The average credit score by age climbs steadily, from 678 for Gen Z to 760 for people over 80, according to Experian’s September 2025 data. The national average FICO Score sits at 713, two points lower than the year before.
I looked these numbers up for the first time at 27, right after I’d started paying down about $14,000 of credit card debt. I wanted to know how far behind I was. The honest answer was “a bit,” and also “less than my anxiety said.” Below you’ll find the average for every age group, why the numbers rise as people get older, and the handful of habits that moved mine.
Average credit score by age: the 2025 numbers
Experian, one of the three big credit bureaus, publishes average FICO Scores by generation every year. These are FICO Score 8 numbers, the version lenders use most often, pulled from Experian’s own data in September of each year.
| Generation | Ages (in 2025) | Average FICO Score 2024 | Average FICO Score 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gen Z | 18 to 28 | 681 | 678 | Down 3 |
| Millennials | 29 to 44 | 691 | 689 | Down 2 |
| Gen X | 45 to 60 | 709 | 709 | No change |
| Baby boomers | 61 to 79 | 746 | 747 | Up 1 |
| Silent Generation | 80 and older | 760 | 760 | No change |
| All U.S. consumers | 18 and older | 715 | 713 | Down 2 |
Two things jumped out at me. The youngest two groups both slipped, while older groups held steady or ticked up. And the jump between millennials and boomers is almost 60 points, which is a big gap for something that mostly comes down to time.
If you’re a millennial sitting at 689, you’re exactly average. Not behind. Average.
Why scores go up as you get older
Some of it is habit, sure. More of it is math built into how scores work.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lists the factors scoring models usually weigh, and several of them reward time on its own. Its plain-English explainer on what a credit score is includes how long you’ve had accounts open and how much of your available credit you’re using.
- Older accounts. A 60-year-old might have a card that’s been open since 1995. A 23-year-old physically can’t.
- Lower balances. By the 50s and 60s, a lot of people have paid off student loans and carry less on their cards.
- Fewer new applications. Younger adults apply for their first apartment, car loan and cards all in a few years, and each hard inquiry nicks the score a little.
- More time for old mistakes to fade. Late payments and collections lose weight as they age.
So when I compared my 26-year-old self to my mom’s score, I was comparing a three-year credit file to a thirty-year one. That’s not a fair fight, and it helped to stop treating it like one.
Your score at 25 is a first draft. Nobody gets graded on it forever.
What counts as a good score at any age
Most scores, FICO included, run from 300 to 850. FICO groups them into ranges, and lenders mostly care which range you’re in, not your exact number:
- 800 to 850: exceptional.
- 740 to 799: very good.
- 670 to 739: good. The national average of 713 lands here.
- 580 to 669: fair.
- Below 580: poor.
Here’s what I wish someone had told me. Age doesn’t appear anywhere in that list. A lender doesn’t care that you’re 24; it cares whether you’re at 690 or 740. Comparing yourself to your age group is useful for perspective, but the bands are what change your interest rate.
On a $25,000 car loan, the gap between fair and very good credit can easily mean a rate several points higher. Over five years that’s real money, often a few thousand dollars. That was the number that finally got me to care.
Average credit score by age group, and where each one usually trips
Every age group has its own common snag. These are the patterns I’ve seen in my own life, my friends’ lives, and my inbox.
In your 20s (Gen Z, average 678). Thin files. One card, maybe a student loan, and not much history. A single missed payment hurts more when there’s nothing else on the report to balance it out. When I was 22, I forgot a $35 store card payment during a move and it followed me for years.
In your 30s and early 40s (millennials, average 689). Balances. This is when life gets expensive: kids, cars, weddings, moving. Credit card balances creep up, and high utilization drags scores down even when every payment is on time. That was me. My cards were near their limits, I never missed a payment, and my score still sat in the low 600s.
In your late 40s and 50s (Gen X, average 709). Steady, but carrying the most debt overall for many households. Paying down balances tends to show up fast here.
60 and up (boomers and the Silent Generation, 747 and 760). The risk flips. Closing old cards in retirement can shrink your available credit and shorten your history a little. My mom almost closed the card she’d had since she was 30, and I talked her into keeping it open with one small charge a few times a year.
