2004 Federal Reserve survey on credit cards

The 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances from the Federal Reserve gives a snapshot of American household on credit card.

	2004	2001
Carrying a balance	46.2%	44.4%
Average balance	$5,100	$4,400
Median balance	$2,200	$2,000

This table shown American households are carrying higher balances. The average income of American household is currently $43,200 and the typical household's credit card balance is now almost 5% of their annual income.

But the survey is not a completely discouraging picture for American households.

While 74.9% of all households have a credit card, 42% of this group of households pays off their card each month.