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Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

The Growing Burden of Student Debt

About one out of five (19%) of the nation’s households owed student debt in 2010, more than double the share two decades earlier and a significant rise from the 15% that owed such debt in 2007, just prior to the onset of the Great Recession. The Pew Research analysis also found a record 40% of all households headed by someone younger than age 35 owe such debt, by far the highest share among any age group.

The percentage of U.S. households that owed student debt in 2010 more than doubled from two decades earlier. In 2007, just prior to the onset of the Great Recession, 15% of households owed such debt. Read the report