Data and downloads
The American Distress Index is a free, open dataset tracking U.S. household financial distress across 119 live economic indicators. The public catalog contains 121 tracked series, including 0 placeholder entries and 2 historical series. This one page holds everything you need to download, query, reproduce, and cite the index data, plus the live status of every series. No API keys, no registration, no restrictions on academic use.
Dataset Overview
The composite is a 0–100 score built from 5 domains, each capturing a distinct dimension of household financial distress. Every member series is converted to a Hazen percentile within its own quarterly history on its current reporting basis. Each domain score is the mean of its members' percentiles. The composite is the mean of the 5 domain scores.
| Domain | Weight | Member series | Measures |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delinquency | 20% | Delinquency Rate on Single-Family Residential Mortgages, All Commercial Banks; Delinquency Rate on Credit Card Loans; Delinquency Rate on Consumer Loans (ex credit card); Auto Loans 90+ Days Past Due | Share of borrowers behind on mortgage, credit card, consumer, and auto loans. |
| Default & Legal | 20% | Charge-Off Rate on Credit Card Loans; Charge-Off Rate on Single-Family Residential Mortgages | Charge-offs and the foreclosure-stage outcomes that follow late payments. |
| Debt Burden | 20% | Household Debt Service Ratio | Required debt payments as a share of household income. |
| Labor | 20% | Unemployment Rate; Initial Unemployment Claims (SA) | Unemployment and new jobless claims. |
| Safety Net & Buffer | 20% | Personal Saving Rate | The savings cushion households hold against a bad quarter. |
Each domain carries the same weight: 20% of the composite. The composite is a mean of percentiles, rather than a percentile of quarters. Its own rank among published quarters is published separately as rank_in_history; that rank is the reading quoted below. The methodology page explains how to read the composite value itself.
Current reading: 47.0 Band 3 of 5 · Typical for 2026-Q2. The composite itself sits higher than 44% of all published quarters since 2005. Full methodology at /methodology/.
Data Access
All data is served as static JSON from Cloudflare's edge network. No authentication, no rate limits, no usage restrictions for academic purposes.
JSON API Endpoints
Latest quarter with the composite, band, band label, the literal reading, and the composite's own rank in history, plus the full quarterly series with five domain scores and member percentiles (86 observations, 2005–2026).
curl https://americandefault.org/api/adi.json All 121 tracked series with current or explicitly last-verified values, data status, trend, units, source, and metadata.
curl https://americandefault.org/api/indicators.json Full time series for a single indicator. Replace {slug} with any indicator slug from the index endpoint.
curl https://americandefault.org/api/indicators/the-buffer.json CSV Downloads
- Current indicators — latest values (one row per current indicator; historical series excluded)
- State debt & delinquency (51 rows, 5 metrics per state)
- Download all counties (CSV) (every county's score and ranks)
- Index files: the ADI composite series as a static file, and every county's score and ranks in one file
- Individual indicator time series:
/api/downloads/{slug}.csv(available from every indicator page)
Embeddable Charts
Every indicator has a self-contained iframe-embeddable chart. Pattern: /embed/{slug}/. See the embed documentation for examples.
Code Examples
Python (requests + pandas)
import requests
import pandas as pd
# Fetch all indicators
resp = requests.get("https://americandefault.org/api/indicators.json")
indicators = resp.json()["indicators"]
# Load into DataFrame
df = pd.DataFrame([{
"name": i["display_name"],
"value": i["last_verified_value"] if i["data_status"] == "historical" else i["latest_value"],
"data_status": i["data_status"],
# A suppressed series publishes no movement word.
"trend": None if i.get("trend_suppressed") else i["trend"],
"yoy_change": i.get("yoy_change"),
"source": i["source"]
} for i in indicators])
# Fetch ADI composite with full history
adi = requests.get("https://americandefault.org/api/adi.json").json()
adi_df = pd.DataFrame(adi["history"]) R (httr2 + jsonlite)
library(httr2)
library(jsonlite)
# Fetch ADI composite
adi <- request("https://americandefault.org/api/adi.json") |>
req_perform() |>
resp_body_json()
# Convert history to data frame
history <- do.call(rbind, lapply(adi$history, as.data.frame))
history$date <- as.Date(history$date)
# Fetch single indicator time series
savings <- request("https://americandefault.org/api/indicators/the-buffer.json") |>
req_perform() |>
resp_body_json()
ts_data <- do.call(rbind, lapply(savings$data, as.data.frame)) The API returns standard JSON. Any language with HTTP client and JSON parsing support can access the data. No authentication headers or API keys needed.
