Dr. Mike Walden, North Carolina Cooperative Extension economist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University, responds:

"Household debt certainly varies by age. Typically what you see is young households who are just starting out with their job - they've got a lot of things to buy . . . house, car, stuff for the kids - they're going to have the highest relative debt. For example, households under age 35 have debts that are 45 percent of their assets. Then as you age, you begin to pay off those debts. You don't need to accumulate as many things all at once. You tend to see those debt loads go down. For example, households in their 50s and 60s have debts that are only 10 percent of their assets. Now, your question about does debt vary by where you live . . . very interesting question. If we look at the country in terms of regions, households in the West actually have the most debt followed by households in the South, then the Midwest. And Northeastern households actually have the lowest relative debt."