What Is the Average Credit Score in America? 2026 Data, State & Age Trends

The average credit score in America was 713 as of September 2025, according to Experian data — a two-point decline from 715 in 2024, and the first annual drop since 2013. That places the national average squarely in the "good" range on the FICO scale (670–739).

Is a 713 Score Actually Good — and What Can You Do With It?

A 713 sits comfortably in the good range, but what that means in practice depends on what you're trying to borrow. Lenders don't use one universal cutoff. They set their own thresholds, and those thresholds shift depending on loan type, lender risk appetite, and current market conditions.

Here's a general picture of where a 713 score typically lands across common financial products:

In practice, a 713 gets you through the door for most products — but borrowers with scores in the 740–800 range consistently receive better interest rates. That gap can add up to thousands of dollars over the life of a mortgage or auto loan. It's the kind of thing that doesn't seem urgent until you're sitting across from a loan officer.

How the National Average Has Shifted Over Time

The 2025 decline is notable not because 713 is a bad score, but because it broke a long streak. The national average climbed steadily from 2013 onward — through the pandemic, through stimulus, through what many called an unusually favorable credit environment. That streak is now over.

Source: Experian annual credit data

Why Did Scores Drop in 2025?

Several things happened at once. Inflation kept housing and transportation costs elevated well beyond wage growth for lower and middle-income households. Unemployment ticked upward — not sharply, but enough to matter.

The SAVE student loan income-based repayment plan ended in 2025, which pushed monthly payments higher for nearly 8 million borrowers and triggered new interest accrual on accounts that had been paused.

Add to that a lending environment where rejection rates hit record highs for mortgages and auto loans, and you get consumers who are either stretched thin or pulling back from credit altogether.

As reported by Bloomberg, 2025 marked the worst year for US consumer credit quality since the global financial crisis, with the average FICO score slipping two points — the steepest decline since 2009.

What's often overlooked is how these pressures hit unevenly. Higher-income households kept spending and building credit. Lower-income households started missing payments. That split shows up clearly in the score distribution data.

The K-Shaped Credit Economy

You may have seen the term "K-shaped economy" floating around financial commentary. The basic idea: after a shared disruption, wealthier households recover and rise, while others fall further behind. Credit score data from 2025 reflects something similar.

The share of Americans with exceptional scores (800–850) hit an all-time high of 22.8%. At the same time, the share with poor scores (300–579) grew from 13.2% to 14.7%. The middle didn't collapse — but it narrowed slightly. Two groups are pulling in opposite directions.

Score Distribution Across All Americans (2025)

Source: Experian, September 2025

Roughly 70% of Americans still fall in the good range or above. That's not a bad headline. But the shift at the lower end — nearly 1.5 percentage points more consumers in the poor range in a single year — is worth watching.

Average Credit Score by State (2026)

There's a clear geographic pattern in US credit scores. States in the Upper Midwest and New England consistently score higher. Southern states consistently score lower. The gap between the highest-scoring state (Minnesota at 741) and the lowest (Mississippi at 677) is 64 points — enough to meaningfully change loan terms.

Why the regional divide? It's not one thing. Income levels, cost of living relative to wages, access to financial products, and historical credit infrastructure all play a role. States with lower median incomes tend to have residents carrying higher credit utilization relative to their limits, which drags scores down over time.

Source: Experian, September of each year

Louisiana and Washington, D.C. saw the steepest declines — four points each. Only Illinois, Maine, and Vermont held flat. No state improved.

Average Credit Score by Age and Generation (2025)

Credit scores and age have a predictable relationship — the longer your credit history and the more types of credit you've managed, the higher your score tends to be. That's not just a rule of thumb; length of credit history and credit mix account for 25% of a FICO score together.

Source: Experian, September 2025; ages as of 2025

Why Younger Generations Declined Most

Gen Z and millennials took the hardest hit in 2025. Both generations carry more student loan debt than older groups, and the end of the SAVE repayment program hit them directly.

They're also less likely to have home equity or savings to absorb financial shocks — which means a job disruption or unexpected bill is more likely to become a missed payment.

According to Fortune, Gen Z is the first cohort facing high inflation, digital credit pressures, and social-media-driven consumption simultaneously — a structural disadvantage that goes beyond simple spending habits.

Why Baby Boomers Bucked the Trend

Baby boomers improved by one point. At first glance that seems counterintuitive given the same economic pressures. But boomers typically have paid-down or fully paid-off mortgages, lower overall credit utilization, and decades of on-time payment history. They're also less likely to be opening new accounts — which means fewer hard inquiries dragging on their scores

How FICO Scores Are Calculated

The average credit score in America is a FICO score — specifically FICO Score 8, the version most widely used in lending decisions. Understanding what goes into it helps explain why two people with similar incomes can have very different scores.