Variable Definitions
119 live indicators organized into 10 categories. Each indicator includes full time series data, source attribution, and trend analysis.
For detailed metadata on each variable (units, source agency, series ID, update frequency), fetch the individual indicator JSON endpoint: /api/indicators/{slug}.json.
Reproducibility
The index is designed for full reproducibility. Every input, transformation, and output is documented and accessible.
last_updated timestamps.Historical Series
The full quarterly history is available via the index API endpoint. Each observation includes the quarter, composite, band, band label, all five domain scores, and the member percentiles behind them. This data can be used to reproduce the published series end to end, decompose any quarter by domain, or extend the analysis.
Leading Indicator Research
Beyond tracking current conditions, our research pipeline systematically tests all pairwise indicator combinations for statistically validated leading relationships. A five-filter pipeline identifies cases where one indicator consistently precedes another by multiple quarters across multiple economic crises.
Validated Leading Relationships
Scanner has not yet been run.
The family-v1 artifact contains indicator-level results only. It does not establish a domain-to-domain lead from Safety Net & Buffer to Delinquency; publishing that claim would require a separate committed model artifact.
API Access
All validated leading relationships with correlation coefficients, lag periods, Granger causality statistics, and out-of-sample validation metrics.
curl https://americandefault.org/api/research/leading-indicators.json Python Example
import requests
# Fetch leading indicator research
resp = requests.get("https://americandefault.org/api/research/leading-indicators.json")
data = resp.json()
# List validated pairs
for pair in data["validated_pairs"]:
leader = pair["leader"]["name"]
follower = pair["follower"]["name"]
lag = pair["lag_quarters"]
r = pair["correlation"]
print(f"{leader} → {follower} ({lag}q lag, r={r:.2f})") The structural projections methodology covers the full cross-correlation approach.
For data users: MCP server, bulk files and commercial use
A single composite measuring U.S. household financial distress on a 0–100 scale, the same composite extended down to 3,144 counties, and 121 distress indicators wired through one consistent schema with cross-correlation results pre-computed. Free for any use, attribution required (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0), MCP-queryable from your model. MCP limits: 60 requests a minute burst, 600 an hour sustained, per client. The HTTP endpoints have no application-layer limits; please cache reads. Everything is open; a partner who needs higher limits or a service-level arrangement can use the commercial-use form.
MCP endpoint
The full data layer is exposed as an MCP server — Anthropic's open standard for letting language models call tools. Any MCP-compatible client can query the indicators and county scorecards directly: Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, plus any in-house agent built on the MCP SDK. Read-only, rate-limited, auth-stub-ready for higher tiers, and free to install.
Install
Download the MCP server source files, install the Python dependencies, and add the server to your client's config. Full setup notes live in the MCP server README.
{
"mcpServers": {
"american-default": {
"command": "/absolute/path/to/venv/bin/python3",
"args": ["-m", "scripts.machine_layer.mcp_server"],
"cwd": "/absolute/path/to/american-default",
"env": {
"PYTHONPATH": "/absolute/path/to/american-default"
}
}
}
}Restart Claude Desktop. The six tools appear under the hammer icon. Other MCP clients (Cursor, in-house agents using the SDK) accept the same stdio invocation.
