In the run-up to the recession, American households took on trillions of dollars of debt that they could not easily afford, given tepid rates of wage growth. The collapse of the real-estate bubble and ravages of the recession have forced them to pay down or prompted lenders to write off more than $1 trillion of it, according to Federal Reserve data.

Still saddled with heavy debt burdens during the weak recovery, millions of American households cut back spending on food, cars and other goods. On top of that, relatively few families have been willing or able to take out loans or lines of credit. Thus, the proportion of household debt to personal income has fallen to its lowest level since the mid-2000s from its recessionary-era peak.

Now, with the economy more stable and interest rates at generational lows, Americans might finally feel more comfortable taking out a loan on a new car or putting money down on a mortgaged home. With their finances more in balance, workers might start spending less of their paychecks paying off old loans and more on leisure or household goods.

Given the importance of consumer spending to the American economy, those changes might translate into a more resilient economy, analysts said.

“Consumer spending still drives 65 to 70 percent of G.D.P. growth,” Susan Lund, the director of research at the McKinsey Global Institute, said. “When deleveraging is over and housing picks up a bit, those two factors are going to be strong engines for the United States economy.”

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American households’ biggest debt burden is in mortgages, given that a home is far and away the largest purchase the average family ever makes. As the foreclosure crisis grinds on, the total amount of outstanding mortgage debt continues to fall, Federal Reserve data shows, though more slowly than earlier in the recession.