- The average monthly new car payment in 2026 is about $759, up from $104 in 1971, a 7.3-fold increase over 56 years.
- The single largest one-year jump in this record was 2021 to 2022, up $72/month (from $599 to $671), as loan amounts and rates rose together coming out of the low-rate pandemic era.
- Payments haven't risen every year: they fell in 10 of the last 56 years, most notably a sustained decline from 2009 through 2013, when falling interest rates outweighed rising loan amounts.
- From 2020 to 2026, the average payment rose 31.0%, from $579 to $759 a month.
01 Introduction
The average monthly car payment isn't published directly by any single government agency, but it can be computed reliably from three figures the Federal Reserve does publish every year for new car loans: the average amount financed, the average interest rate, and the average loan term. This article combines those three into a single average-payment figure for every year from 1971 through 2026, using the same standard loan-payment formula any lender uses to calculate a monthly bill.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.19 Consumer Credit statistical release, historical data files: average amount financed, average interest rate, and average maturity for new car loans at finance companies02 Average Payment by Year
The table below shows the computed average monthly new car payment for every year from 1971 through 2026, based on that year's average loan amount, rate, and term.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.19 Consumer Credit statistical release, historical data files. Payment computed as a standard fixed-payment (amortizing) loan using each year's average amount financed, interest rate, and term at finance companies. 2026 reflects a partial-year average (February and May readings).| Year | Avg. Payment | Year | Avg. Payment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | $104 | 1972 | $105 |
| 1973 | $112 | 1974 | $121 |
| 1975 | $132 | 1976 | $142 |
| 1977 | $152 | 1978 | $164 |
| 1979 | $175 | 1980 | $184 |
| 1981 | $219 | 1982 | $240 |
| 1983 | $242 | 1984 | $258 |
| 1985 | $249 | 1986 | $259 |
| 1987 | $262 | 1988 | $276 |
| 1989 | $292 | 1990 | $290 |
| 1991 | $299 | 1992 | $313 |
| 1993 | $323 | 1994 | $348 |
| 1995 | $377 | 1996 | $397 |
| 1997 | $389 | 1998 | $414 |
| 1999 | $435 | 2000 | $444 |
| 2001 | $473 | 2002 | $483 |
| 2003 | $475 | 2004 | $462 |
| 2005 | $467 | 2006 | $481 |
| 2007 | $517 | 2008 | $467 |
| 2009 | $480 | 2010 | $470 |
| 2011 | $461 | 2012 | $460 |
| 2013 | $459 | 2014 | $467 |
| 2015 | $485 | 2016 | $497 |
| 2017 | $507 | 2018 | $540 |
| 2019 | $557 | 2020 | $579 |
| 2021 | $599 | 2022 | $671 |
| 2023 | $703 | 2024 | $706 |
| 2025 | $730 | 2026* | $759 |
03 Key Trends
1971-1990: rising with inflation and rates. The average payment grew from $104 to $290 across two decades, tracking both a growing loan amount and the high interest rates of the early 1980s. The 1980-1982 span alone added $56 to the average payment as rates spiked into the mid-teens.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.19 Consumer Credit statistical release, historical data files2009-2013: the one sustained decline. This is the only multi-year stretch in the record where the average payment fell for four consecutive years, from $480 in 2009 to $459 in 2013. Interest rates fell through the post-financial-crisis low-rate era faster than loan amounts grew, temporarily outweighing the usual upward pressure from rising vehicle prices.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.19 Consumer Credit statistical release, historical data files2021-2022: the largest single-year jump on record. The average payment rose from $599 to $671, a $72 increase in one year, larger than any other year-over-year change in this 56-year series. Both the average loan amount (rising vehicle prices) and, later, interest rates climbed together as the low-rate pandemic era ended, compounding into the sharpest jump car buyers have seen.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.19 Consumer Credit statistical release, historical data files. Year-over-year change calculated as the difference between each year's computed payment and the prior year's.Estimate your vehicle's total driving cost using official EPA fuel economy data.
Use the Calculator04 What Drives the Payment: Amount, Rate, and Term
The average payment is the product of three separate trends, each of which has moved differently over time:
- Amount financed has grown almost every year, from $3,054 in 1971 to $42,504 in 2026, reflecting both general price inflation and genuinely larger, more expensive vehicles. See how much car you can actually afford.
- Interest rates have swung far more than the loan amount, from a low of 4.19% (2015, bank series) to a high of 16.82% (1982, bank series), which is why payment growth hasn't been smooth even though loan amounts have grown almost continuously. See the full auto loan interest rate history.
- Loan term has stretched from 35 months in 1971 to roughly 66 months today, which lowers the monthly payment for a given amount and rate, partly offsetting the effect of larger loan amounts. See how loan amounts and terms have grown.
05 What This Means for Car Shopping
Because term stretching offsets rising loan amounts, a rising average payment actually understates how much more buyers are borrowing: today's $759 average payment reflects a loan more than 13 times larger than 1971's, spread over nearly twice as many months. A buyer comparing their own quote to this average should check all three inputs separately, not just the monthly number, since the same payment can represent very different total costs depending on the rate and term behind it. See when refinancing makes sense and how much to put down for how each of those pieces can be improved individually.
06 Data Sources
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System: G.19 Consumer Credit statistical release, historical data files (average amount financed, interest rate, and maturity for new car loans). federalreserve.gov
- This site's related analysis: Auto Loan Interest Rates by Year, 1972-2026, Bank vs. Finance Company Auto Loans, How Much Should You Put Down on a Car?, and How Much Car Can You Actually Afford?