Tool surface
| Tool | Input | Returns |
|---|---|---|
get_indicator | slug (e.g. the-buffer) | Original v1 response shape under the byte-identical public schema, with pre-computed aggregates and canonical citation |
get_indicator_v2 | slug, response_version: "v2" | Explicit v2 snapshot adding trend_suppressed and series_breaks |
get_county_scorecard | fips (5-digit; 4-digit accepted) | CDI score, 5-domain breakdown, pre-baked citations |
get_adi_composite | — | Latest quarter, five domain scores, band + reading, citation |
search_indicators | query, optional limit (max 50) | Ranked matches with slug, branded name, category, URL |
get_cross_correlations | slug | Validated leading and lagging pairs split into as_leader + as_follower |
The five legacy tools carry schema_version: "v1" and retain their pinned response shapes. get_indicator_v2 requires response_version: "v2" and returns schema_version: "v2". Unsupported versions fail closed rather than falling back to a different shape.
Worked example — cross-correlation from inside Claude
A risk modeler asks Claude (with the MCP server installed) to find what follows credit-card delinquency in the fully validated scanner output. Claude invokes get_cross_correlations with the stored indicator slug and synthesizes the response.
get_cross_correlations(slug="the-late-fee"){
"indicator_slug": "the-late-fee",
"as_leader": [
{
"leader_slug": "the-late-fee",
"leader_name": "Delinquency Rate on Credit Card Loans",
"follower_slug": "charge-off-rate-on-all-loans",
"follower_name": "Charge-Off Rate on All Loans",
"lag_quarters": 3,
"correlation_r": 0.6573196971371917,
"crises_validated": 2,
"granger_p": 0.00058,
"oos_validation_r": 0.8266
}
],
"as_follower": []
}
The same API workflow can be used with any of the 121 cataloged indicators. Cross-correlation results came out of a five-filter scanner (FDR-corrected cross-correlation, first-differenced series, multi-crisis validation, Granger testing, out-of-sample validation) that tested 127,509 pair-lag combinations and produced 9 fully validated relationships. Methodology lives at /methodology/; the systematic results return as JSON at /api/research/leading-indicators.json.
Source: scripts/machine_layer/. Probe mode at python3 -m scripts.machine_layer.mcp_server --probe emits a JSON handshake and exits — useful for CI smoke tests.
Indicator catalog
121 indicators across the catalog. Every indicator has its own page (live data, chart, source attribution), full historical JSON, downloadable CSV, and machine-readable citation files. The category-by-category list is in the variable table above.
Per-indicator URLs
Substitute any indicator slug (e.g. the-buffer, auto-loan-delinquency-90-days, cpi-inflation-rate-all-items) for {slug} below. The full slug list is in the human-readable indicator index, the machine-readable /api/indicators.json, or the /llms.txt that LLMs hit on first contact.
| What | URL |
|---|---|
| Page | /indicators/{slug}/ |
| Full historical JSON | /api/indicators/{slug}.json |
| Full series CSV | /api/downloads/{slug}.csv |
| BibTeX citation | /citations/{slug}.bib |
| RIS citation (EndNote, Zotero) | /citations/{slug}.ris |
Browse the full indicator list at /indicators/. The /sources/ index groups indicators by federal publisher (FRED, BLS, NY Fed, Census, etc.) for users who think in publisher-units rather than topic-units.
Bulk endpoints
When you want everything in one fetch — to load into a notebook, a backtest harness, or a model committee deck.
| Endpoint | What it contains |
|---|---|
/api/adi.json | Full quarterly history of the American Distress Index back to 2005-Q1: composite, band and band label, five domain scores, member percentiles |
/api/downloads/adi.csv | Same content as CSV — one row per quarter |
/api/indicators.json | All 121 tracked series with current or explicitly last-verified values, data status, trend, units, page URL, JSON URL, and last update |
/api/downloads/all-indicators-latest.csv | 119 current indicators as CSV — one row per indicator with the latest value; historical series are excluded |
/api/downloads/state-debt-statistics.csv | 51-state debt and delinquency metrics (mortgage, credit card, auto, student loan, HELOC) sourced from the NY Fed Consumer Credit Panel state release |
/api/research/leading-indicators.json | 9 fully validated leading-indicator relationships from the systematic five-filter scanner, plus the funnel statistics for every filter stage |
County-level scorecards are best fetched one at a time via the MCP get_county_scorecard(fips) tool — the JSON payload is ~2.5 KB per county and the rate limiter is generous enough to walk the full 3,144-county set inside an hour from a single client. The scorecard JSON includes the composite score, all five domain scores, national and state ranks, and pre-baked citations. Source: get_county_scorecard.py in the MCP server.
