S&P 500 Aggregate Debt-to-Assets Ratio

Live value temporarily unavailable.

Source: Company filings (aggregated)

Data updated daily

What it measures

The S&P 500 debt / assets ratio measures aggregate total interest-bearing debt as a percentage of aggregate total assets for index constituents. A reading of 28% means debt constitutes 28% of the total asset base of S&P 500 companies — the fraction of assets financed by creditors rather than equity holders.

Why it matters

Debt / assets is a solvency measure that captures how heavily leveraged the asset base is. Unlike debt / equity, which is sensitive to buybacks that reduce book equity without reducing debt, debt / assets is more stable because total assets decline alongside equity when buybacks are funded from cash. A reading approaching 50% or higher signals that more than half of the asset base is debt-financed, reducing the margin of safety if asset values decline. It is particularly useful for capital-intensive sectors where high asset bases naturally carry proportionally larger debt.

How it is calculated

Debt / Assets = Σ Total Debt ÷ Σ Total Assets × 100

LENSE computes the S&P 500 debt / assets ratio as aggregate total interest-bearing debt divided by aggregate total assets — not a simple average of per-company ratios. Both figures are sourced from the most recently reported quarter-end balance sheets using as-reported data. Constituents with zero total assets are excluded. Index constituency is resolved point-in-time using point-in-time index constituency.

Recent (monthly)

Recent data unavailable.

Data source: Company filings (aggregated). Computed and published by LENSE Analytics.