Legend
- Color: Light Orange Average Debt under $26,000
- Color: Orange Average Debt $26,001 - $29,999
- Color: Purple Average Debt above $30,000
How much debt do students graduate with in your state or at a particular college? Use the interactive map above and the other links on this page to explore those questions and more for the Class of 2018.
For more information about student debt by state and college, along with policy recommendations to reduce the burden of student debt, see our full report, Student Debt and the Class of 2018.
Student Debt and the Class of 2018
New data show that the average student debt for college graduates continues to climb but at a slower pace. Nationally, about two in three (65 percent) college seniors who graduated from public and private nonprofit colleges in 2018 had student loan debt. These borrowers owed an average of $29,200, 2 percent higher than the 2017 average.
TICAS’ 14th annual report on debt at graduation finds wide variations in debt levels across states as well as colleges. Average student debt at graduation in 2018 ranged from $19,750 in Utah to $38,650 in Connecticut, and new graduates’ likelihood of having debt ranged from 36 percent in Utah to 76 percent in New Hampshire. High-debt states remain concentrated in the Northeast and low-debt states are mainly in the West.
The Project on Student Debt is an initiative of The Institute for College Access & Success, which has licensed these debt data through an agreement with Peterson’s. The data are copyright © 2019 Peterson’s LLC. All rights reserved.
