101 Student Loan Debt Statistics You Need To Know In 2023
DealAid curates student loan debt statistics in the United States from government data, non-profit organizations and other sources. You will find key statistics for student loan debt below. Please refer to the footnotes for original data sources.
*This resource will be updated regularly when more data becomes available. All data is currently presented as of Q4, 2022.
Skip to: Key Takeaways | Forgiveness & Repayment | By State | By Race | By Age | By Gender | By Degree | Data Sources |
Key Student Loan Debt Statistics
- Total student loan debt in America is $1.76 trillion.
- Student loan debt accounts for 39% of all non-housing debt in US.
- Total student loan debt increased by 1.6% in 2022 versus 2021.
- Federal student loan balance accounts for $1.63 trillion or 91.9% of all student loan debt.
- Private student loans account for $130 billion or 8.1% of all student loan debt.
- There are more than 45 million student loan borrowers in the US.
- Borrowers have an average of $37,471 in federal student loan debt.
- Black and African American graduates have an average of $25,000 more student loan debt than White graduates.
- 15% of all adults in America have undergraduate student loan debt while 7% have graduate student loan debt.
- 24% of Americans who received student loans have paid off the loans completely.
- Student loans accounted for 29% of all funding received by undergraduate students and 66% of all funding received by graduate students in 2021-2022 year.
- 46% or $749.8 billion of federal student loan debt is held by 10% of all borrowers owing more than $80,000.
- 14.3 million or 33% of federal student loan borrowers owe less than $10,000.
- 59% of federal student loan borrowers were in forbearance as a result of CARES Act in 2022.
- The average balance of federal student loans in forbearance was $41,200 and accounted for $1.05 trillion in outstanding federal student loans.
- 6.8 million of federal student loan borrowers or $146.8 billion in loans were in default last year.
- Average Pell Grant award was $4,166 and 34% of undergraduate students received Pell Grants in 2022.
- Federal student loans have interest rates of 4.99% – 7.54%.
- Private student loans have interest rates of 4% – 15%.
Student Loan Forgiveness & Repayment
- $29.3 billion in federal student loan debt was forgiven for 1.4 million borrowers via five different programs as of October 2022.
- $14.9 billion in federal student loan debt was forgiven for 233,000 borrowers through the Public Loan Service Forgiveness (PLSF) program.
- The average discharged loan amount through the PLSF program was $63,826 – the highest among all forgiveness programs.
- $6.5 billion in federal student loan debt was forgiven for 360,000 borrowers through the Total and Permanent Disability discharge program.
- $3.7 billion in federal student loan debt was forgiven for 433,500 borrowers through the Teacher Loan Forgiveness program.
- $2.4 billion in federal student loan debt was forgiven for 174,600 borrowers through the Borrower Defense To Loan Payment program.
- President Biden’s proposed student loan forgiveness plan could potentially discharge up to $500 billion in total federal student loan debt and up to $20,000 per borrower.
- Up to 43 million student loan borrowers could be eligible for President Biden’s proposed forgiveness act.
- Under President Biden’s proposed forgiveness plan, 87% of allocated forgiveness funds will go towards borrowers in repayment that make <$75,000 annually.
- 31% of Americans oppose student loan debt cancellation while 47% support student loan debt cancellation.
- 93% of Pell Grants went to student from families that earn <$60,000.
- 25.7 million of federal student loan borrowers were in forbearance in the last year.
- Average student loan borrower takes 20 years to repay their student loans.
- Average cost of servicing student loan debt over 20 years is $26,000 and represents 67.1% of total amount paid at 6% interest.
- Most repayment plans require 10% of discretionary income to go towards student loan payments.
- Average student loan payment for associate degree holders is $333 per month.
- Average student payment for bachelor degree holders is $448 per month.
- Average student loan payment for master’s degree holders is $695 per month.
- Average student loan payment for doctorate degree holders is $1210 per month.
- Average student loan payment for professional degree holders is $1537 per month.
Student Loan Debt By State
- District Of Columbia has the highest average student loan debt of $54,668 per borrower.
- 17.2% of adults in District Of Columbia have student loan debt.
- District Of Columbia also had the highest average student loan debt forgiven of $80,952 through the Public Loan Service Forgiveness program.
- North Dakota has the lowest average student loan debt of $29,083 per borrower.
- California has the highest number of student loan borrowers at 3.98 million and the most student loan debt outstanding in the amount of $148.2 billion.
- Wyoming has the lowest number of student loan borrowers at 55.5 thousand and the least student loan debt outstanding in the amount of $1.7 billion.
- Adults aged 25-34 represent the biggest age group with federal student loans in every state except DC and Puerto Rico.
- In most states, borrowers between 35-49 years old have the highest average and total student loan debt.
- California had the most Pell Grant recipients of 938,931 in 2022.
- Arkansas had the highest average Pell Grant award of $5,047.
Student Loan Debt By Race
- 54% or $950 billion of student loan debt is held by White borrowers.
- Black and African American graduates have an average of $25,000 more student loan debt than white Americans who have graduated.
