• In the Q1 2025 update, data for all years were updated to use the 2023 metropolitan statistical area (MSA) definitions, as outlined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The boundaries of some MSAs have changed, others have been consolidated or removed, and new MSAs have been defined. See OMB Bulletin No. 23-01 for details.
• For most federal student loan borrowers, reporting of missed student loan payments to credit bureaus was paused from Q2 2020 through Q4 2024. The resumption of this reporting has resulted in steep increases in rates of severe delinquency and aggregate severely delinquent debt in Q1 2025.
• Changes to data processes resulted in slight differences in the raw data starting in Q3 2024. Although these changes may result in differences for any of the series in this tool, they generally have only minor impacts on series for consumers with near prime credit, and those for severely delinquent debt on student loans, auto loans, home equity lines of credit, or mortgages. Users should use caution when interpreting modest shifts in series values between Q2 2024 and Q3 2024.
• Changes to data processes resulted in an unavailable address type indicator field in Q3 and Q4 2024. This field is typically used in this tool’s data construction to identify residential addresses. This omission may slightly impact series across neighborhood characteristics. Generally, only minor impacts are expected for series of consumers with limited credit history or poor/fair credit, consumers with limited credit history, percent of consumers with debt, and average total debt, particularly in areas with smaller populations and across detailed neighborhood categories. Users should use caution when interpreting modest shifts in series values during Q3 2024 and Q4 2024.
• Administrative changes related to the Department of Education’s Fresh Start program resulted in the duplicative reporting of some student loans by servicers in Q4 2022. Before May 22, 2024, unadjusted figures that included these duplicates were presented in this data tool. Since then, these duplicate loans have been removed from these figures. Users may notice slight differences in average debt and percent change in aggregate debt figures for this quarter, compared with previously published estimates. The percent with debt and percent with severely delinquent debt calculations were not affected.  
• Neighborhood income and majority race/ethnicity series are not available before Q2 2014 because of the unavailability of 2010 tract identifiers in the CCP data before that quarter. These categories are calculated based on American Community Survey data reported for 2020 census tracts and were allocated to 2010 tracts using a block-tract crosswalk. Performing a second crosswalk allocation to 2000 tracts — the only tract identifiers available before Q2 2014 — would reduce the reliability of the classifications.
• Changes to student loan servicers resulted in a significant underreporting of student loans in Q1 2022 and, to a lesser extent, Q2 2022. Users should use caution when interpreting student loan and total debt figures from these quarters and avoid comparisons with other quarters. 

All dollar figures are reported in Q1 2025 dollars, adjusted using the Bureau of Economic Analysis Implicit Price Deflator for Personal Consumption Expenditures.