FICO Score Factor Breakdown

Payment history is the single biggest factor — by a wide margin. One missed payment can leave a mark that takes months to fade. Amounts owed is the second lever, and it's the one most people have the most direct control over in the short term.

FICO vs. VantageScore — They're Not the Same

Many free credit score tools — including Chase Credit Journey — use VantageScore 3.0, not FICO. The scores are similar in range (both 300–850) but weighted differently, which means your VantageScore and FICO Score can diverge by 10 to 30 points or more.

When a lender pulls your credit, they're almost certainly using a FICO version — and possibly a specific industry version (like FICO Auto Score 8 for car loans). The number on Credit Karma is useful for tracking direction, but it may not match what your lender sees.

Credit Utilization Across Score Ranges (2025)

Credit utilization — how much of your available revolving credit you're actually using — is the most actionable short-term lever for most people. The national average stayed flat at 29% in 2025, which is just below the commonly cited 30% threshold.

Source: Experian, September 2025

The pattern here is stark. Consumers with exceptional scores aren't just keeping utilization under 30% — they're keeping it under 10%. That's a meaningful distinction.

Credit advisors commonly observe that borrowers often plateau in the 720–740 range partly because they're sitting at 25–35% utilization, treating the 30% guideline as a ceiling rather than a starting point.

Delinquency Rates by Account Type (2023–2025)

Missed payments are the most direct path to a falling credit score. Delinquency rates — the percentage of accounts that are 30 or more days past due — give a forward-looking signal for where average scores may go next.

Source: Experian, September of each year

Mortgage and auto loan delinquencies have been climbing steadily. That's notable because these are secured debts — the kind borrowers typically prioritize above credit cards. When those start slipping, it usually reflects genuine cash flow strain, not just payment habits.

Credit card delinquencies, by contrast, have edged down slightly — possibly because consumers are being more careful about new card spending, or because those already in distress have already defaulted and rolled off the active account counts.

How to Improve Your Credit Score — and How Long It Actually Takes

This is where most credit score articles give you five generic tips and call it a day. The tips are real, but the timeline question is what most people actually want answered.

Make on-time payments. This is not optional advice — it's the architecture of your score. Thirty-five percent of your FICO score is payment history. One 30-day late mark can drop a score by 60–110 points depending on your starting point.

Reduce credit utilization below 30% — then aim lower. Paying down revolving balances is one of the fastest ways to see score movement. Unlike payment history, utilization has no memory in the FICO model — lower it today, and this month's score reflects it.

Keep older accounts open. Closing a card you no longer use can shorten your average account age and reduce your available credit — both of which can hurt your score.

Avoid unnecessary hard inquiries. Each credit application triggers a hard pull, which can drop your score by a few points temporarily. Bunching applications for mortgages or auto loans within a 14–45 day window is treated as a single inquiry by FICO, so timing matters.

Check your credit report for errors. Errors on credit reports — wrong account statuses, accounts that aren't yours, balances that haven't been updated — are more common than most people expect. You're entitled to a free report from each bureau annually at AnnualCreditReport.com.

Realistic Timeline for Score Improvement

There's no shortcut that works across the board. What credit counselors and financial advisors commonly observe is that the biggest improvements come from the boring stuff: paying on time, paying down balances, and not opening new accounts unnecessarily.

The dramatic jumps people hope for from credit repair services rarely materialize for accounts with legitimate negative history.

Conclusion

The average credit score in America sits at 713 — technically good, but slipping. Younger borrowers and lower-income households are feeling the pressure most. If your score is near or below the national average, utilization and payment history are the fastest levers. Progress is slow but measurable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 713 a good credit score for buying a house?

Yes — a 713 qualifies for most mortgage products, including conventional loans. But borrowers in the 740–760 range typically receive meaningfully better interest rates. Over a 30-year mortgage, that difference can amount to tens of thousands of dollars.

What is considered a good credit score in America?

FICO defines good credit as a score between 670 and 739. Very good is 740–799. Exceptional is 800 and above. Most lenders approve standard products at 670 or higher, though terms improve significantly as scores rise.

Why is my credit score below the national average?

High credit utilization, late payments, a short credit history, or recent hard inquiries are the most common causes. Checking your credit report for errors is also worth doing — inaccuracies affect more reports than most people realize.

Does checking your own credit score lower it?

No. Checking your own score is a soft inquiry and has no impact on your FICO score. Only hard inquiries — triggered when a lender checks your credit after an application — can cause a temporary dip.

How often does the national average credit score get updated?

Experian publishes its national average annually, typically using September data. Individual scores update as lenders report new information to the credit bureaus, which usually happens monthly.