License and attribution
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0: use the data in commercial work, model committees, products, and journalism. Attribution is the only requirement. The canonical institutional name is American Default Research; a ready citation is at /methodology/#cite, and more formats are in the citation section above. The full canonical attribution block, including incorrect forms not to use, is at /llms.txt.
FRED-derived series carry FRED's own attribution requirements (St. Louis Fed Terms of Use, including the no-AI-training clause). Downstream republishers should pass those through.
Talk to us about commercial use
Free with attribution covers virtually every use we have seen so far — research, journalism, product features that cite us, model-committee presentations. Contact us about anything that doesn't fit that shape: partnerships, embedded uses, white-label requests, custom data work, or a service-level arrangement for operational support.
Start a commercial-use conversation
Include your organization, what you are building, and the best email for a reply.
Thanks, that helps.
Prefer email? Write to partnerships@americandefault.org.
Data status and update frequency
121 indicators tracked across federal, state, and private-sector sources, with the publisher, how often it updates, and when we last refreshed it.
| Indicator | Source | Frequency | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| 401(k) Loan Outstanding Rate | Vanguard How America Saves 2026 | Annual | Sep 25, 2026 |
| Adults Who Paid Less or Skipped Bills | Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia LIFE Survey | Quarterly | Sep 25, 2026 |
| AI Share of Indeed Job Postings | Indeed Hiring Lab AI Tracker (public CSV) | Monthly | Nov 4, 2026 |
| AI-Attributed Layoff Announcements | Challenger, Gray & Christmas | Monthly | Oct 1, 2026 |
| Atlanta Fed Wage Growth Tracker (1st Quartile) | Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta data retrieved via FRED | Monthly | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Auto Insurance Inflation Premium (Auto CPI minus Overall CPI) | Computed from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Motor Vehicle Insurance CPI and All Items CPI | Monthly | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Auto Loans 90+ Days Past Due | New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax | Quarterly | Aug 11, 2026 |
| Bankcard Balances 60+ Days Past Due (Equifax) | Equifax Monthly Press Release | Monthly | Oct 20, 2026 |
| Bankruptcy Chapter 7 to Chapter 13 Filing Ratio | Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Table F-2 | Quarterly | Oct 23, 2026 |
| Bankruptcy Filings YoY Change | Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts | Quarterly | Nov 4, 2026 |
| Bottom-Half Share of Household Wealth | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED | Quarterly | Sep 22, 2026 |
| Bottom-Quartile Wage Growth vs. Inflation | Computed from Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Wage Growth Tracker and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index | Annual | Sep 24, 2026 |
| Business AI Adoption Rate | U.S. Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey | Periodic | Oct 9, 2026 |
| Buy Now Pay Later Lending Volume | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Buy Now, Pay Later Market Report | Periodic | Sep 17, 2026 |
| CFPB Consumer Complaint Volume | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau | Monthly | Nov 4, 2026 |
| Challenger Job Cut Announcements | Challenger, Gray & Christmas | Monthly | Oct 1, 2026 |
| Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Filings (YoY % Change) | Computed from Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Table F-2 | Quarterly | Oct 23, 2026 |
| Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Filings (YoY % Change) | Computed from Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Table F-2 | Quarterly | Oct 23, 2026 |
| Charge-Off Rate on All Loans | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED | Quarterly | Aug 26, 2026 |
| Charge-Off Rate on Credit Card Loans | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED | Quarterly | Aug 26, 2026 |
| Charge-Off Rate on Single-Family Residential Mortgages | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED | Quarterly | Aug 26, 2026 |
| Commercial Bank Interest Rate on Credit Card Plans | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED | Quarterly | Oct 7, 2026 |
| Conference Board Consumer Expectations Index | The Conference Board | Monthly | Oct 27, 2026 |
| Continued Unemployment Claims (SA) | U.S. Department of Labor data retrieved via FRED | Weekly | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Cotality Current-to-30-Day Mortgage Transition Rate | CoreLogic / Cotality Monthly Report | Quarterly | Jul 6, 2026 |
| CPI Inflation Rate (All Items) | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data retrieved via FRED | Monthly | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Credit Card Delinquency at Banks Outside the Top 100 | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED | Quarterly | Aug 26, 2026 |
