Your household’s debt, next to the government’s
The same ratio, measured the same way: what is owed against a year of income. Enter yours to see where it stands — and what the federal number looks like beside it.
US median household: $87,460
You owe 327% of a year’s income. The federal government owes 766% of a year’s revenue.
| What you owe | Amount | Share of your debt | Share of a year’s income |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mortgage | $240,000 | 83.9% | 274% |
| Car loans | $22,000 | 7.7% | 25% |
| Student loans | $18,000 | 6.3% | 21% |
| Credit cards | $6,000 | 2.1% | 7% |
| Total | $286,000 | 100% | 327% |
The two ratios are not the same thing. A household has to repay in a currency it cannot create, from an income that stops at retirement. The government borrows in the currency it issues, has no end date and is usually measured against the whole economy, where the same debt is 130.3% of GDP. The comparison shows scale, not equivalence.
Educational estimate, not financial advice. Everything is calculated in your browser — nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
How this calculator works
Your ratio is total debt divided by gross yearly income. The payment ratio is twelve monthly payments divided by the same income, which is the figure a lender checks.
The federal ratio is the Treasury’s total public debt against federal revenue in fiscal year 2025, from the Monthly Treasury Statement. The usual public measure is debt to GDP, which compares the debt to the whole economy rather than to the government’s income; both appear on this site, and they answer different questions.
Common questions
What is a good debt-to-income ratio?
Lenders usually want the monthly payments on all your debts to stay under about 36% of gross monthly income, with housing alone under roughly 28%. Total debt against a year of income is a different measure: a household with a new mortgage can easily owe three or four times its income and still be comfortable, because the loan runs for decades.
How does the federal government compare?
It owes $40.09 trillion against $5.23 trillion of yearly revenue — 766% of a year's income, in household terms. Of that revenue, 18.5% went on interest in fiscal year 2025.
Is it fair to compare a household with a government?
Only for scale. A government that borrows in its own currency never has to repay everything at once, has no retirement date and is measured against the whole economy rather than one salary. A household has none of that. The ratio is the same arithmetic; the consequences are not the same.
Which debts should I count?
Everything you owe: mortgage, car loans, student loans, card balances and anything else. Use the balance outstanding, not the original amount, and use gross income — before tax — so the ratio matches the way lenders calculate it.
Sources
- Total public debt outstandingUS Treasury — Debt to the PennySeptember 17, 2026
- Federal revenue and net interest, FY2025US Treasury — Monthly Treasury StatementSeptember 30, 2025
- Median household incomeUS Census Bureau — Historical Income Tables, Table H-5 (all races), current dollars2025
All figures are fetched from the publishers above when this site is built; your browser does not contact them. This site is independent and is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by the Federal Reserve System, any Federal Reserve Bank or any government agency. Nothing here is financial advice.