There are a number of government resources which might be relevant to this research. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System maintains a Survey of Consumer Finances, which is a cross-sectional survey that covers "families’ balance sheets, pensions, income, and demographic characteristics." The U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey also includes some information on income, mortgage status, poverty status, etc. You can explore this survey via the Social Explorer database. The Urban Data Institute has a dataset focused particularly on consumer debt. Lastly, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York maintains a Center for Microfinance Data.
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