- 70% of White borrowers have student loan debt.
- 59% of Asian borrowers have student loan debt.
- 67% of Hispanic borrowers have student loan debt.
- Average student loan debt held by Black and African American borrowers is $52,000.
- Average student loan debt held by White borrowers is $27,000.
- 62.5% of Asian borrowers take out less than $10,000 to pay for undergraduate degrees.
- Mixed Race borrowers have the lowest monthly student loan payments of $177.
- 40% of Black and African American borrowers who completed graduate school have student loan debt.
- 22% of White borrowers who completed graduate school have student loan debt.
- Student loan forgiveness can increase total wealth of Black and African American borrowers by up to 40%.
- American Indian borrowers received the lowest average loan amount of $9,400 among all races.
Student Loan Debt By Age
- 34.3% or $604 billion of all student loan debt is owed by Americans under 30.
- 49.3% or $868 billion of all student loan debt is owed by Americans between 30 and 44 years old.
- 49% of adults under 30 who completed an undergraduate degree have student loan debt.
- Borrowers under 24 years of age have an average student loan debt of $16,500.
- 5.3% or 2.8 million of adults over 60 have student loan debt.
- Millennials have the highest average student loan debt of $40,200.
- Generation X have an average student loan debt of $39,700.
- Baby Boomers have an average student loan debt of $35,400.
- Gen Z have an average student loan debt of $16,500.
- Student loan debt among 35-49 age bracket has increased by 18% since 2017 and has an average of $43,208 per borrower.
- Student loan debt among 50-61 age bracket has increase by 25.6% since 2017 and has an average of $40,750 per borrower.
Student Loan Debt By Gender
- 58% or $1.02 trillion of student loan debt is held by women.
- LGBTQ+ borrowers have an average of $16,000 more student loan debt than their peers.
- Women take an average of two more years to pay off their student loan debt than men.
- 55.9% of male college students received federal student loans.
- 67.2% of female college student received federal student loans.
- Black and African American women have the highest average student loan debt of $37,600 among women.
- Asian women have the lowest average student loan debt of $25,300 among women.
- In the first 12 years of repayment, average student loan debt of White men drops by 44%.
- In the first 12 years of repayment, average student loan debt of Black and African American women rises by 13%.
- In the first 12 years of repayment, average student loan debt of White women drops by 28%.
- Gender minority students borrow an average of 10.2% more in student loans than their peers.
Student Loan Debt By Degree Level & Type
- Bachelor’s degree holders have an average federal student loan debt of $32,300.
- Associate degree holders have an average federal student loan debt of $20,100.
- Graduate degree holders have an average federal student loan debt of $82,810.
- Medical school graduates have an average of $203,000 in student loan debt.
- Dental school graduates have an average of $301,600 in student loan debt.
- Law school graduates have an average of $130,000 in student loan debt.
- Veterinary school graduates have an average of $147,000 in student loan debt.
- 81% of Doctors of Medicine have graduate student loan debt and 80% have undergraduate student loan debt.
- 74.5% of Professional Doctorates holders have graduate student loan debt and 73.5% have undergraduate student loan debt.
- 60% of Master’s Degree holders have graduate student loan debt and 52.8% have undergraduate student loan debt.
- Pharma related Doctorate Degree holders have the highest average student loan debt among doctorate graduates with a median of $310,330.
- 4.3% or $75.7 billion of student loans are owed by Juris Doctorate or Doctorates in Law graduates which is the highest share among any professional and graduate degrees.
- 4.2% or $73.9 billion of student loans are owed by Master Of Business Administration (MBA) graduates which is the highest share among any Master’s graduates.
- Behavioral Science related Bachelor Degree holders have the highest average student loan debt among Bachelor’s graduates with a median of $42,820.
- 3.7% or $65 billion of student loans are owed by Bachelor Of Business Administration graduates which is the highest share among any bachelor degrees.
Data Sources
- Federal Reserve. Consumer Credit.
- Federal Reserve Bank Of New York. Center For Microeconomic Data.
- College Board. Trends In Student Aid.
- GoBankingRates. Student loan interest rates in 2023.
- White House. FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces Student Loan Relief for Borrower.
- Brookings University. Does Biden’s student debt forgiveness achieve his stated goals?
- Federal Student Aid. Federal Pell Grants are usually awarded only to undergraduate students.
- NCES. Financial Aid: What is the percent of undergraduate students awarded Pell grants?
- CBPP. Pell Grants - a Key Tool for Expanding College Access and Economic Opportunity.
- Federal Student Aid. Student Loan Forgiveness.
- Federal Student Aid. COVID-19 Emergency Relief and Federal Student Aid.
- Federal Student Aid. Federal Student Aid Forms.
- US Bureau Of Labor Statistics. Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey.
- Federal Student Aid. Loan Forgiveness Reports.
- Ed Trust. How black borrowers experience student loans.
- NCES. Digest of Education Statistics.
- Federal Reserve. Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households.
- Pew Research Center. 5 facts about student loans.
- New America. Student Loan History.