@redpat
I respectably disagree with the assertion that people have to be on this forum or any of the other small handful of credit topic forums to have more than 1-3 cards or the regurgitated assertion that the "average amount of cards in the US is 3.blah"
Before anyone reads this and says "But that is 2020 data"; it is because these are the numbers the regurgitation is based on and newer data is based on speculation and not available yet in any complete form I can reliably use or find.
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Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card
"In 2020, there were 1.09 billion credit cards in circulation in the U.S and 72.5% of adults (187.3 million) in the country had at least one credit card."
Forbes https://www.usatoday.com/money/blueprint/credit-cards/what-is-the-average-credit-card-debt/
“How many credit cards does the average American have? On average, Americans hold just under four credit cards - 3.84 is the specific number, according to data from the credit bureau Experian for the third quarter of 2020”
https://www.fdic.gov/analysis/household-survey/index.html
Census.gov https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/united-states-adult-population-grew-faster-than-natio...
“In 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau counted 331.4 million people living in the United States; more than three-quarters (77.9%) or 258.3 million were adults, 18 years or older”
Seems multiple sources all closely agree with the percent of US card holders in 2020
Seems multiple sources all closely agree with the total and adult US population in 2020
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So, if you were to average:
"2020, there were 1.09 billion credit cards in (US) circulation"
"258.3 million were adults"
(What is the average amount of credit cards per American consumer?)
1,009,000,000 / 258,300,000 = 3.906 (average)
Which interestingly enough coincides with "Americans hold just under four credit cards - 3.84 is the specific number"
Per capita I think is meaningless when asking what is the average amount of credit cards people have. If I am in a room with 9 other people that have no cards the average amount in that room is 1.
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So, if you were to average:
"2020, there were 1.09 billion credit cards in (US) circulation"
"72.5% of US adults (187.3 million) ... at least one credit card"
(What is the average amount of credit cards per American credit card user?)
1,009,000,000 / 187,300,000 = 5.387 (average)
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And here is an example of complete slop reporting and math.
How Many Credit Cards Do Americans Have? An Experian report shows that, on average, people have three different credit card accounts. Roughly 191 million American adults have at least one credit card account, half of all Americans have at least two cards and 13% have at least five cards. Mar 28, 2024
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Of people I consider close friends and know what cards they have - by age:
92: Never had one and never will
85: 3
80: 5+
84: Never had one and never will
75: Never had one and never will
65: 5
Me: Never had one and never would - until I did - now have 10 and use everyone of them
56: Had over 7 and wisely one day got them all paid off, closed them all, and only uses a debit card now
56: 2 and lucky to even be able to have those 2
50: 6+
48: 7 - Said he had 2 but actually had 4. Recently added 3 to 0% balance transfer and get out of his debit.
So, 11 in my test group
3.455 With the four non-cc holders
5.429 With only the 7 cc holders