| Credit Card Delinquency Gap: Smaller Banks vs. the 100 Largest | Computed (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED: DRCCLOBS - DRCCLT100S) | Quarterly | Sep 7, 2026 |
| Day Care and Preschool CPI | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | Monthly | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Delinquency Rate on Consumer Loans (ex credit card) | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED | Quarterly | Aug 26, 2026 |
| Delinquency Rate on Credit Card Loans | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED | Quarterly | Aug 26, 2026 |
| Delinquency Rate on Single-Family Residential Mortgages, All Commercial Banks | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED | Quarterly | Sep 3, 2026 |
| Didn't Have Enough to Eat | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED) | Annual | Oct 15, 2026 |
| Difficulty Paying Usual Household Expenses | U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey | Biweekly | Nov 4, 2026 |
| Energy Cost Burden (Energy PCE as % of Disposable Income) | Computed (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data retrieved via FRED: DNRGRC1Q027SBEA / DSPI × 100) | Quarterly | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Energy Price Inflation (CPI) | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | Monthly | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Family Income Inequality (Gini) | U.S. Census Bureau data retrieved via FRED | Annual | Sep 22, 2026 |
| Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Loans in Forbearance | Federal Housing Finance Agency, Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report | Monthly | Oct 19, 2026 |
| Federal Customs Duties as % of Disposable Personal Income | Computed from U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis federal customs duties and NIPA disposable personal income data retrieved via FRED | Annual | Nov 4, 2026 |
| FHA Mortgage Delinquency Rate | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Housing Administration | Monthly | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Financially Healthy Households (Financial Health Network) | Financial Health Network Annual Survey | Annual | Sep 25, 2026 |
| Food Price Inflation (CPI) | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | Monthly | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Foreclosure Filings YoY Change | ATTOM Data Solutions | Quarterly | Sep 25, 2026 |
| Foreclosure Prevention Actions Completed, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Loans | Federal Housing Finance Agency, Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report | Monthly | Oct 19, 2026 |
| Foreclosure Starts vs. Bank Repossessions | ATTOM Data Solutions | Monthly | Sep 22, 2026 |
| Foreclosure Starts, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Loans | Federal Housing Finance Agency, Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report | Monthly | Oct 19, 2026 |
| Gas Price to Pay Ratio | Computed (U.S. Energy Information Administration/U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data retrieved via FRED: GASREGW / LES1252881500Q) | Quarterly | Oct 22, 2026 |
| Grocery Affordability Gap | Computed (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Average Hourly Earnings YoY - Food CPI YoY) | Monthly | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Grocery Prices Cumulative Change Since Jan 2020 | Computed from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Food-at-Home CPI | Monthly | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Healthcare Inflation Premium (Medical CPI minus Overall CPI) | Computed (Medical Care CPI - CPI All Items YoY) | Monthly | Oct 14, 2026 |
| HELOC Balances Outstanding | New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax | Quarterly | Aug 11, 2026 |
| Household Debt Service Ratio | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED | Quarterly | Sep 22, 2026 |
| Household Food Insecurity Rate | U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service | Periodic | Jul 22, 2026 |
| Indeed Job Postings Index (US) | Indeed data retrieved via FRED | Daily | Nov 4, 2026 |
| Information Sector Job Openings (NAICS 51) | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, JOLTS | Monthly | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Initial Unemployment Claims (SA) | U.S. Department of Labor data retrieved via FRED | Weekly | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Involuntary Part-Time Share of Employment | Computed (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics LNS12032194 / CE16OV data retrieved via FRED) | Monthly | Oct 2, 2026 |
| JOLTS Quits Rate | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data retrieved via FRED | Monthly | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Labor Share of Nonfarm Business Output | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data retrieved via FRED | Quarterly | Sep 3, 2026 |