How I moved my score up (the order that worked)
I’m not a credit counselor, and what worked for me isn’t a guarantee. But this is the order I did things in, and my score went from the low 600s to the mid 700s in a little under three years while I paid off that $14,000.
- Turn on autopay for every minimum payment. Payment history is the factor I could control fastest, and autopay takes forgetting off the table.
- Pull your free credit reports and read every line. I found an old medical bill in collections I didn’t know about. You can get your reports free at AnnualCreditReport.com, the official site.
- Attack the card closest to its limit first. Utilization is calculated per card and overall, so knocking down the maxed-out one helped my score more than spreading payments evenly.
- Stop applying for new credit for a while. I took a full year off store-card offers. That “save 20% today” pitch at the register was costing me points.
- Keep old cards open. I cut up the cards so I wouldn’t use them, but I didn’t close the accounts.
- Check your score once a month, not once a day. Scores bounce around a few points for no dramatic reason. Watching daily only made me anxious.
If you’re starting from almost nothing, my full guide on how to build credit from scratch goes deeper into secured cards and credit-builder loans.
Cozy tip: Write your current score at the top of this month’s budget page, next to your card balances. Seeing both numbers together every payday is what made the connection click for me. The free printable budget template has a little box for exactly this, and it takes about two minutes to fill in.
Debt, age and the average score
Credit scores and credit card balances move together more than people think. The same years when the average credit score by age is lowest, late 20s through early 40s, are often the years balances run highest. I broke down those balance numbers by age in my post on average credit card debt, and the overlap is hard to miss.
It’s also why I don’t lecture anyone in their 30s about their score. Rent is high, childcare is brutal, and a lot of people are floating the gap on plastic. The fix is usually a plan for the balance, not shame about the number.
If you want to see how other households stack up on saving, debt and spending, I keep a running page of budgeting statistics that puts a lot of this in context.
A worked example: three people, three starting points
Here’s how the average credit score by age plays out for three made-up people. The scores and balances are illustrative, not anyone’s real file, but the moves are the same ones I’d make.
| Example person | Age | Example score | Vs. age-group average | Biggest lever | First move this month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maya, first job | 23 | 655 | 23 points below 678 | Thin file | Keep one card, charge one bill, pay in full |
| Jordan, two kids | 36 | 662 | 27 points below 689 | High utilization | Pay the card closest to its limit first |
| Denise, newly retired | 66 | 758 | 11 points above 747 | Account age | Keep the oldest card open with a small charge |
Notice that two of the three are below their group’s average, and neither one is in trouble. Jordan is one paid-down card away from the “good” band.
Common mistakes with the average credit score by age
- Comparing different score types. A free app might show a VantageScore while the averages here are FICO Score 8, so the numbers aren’t apples to apples.
- Closing old cards to “clean up.” It can shorten your history and raise your utilization, which usually lowers the score.
- Panicking over small drops. A 5 to 10 point dip after a new loan or a higher statement balance is normal and usually recovers.
More of my credit notes live in the building credit section, and I add to it as I learn.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good credit score for a 25-year-old?
Anything in the 670 to 739 range is considered good at any age. The average for Gen Z, which includes 25-year-olds, was 678 in Experian’s September 2025 data, so a score around 680 puts you right in the middle of your peers.
What is the average credit score at 30?
Thirty-year-olds fall in the millennial group, whose average FICO Score was 689 in September 2025, according to Experian. Your own number depends on your payment history, balances and how long your accounts have been open.
What is the average credit score in the U.S.?
The national average FICO Score was 713 in September 2025, based on Experian data. That was two points lower than 2024 and lands in the “good” range of 670 to 739.
Does age affect your credit score?
Age itself isn’t a factor in scoring models. Older people tend to have higher scores because they’ve had accounts open longer, often carry lower balances and have had more time for past mistakes to fade.
How fast can I raise my credit score?
Paying down a high card balance can show up within a month or two, once the lower balance is reported. Rebuilding after late payments takes longer, often a year or more of on-time payments, so steady habits matter more than quick tricks.
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