After more than a decade of steady improvement, the average American’s credit score fell for the second year in a row.

Falling credit scores are just the latest sign that all is not well within the U.S. economy. According to a new report from the Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO), creator of the gold standard credit score used by most lenders, the average FICO score dropped to 715 between 2024 and 2025—a two-point decrease and the biggest drop since 2009.

The data also shows that compared with 2021, more Americans are falling into the low and high ends of the credit score range rather than the middle. In 2021, 38% of scores were between 600 and 749; in 2025, that percentage is 33.8%. The highest FICO score is 850.

U.S. borrowers continue to grapple with high interest rates, a side effect of the F

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