Here's what $1.7 trillion in student debt looks like

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$1.7 trillion. That’s the amount of outstanding student debt in the United States—for now.

But don’t blink: That number is ballooning even as you read this sentence. Since the Great Recession took hold in 2008, student debt has been among the fastest-growing types of debt for everyday Americans. It's growing faster than mortgages, auto loans, and credit card debt.

The costs will be enormous for any action, or lack thereof, and these unfathomably large figures are anything but human-scale. But we know a thing or two about visualizing extreme sums of money. For a sense of just how much is involved here, and how it compares with other mind-blowing sums—$1 million per day since the birth of Jesus adds up to a measly $737 billion—watch our animation above. It's our largest visualization to date.

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