See How Your Credit Score Stacks Up Against Average Scores by Age in the U.S.

Even though the typical American's average credit score recently dropped For the first time in ten years, many seem to be keeping a fairly robust rating.

According to FICO, the average credit score decreased by one point, dropping from 718 to 717. March 6 blog post Your FICO and VantageScore credit scores can range from 300 to 850, with a score of 717 being deemed as "very good" under the VantageScore system.

Below are VantageScore's ratings and score intervals:

• Very Poor: 300 to 499
• Poor: 500 to 600
• Good: 601 to 660
• Very Good: 661 to 780
• Exceptional: 781 to 850

If you analyze the typical credit scores based on age groups, many Americans seem to maintain favorable ratings too.

Below is the average credit score by generation as of March 2024, according to VantageScore CreditGauge data provided to Make It.

• Generation Z (ages 18 to 27) 665
• Millennials (28 to 43): 687
• Generation X (44 to 59) : 710
• Generation X (54 to 72): 746
• Silent generation (79 to 96): 750

Many factors are used to calculate your credit score, including your payment history, the amounts you owe, your credit mix and how often you've recently opened a new line of credit. It's understandable that older generations tend to have higher scores since they've had a longer time to establish and maintain their credit.

However, Generation Z and millennials are more likely to move up to a higher credit tier at a faster rate than older generations, according to OpenLending and TransUnion's " Financing the Future " report.

How to take your credit score to the next level

When it comes to boosting your credit score, expert advice is pretty straightforward: Do your best to pay down your debt.

"The best way to improve your credit score in both the long and short run is to pay down your loan balances," Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree, tells Make It. "That can obviously be easier said than done, but it should always be the goal."

Schulz suggests another method to boost your score is by requesting your lender to raise your credit limit. This adjustment can enhance your credit utilization ratio since it reflects the portion of your overall credit line that you utilize.

If you possess a single credit card with a limit of $4,000 and currently carry a balance of $1,000, your credit usage ratio stands at 25%. Should your bank raise this limit to $6,000, your credit utilization would drop down to approximately 16%.

If your credit utilization rises above 30%, it can start to negatively impact your score, according to Experian.

However, if your request to increase your credit limit is granted, it's important not to spend up to that new limit, "otherwise you'll be digging your hole even deeper," Schulz says.

Ultimately, maintaining a healthy credit score comes down to consistency.

"It is about paying your bills on time every single time, keeping your balances as low as possible and not applying for too much credit too often," he says. "If you do these things consistently for years, your credit is going to be just fine."

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