Buffer Depletion

Financial Obligations Ratio

Household financial obligations as share of income

What is the current Financial Obligations Ratio?

FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS RATIO
14.2%
of disposable income goes to financial obligations

The household financial obligations ratio measures total required monthly payments — debt service plus rent, auto leases, homeowner insurance, and property taxes — as a share of disposable income. This broader measure captures financial commitments that the standard debt service ratio misses. Source: Federal Reserve via FRED.

Financial Obligations Ratio at 14.2%

Tracking stable relative to recent baseline.

Source: Federal Reserve via FRED via FRED (FODSP) ↗
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Explore Further

📊 Consumer Debt Statistics 2026 → 🛟 Behind on Your Mortgage? → 📖 What Is Debt Service Ratio? → 📖 What Is Financial Distress? →

How has Financial Obligations Ratio changed over time?

CSV Chart Card
Financial Obligations Ratio over time
Household financial obligations as percentage of disposable income
Financial Obligations Ratio
Data: Federal Reserve via FRED Updated Mar 2026
Historical data
Quarterly · Federal Reserve via FRED
Period Value YoY Change
Q3 2023 14.2% −0.2 pts
Q2 2023 14.11% −0.2 pts
Q1 2023 14.12% −0.2 pts
Q4 2022 14.4% +0.4 pts
Q3 2022 14.35% +0.5 pts
Q2 2022 14.35% +0.8 pts
Q1 2022 14.31% +1.9 pts
Q4 2021 14.01% +0.1 pts
Q3 2021 13.86% +0.2 pts
Q2 2021 13.59% +0.3 pts
Q1 2021 12.43% −2.2 pts
Q4 2020 13.96% −0.7 pts

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the financial obligations ratio?

The financial obligations ratio measures total required household payments — including debt service, rent, auto leases, homeowner insurance, and property taxes — as a share of disposable personal income. It is a broader measure than the household debt service ratio, which only counts debt payments.

How does this differ from the debt service ratio?

The debt service ratio counts only debt payments (mortgage, credit card, auto loan, student loan). The financial obligations ratio adds rent payments, auto lease payments, homeowner insurance, and property taxes. This gives a more complete picture of fixed monthly costs that households cannot easily reduce.

Where does the financial obligations data come from?

The Federal Reserve publishes the financial obligations ratio quarterly, based on estimates of total required household payments divided by disposable personal income. It is available on FRED alongside the standard debt service ratio.

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Why does Financial Obligations Ratio matter?

Financial Obligations Ratio is one of 91 indicators in the American Distress Index's buffer depletion layer — the signal that predicted the 2008 crisis two years before delinquency data confirmed it.
View methodology →
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