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A version of this article first appeared in \u2033CNBC’s Money 101 Newsletter with Sharon Epperson,\u2033 an eight-week series with monthly updates to help improve your financial well-being. Subscribe now<\/a> to receive the series in your inbox. It is also available in Spanish<\/a>.<\/p>\n Consumer spending<\/a> has helped keep the U.S. economy resilient. Yet research shows debt payments<\/a> are taking a growing bite out of Americans’ income gains, leaving less money available to spend or save.<\/p>\n A new analysis<\/a> by the nonpartisan think tank The Century Foundation and the consumer advocacy group Protect Borrowers found that a typical U.S. household’s estimated real take-home monthly pay rose $109 from late 2022 to early 2026. “Real” take-home pay is one’s wage after accounting for inflation. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, a worker’s monthly debt payments rose $57.\u00a0<\/p>\n In other words, researchers estimate that for a one-earner household, 52 cents of every dollar of income gained in recent years goes to higher debt payments. For a two-earner household, they project that the entire real income gain,\u00a0and then some, goes toward debt.\u00a0<\/p>\n The analysis also found inflation-adjusted debt payments rose nearly 15% over roughly three years \u2014 about eight times as fast as household income, which grew less than 2%.<\/p>\n Household debt squeeze<\/p>\n A shopper looks for items in a department store in Miami, Florida, Oct. 14, 2026.<\/p>\n Joe Raedle | Getty Images News | Getty Images<\/p>\n The Century Foundation and Protect Borrowers analyzed credit records for millions of working-age Americans ages 25 to 64, along with Census Bureau income data. The research includes payments on credit cards, auto loans<\/a> and leases, student loans<\/a> and home equity lines of credit. It excludes mortgages<\/a> and some other borrowing, including many buy now, pay later loans<\/a> and medical payment plans.<\/p>\n Angela Hanks, chief of policy programs at The Century Foundation, said the findings may understate the financial pressure households face.<\/p>\n “Even though it shows that workers’ wages are getting eaten up by debt payments at a tremendous level,” Hanks said, the findings represent “perhaps the rosiest analysis that we could have done using the data.”\u00a0<\/p>\n She said adding mortgage payments as well as installment loans not included in a credit file \u2014 like buy now, pay later and payday loans \u2014 would have made household debt payments higher.<\/p>\n More from Your Money:<\/p>\n Here’s a look at more stories on how to manage, grow and protect your money for the years ahead.<\/p>\n More consumers are relying on credit cards to cover basic expenses<\/a> when their paychecks fall short, she said.<\/p>\n Separate Federal Reserve data underscores the strain. The Fed’s latest Survey of Consumer Finances<\/a> found 8.6% of families spent more than 40% of their income on debt payments in 2025, up from 6.5% in 2022 \u2014 a level not seen since the 2013 survey.<\/p>\n
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