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What is the Total National Debt?

National Debt: Strictly speaking, the US national debt is the total of federal, state, and local debt. But people often talk about the debt of the federal government as the “national debt.”

At the end of FY 2023 the US national debt was “guesstimated” to be $36.43 trillion, including federal $32.99 trillion, state $1.25 trillion, and local $2.19 trillion.

Also, see Federal Debt, State Debt, and Local Debt.

Spending Analyses:

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Numbers — Charts:

 

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National Debt Analysis  

 

Recent US Total National Debt

Recent US National Debt

Chart D.11t: Recent US National Debt

Recent US National Debt as Pct GDP

Chart D.12t: Recent US National Debt as Pct GDP

Public Debt in the United States is principally the debt of the federal government.

In the last decade total government debt has gone from under $12 trillion to almost $25 trillion.

In 2023 the total US government debt, federal, state, and local, was $36.43 trillion.

But in the last ten years the federal debt has almost doubled to 103 percent GDP, while state government debt has stayed at about 6 percent GDP and local government debt has stayed at 10 percent GDP.

In 2023 the total US government debt was 131.9 percent of GDP.

US Total Debt Since 1900

Total National Debt since 1900

Chart D.14t: Total National Debt since 1900

Government debt began the 20th century at less than 20 percent of GDP. It jerked above 45 percent as a result of World War I and above 70 percent in the depths of the Great Depression. Debt has breached 100 percent of GDP twice since 1900: during World War II and in the aftermath of the Crash of 2008.

Federal, State, Local Debt in 20th Century

Total National Debt<br>by Government Level

Chart D.15t: Total National Debt
by Government Level


At the beginning of the 20th century debt was equally divided between federal and state and local debt, totaling less than 20 percent of GDP. After World War I, the total debt surged to 45% of GDP. But by the mid 1920s debt had declined to below 35 percent of GDP. Then came the Great Depression, boosting total public debt to 70 percent of GDP.

World War II boosted federal debt to almost 122 percent of GDP in 1946, with state and local debt adding another 7 percent. For the next 35 years successive governments brought the debt below 50 percent of GDP, but President Reagan increased the federal debt up over 50 percent of GDP, and total debt towards 70 percent to win the Cold War.

President Bush increased the debt to fight a war on terror and bail out the banks in the crisis of 2008. Presidents Trump and Biden increased the debt starting in 2020 to fight the COVID crisis.

Suggested Video: All About Debt

Top Debt Requests:

Find DEFICIT stats and history.

US BUDGET overview and pie chart.

Find NATIONAL DEBT today.

See FEDERAL BUDGET breakdown and estimated vs. actual.

See BAR CHARTS of debt, debt.

Check STATE debt: CA NY TX FL and compare.

See DEBT ANALYSIS briefing.

See DEBT HISTORY briefing.

Take a COURSE at Spending 101.

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Debt Data Sources

Debt data is from official government sources.

Gross Domestic Product data comes from US Bureau of Economic Analysis and measuringworth.com.

Detailed table of debt data sources here.

Federal debt data begins in 1792.

State and local debt data begins in 1820.

State and local debt data for individual states begins in 1957.

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Gross Federal Debt

Debt Now:  $34,616,994,016,250.88
Debt 2/2020:$23,409,959,150,243.63

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Data Sources for 2019_2029:

Sources for 2019:

GDP, GO: GDP, GO Sources
Federal: Fed. Budget: Hist. Tables 3.2, 5.1, 7.1
State and Local: State and Local Gov. Finances
'Guesstimated' by projecting the latest change in reported spending forward to future years

Sources for 2029:

GDP, GO: GDP, GO Sources
Federal: Fed. Budget: Hist. Tables 3.2, 5.1, 7.1
State and Local: State and Local Gov. Finances
'Guesstimated' by projecting the latest change in reported spending forward to future years

> data sources for other years
> data update schedule.

Blog

Federal Budget for FY25 Released

On March 11, 2024, we updated usgovernmentspending.com with the numbers from the Public Budget Database in the Budget of the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2025. 

Here is how headline budget estimates for the upcoming FY 2024 fiscal year have changed since the release of the FY 2024 budget a year ago in Winter 2023.

Federal Budget Changes for 2024
$ billionEstimate for 2024
in FY2024 Budget		Estimate for 2024
in FY2025 Budget		Change
Federal Outlays$6,371.8$6,940.9 +$569.1
Federal Receipts$4,802.5$5,081.6+$279.1
Federal Deficit$1,569.4$1,859.4+$290.0

You can see line item changes from budget to budget here. You can compare budget estimates with actuals here.

Account level spending estimates through FY 2029 come from the Outlays table in the Public Budget Database and were updated on usgovernmentspending.com on March 11, 2024.

Account level budget authority estimates through FY 2029 come from the Budget Authority table in the Public Budget Database and were updated on usgovernmentspending.com on March 11, 2024. 

Agency Debt Update for 2023
On March 11, 2024, usgovernmentspending.com updated its data for agency debt from the Federal Reserve Board database. Data is now available for the period 1945-2023. You can see our Agency Debt pag ...

US GDP for 2023 Updated
On January 19, 2024 usgovernmentspending.com updated its GDP series with the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, ...

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Budget News

President’s FY 2025 Budget Release Scheduled for March 11
Although the FY 2024 appropriations process is not yet resolved

Biden to Release Budget March 9
will press McCarthy On Default Risk - Bloomberg

Biden to Release 2023 Budget Request on March 28
how the administration expects to spend money for priorities including aid to Ukraine and the continuing effort to fight the coronavirus pandemic, as well as legislative proposals such as increased funding for community policing programs, cancer research, and mental health education.

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