| Loan Modifications Completed, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Loans | Federal Housing Finance Agency, Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report | Monthly | Oct 19, 2026 |
| Long-Term Unemployed Share (27+ Weeks) | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data retrieved via FRED | Monthly | Oct 2, 2026 |
| Median Net Worth of Homeowner Families | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Survey of Consumer Finances | Event-driven | Oct 31, 2026 |
| Median Net Worth of Renter Families | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Survey of Consumer Finances | Event-driven | Oct 31, 2026 |
| Median Sale Price of New Houses (US) | U.S. Census Bureau data retrieved via FRED | Quarterly | Oct 27, 2026 |
| Median Size of New Single-Family Homes Completed | U.S. Census Bureau data retrieved via FRED | Quarterly | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Medicaid / CHIP Enrollment | Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Medicaid & CHIP Monthly Enrollment | Monthly | Nov 2, 2026 |
| Medical Care CPI | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | Monthly | Oct 14, 2026 |
| METR 50% Task-Completion Horizon | METR (Model Evaluation & Threat Research) | Event-driven | Sep 25, 2026 |
| Monthly FHA Loan Endorsements | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Housing Administration | Monthly | Oct 8, 2026 |
| Mortgage Debt Service Ratio | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED | Quarterly | Sep 22, 2026 |
| Mortgage Origination Volume | New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax | Quarterly | Aug 11, 2026 |
| Mortgages With Less Than 10 Percent Equity | Federal Housing Finance Agency, National Mortgage Database Aggregate Statistics | Quarterly | Oct 1, 2026 |
| Motor Vehicle Insurance CPI | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | Monthly | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Multiple Jobholders Share of Employment | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data retrieved via FRED | Monthly | Oct 2, 2026 |
| New Serious Delinquency Rate, Borrowers Age 18 to 29 | New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax | Quarterly | Oct 29, 2026 |
| New Serious Delinquency Rate, Borrowers Age 30 to 39 | New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax | Quarterly | Oct 29, 2026 |
| New Serious Delinquency Rate, Borrowers Age 40 to 49 | New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax | Quarterly | Oct 29, 2026 |
| New Serious Delinquency Rate, Borrowers Age 50 to 59 | New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax | Quarterly | Oct 29, 2026 |
| New Serious Delinquency Rate, Borrowers Age 60 to 69 | New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax | Quarterly | Oct 29, 2026 |
| New Serious Delinquency Rate, Borrowers Age 70 and Over | New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax | Quarterly | Oct 29, 2026 |
| NFCI Non-Financial Leverage Subindex | Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago data retrieved via FRED | Weekly | Nov 4, 2026 |
| Part-Time for Economic Reasons | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data retrieved via FRED | Monthly | Oct 2, 2026 |
| Personal Saving Rate | U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data retrieved via FRED | Monthly | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Point-in-Time Count of People Experiencing Homelessness | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Annual Homeless Assessment Report | Annual | Sep 25, 2026 |
| Prescription Drug CPI | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | Monthly | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Prime-Age Employment Rate (25-54) | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data retrieved via FRED | Monthly | Oct 2, 2026 |
| Productivity-Pay Wedge | Computed (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OPHNFB vs COMPRNFB data retrieved via FRED) | Quarterly | Sep 3, 2026 |
| Real Federal Minimum Wage | Computed (U.S. Department of Labor FEDMINNFRWG / CPI data retrieved via FRED) | Monthly | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Real Median Weekly Earnings | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data retrieved via FRED | Quarterly | Oct 21, 2026 |
| Real Production & Nonsupervisory Wage | Computed (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics AHETPI / CPI data retrieved via FRED) | Monthly | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Residential Electricity Disconnections | U.S. Energy Information Administration, Residential Utility Disconnections Report | Annual | Sep 25, 2026 |
| Revolving Credit Utilization (75th Percentile) | Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia data retrieved via FRED | Quarterly | Oct 7, 2026 |
| Senior Loan Officer Survey: Banks Tightening Standards | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey data retrieved via FRED | Quarterly | Nov 2, 2026 |
