It is estimated that at least 120 million copies of McGuffey's Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster's Dictionary. Since 1961, they have continued to sell at a rate of some 30,000 copies a year.
Our researchers found the median debt per American household to be $2,300, while the average debt stands at $5,700. Combined data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Federal Reserve allowed us to dive deeper into credit card debt in the United States, and look beyond the face value of those two figures.
This comes as average credit card debt per U.S. consumer nudged up over the last year by more than $270. On average, each consumer had $4,971 of credit card debt in the second quarter of this year, according to the credit-reporting bureau TransUnion. There is some debate over the best way to pay down debt. The government's financial literacy websites counsel consumers first to pay off debt with the highest interest rate. And going by the numbers, that is the logical approach. But it turns out people need more than logic, especially when it comes to achieving a long-term goal like debt elimination.