +8.0% | 2.6% |
| 50 | Hawaii | $3,990 | -2.4% | +1.8% | 3.7% |
| 51 | District of Columbia | $3,350 | -6.4% | +8.4% | 13.6% |
| United States | $5,660 | -0.4% | +16.7% | 5.2% |
Source: New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel/Equifax, Q4 2025. Per adult with a credit file. Compiled by Smart Debt Relief; not affiliated with or endorsed by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Where auto debt is growing fastest
Nationally, auto loan debt per adult moved +16.7% between the end of 2019 and the end of 2025. The fastest growth: West Virginia (+28.1%), Mississippi (+28.0%), Maine (+25.5%), Michigan (+24.6%) and Alabama (+23.7%). The slowest: Wyoming (+0.7%), Hawaii (+1.8%) and New Hampshire (+6.7%).
Over the most recent year alone, West Virginia (+5.2%), Mississippi (+3.2%) and New Mexico (+3.2%) moved most, against a national -0.4%.
Auto debt tracks how far people drive and how new the vehicles are. Large, car-dependent states with long commutes lead the table; dense states with transit and the District of Columbia sit at the bottom.
Vehicle prices rose sharply between 2020 and 2023, so the growth since 2019 reflects more expensive cars financed over longer terms as much as more cars. Serious delinquency has risen with it, concentrated in the same Sun Belt states that lead on credit card delinquency.
Where people are falling behind
Share of auto loan balances 90+ days delinquent stood at 5.2% nationally at the end of 2025, against 4.9% at the end of 2019. The five highest:
- District of Columbia: 13.6% (balance per adult $3,350, rank 51 by balance)
- Mississippi: 7.7% (balance per adult $6,680, rank 4 by balance)
- Georgia: 7.0% (balance per adult $6,490, rank 8 by balance)
- Alabama: 6.5% (balance per adult $6,370, rank 10 by balance)
- Louisiana: 6.5% (balance per adult $7,000, rank 2 by balance)
The five lowest:
- Massachusetts: 2.6%
- Vermont: 2.8%
- North Dakota: 2.9%
- Alaska: 2.9%
- Utah: 3.0%
What per-adult figures do and do not mean
These numbers divide total auto loan debt in each state by the number of adults with an Equifax credit file, including people who carry none. That makes them a good measure of a state's overall debt load, but they understate what an individual borrower typically owes.
Related on this site: Debt consolidation loans: the complete guide · Debt-to-income calculator · How to get out of debt.
Methodology
- Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Center for Microeconomic Data, "State Level Household Debt Statistics 2003-2025", published February 2026, sheet auto / auto_delinq, based on the New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel/Equifax.
- Per adult means per person aged 18 or older with an Equifax credit file, as defined by the source. Puerto Rico and US territories are excluded by the source.
- Balances are as of Q4 of each year. Year-over-year change compares Q4 2025 with Q4 2024; change since 2019 compares Q4 2025 with Q4 2019.
- Delinquency is the percentage of outstanding balance 90 or more days past due, as reported by the source.
- Rankings and percentage changes were computed by Smart Debt Relief from the source tables. State totals in the source may differ slightly from the New York Fed's Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit because of sampling variation.
Use this data
The underlying figures are published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and remain its data; we are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Bank. Our own contribution (the compilation, the computed changes and rankings, the charts and the commentary) is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence, so you can reuse the compiled table, charts and CSV with a link to this page and the source line below. Suggested citation:
Source: New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel/Equifax, State Level Household Debt Statistics 2003-2025 (February 2026), Q4 2025 figures. Compiled by Smart Debt Relief, "Auto Loan Debt by State, 2026", https://smartdebtrelief.org/research/auto-loan-debt-by-state/. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Download the CSV. For questions about the compilation, email help@smartdebtrelief.org.
Frequently asked questions
Which state has the highest auto loan debt?
Texas has the highest auto loan debt per adult at $8,000, followed by Louisiana ($7,000) and New Mexico ($7,000). The national figure is $5,660.
Which state has the lowest auto loan debt?
District of Columbia has the lowest at $3,350 per adult, about 58% below Texas.
What is the average auto loan debt in the US?
Across all adults with a credit file, auto loan debt averaged $5,660 at the end of Q4 2025, -0.4% on a year earlier and +16.7% against the end of 2019. This is a per-adult figure that includes people with no auto debt at all, so the average among borrowers is higher.
Where are people most behind on auto debt?
District of Columbia has the highest share of auto loan debt balances seriously delinquent at 13.6%, followed by Mississippi (7.7%) and Georgia (7.0%). The national rate is 5.2%, against 4.9% at the end of 2019.
Where does this data come from?
All figures are from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Consumer Credit Panel, a nationally representative sample of Equifax credit files, published as "State Level Household Debt Statistics 2003-2025" in February 2026. We compiled the tables, computed the changes and rankings, and publish the result as a CSV you can reuse with attribution. We are not affiliated with the Bank.