{"definition":"Annual average of four seasonally adjusted quarterly ratios of required aggregate debt payments to disposable personal income, old Fed methodology. It is a ratio of national aggregates, not a median household or an age-specific estimate.","finding":"The national historical debt-service ratio rises from 1989 to 2007 and falls by 2022. This supports checking a lower 2022 payment burden for plausibility, not equating cohort levels or proving a generational advantage.","method_boundary":"Use the archived historical methodology consistently in 1989, 2007 and 2022. The newer credit-bureau-based methodology begins in 2005 and is not spliced into this comparison.","retrieved":"2026-09-22","source_sha256":"739b665e4c8e44a243d6e5d88c014a34ee1cd0b5e70ab5a6308f3e3b635f1285","source_url":"https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/housedebt/","years":[{"consumer":5.83,"mortgage":5.895,"quarters":[{"consumer":5.82,"mortgage":5.76,"quarter":"1989:1","total":11.58},{"consumer":5.88,"mortgage":5.87,"quarter":"1989:2","total":11.75},{"consumer":5.85,"mortgage":5.96,"quarter":"1989:3","total":11.81},{"consumer":5.77,"mortgage":5.99,"quarter":"1989:4","total":11.76}],"total":11.725,"year":1989},{"consumer":5.998,"mortgage":7.13,"quarters":[{"consumer":5.96,"mortgage":7.05,"quarter":"2007:1","total":13.01},{"consumer":5.98,"mortgage":7.07,"quarter":"2007:2","total":13.05},{"consumer":6.01,"mortgage":7.15,"quarter":"2007:3","total":13.16},{"consumer":6.04,"mortgage":7.25,"quarter":"2007:4","total":13.29}],"total":13.127,"year":2007},{"consumer":5.838,"mortgage":3.975,"quarters":[{"consumer":5.78,"mortgage":3.94,"quarter":"2022:1","total":9.72},{"consumer":5.84,"mortgage":3.96,"quarter":"2022:2","total":9.8},{"consumer":5.85,"mortgage":3.99,"quarter":"2022:3","total":9.84},{"consumer":5.88,"mortgage":4.01,"quarter":"2022:4","total":9.89}],"total":9.812,"year":2022}]}