| Serious Delinquency Rate (90+ days, All Loan Types) | New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax | Quarterly | Aug 11, 2026 |
| Serious Delinquency Rate, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Loans | Federal Housing Finance Agency, Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report | Monthly | Oct 19, 2026 |
| Share of Adults Who Would Use Savings for a $1,000 Emergency | Bankrate Emergency Savings Report | Annual | Aug 14, 2026 |
| Share of Bank of America Checking Households Living Paycheck to Paycheck | Bank of America Institute | Annual | Feb 23, 2026 |
| Share of Student Loan Balances 90+ Days Delinquent | New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax | Quarterly | Aug 11, 2026 |
| SHED Emergency Savings Survey | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking | Annual | Jul 20, 2026 |
| Shelter CPI | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | Monthly | Oct 14, 2026 |
| SNAP (Food Stamp) Enrollment | U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Administration | Monthly | Nov 4, 2026 |
| States with Credit Card Delinquency Above 10% | New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax | Annual | Mar 1, 2026 |
| Student Loan Borrowers Behind on Payments or in Collections | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED) | Periodic | Feb 27, 2026 |
| Tenants' and Household Insurance CPI | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | Monthly | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Top vs Bottom Income Quartile Spending Gap | Opportunity Insights Economic Tracker, data from Affinity Solutions; Raj Chetty, John Friedman, Nathaniel Hendren, Michael Stepner and the Opportunity Insights Team, "The Economic Impacts of COVID-19: Evidence from a New Public Database Built Using Private Sector Data" | Monthly | Aug 11, 2026 |
| Total Consumer Credit Outstanding | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED | Monthly | Oct 7, 2026 |
| Total Credit Card Debt Outstanding | New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax | Quarterly | Aug 11, 2026 |
| Total Delinquency Rate (All Loan Types) | New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax | Quarterly | Aug 11, 2026 |
| Total Household Debt | New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax | Quarterly | Aug 11, 2026 |
| Total Nonfarm Payrolls | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data retrieved via FRED | Monthly | Oct 2, 2026 |
| Total Revolving Credit Outstanding | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED | Monthly | Oct 7, 2026 |
| TransUnion Credit Card Borrower Delinquency | TransUnion Quarterly Press Release | Quarterly | Aug 21, 2026 |
| U-6 Underemployment Rate | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data retrieved via FRED | Monthly | Oct 2, 2026 |
| Unbanked Household Rate (FDIC) | Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households | Biennial | Feb 27, 2026 |
| Underwater Mortgages (Owing More Than the Home Is Worth) | Federal Housing Finance Agency, National Mortgage Database Aggregate Statistics | Quarterly | Oct 1, 2026 |
| Unemployment Rate | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data retrieved via FRED | Monthly | Oct 2, 2026 |
| Union Membership Rate | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Union Members | Annual | Sep 25, 2026 |
| University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index | Surveys of Consumers, University of Michigan, University of Michigan: Consumer Sentiment © [UMCSENT], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis | Monthly | Oct 23, 2026 |
| Vanguard Hardship Withdrawal Rate | Vanguard How America Saves 2026 | Annual | Sep 24, 2026 |
| Wage Growth vs CPI Spread | Computed (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Wage Tracker - CPI YoY) | Monthly | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Youth Unemployment Rate (16-24) | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data retrieved via FRED | Monthly | Oct 2, 2026 |
Cite This Data
Suggested Citations
APA (American Distress Index):
American Default Research. (2026). American Distress Index [Data set]. https://americandefault.org/methodology/
APA (individual indicator):
American Default Research. (2026). [Indicator name] [Data set]. https://americandefault.org/indicators/[slug]/
BibTeX:
@misc{adi2026, title={American Distress Index}, author={{American Default Research}}, year={2026}, url={https://americandefault.org/methodology/}, note={Composite household financial distress index}}
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Attribution for Underlying Data
The American Distress Index composite score, component analysis, and editorial content are original work by American Default Research. When citing specific government statistics (e.g., the personal savings rate), also cite the original agency:
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Personal Saving Rate [PSAVERT], retrieved via FRED, a service of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PSAVERT, March 2026.
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