All About the Government Spending Numbers

usgovernmentspending.com has data on US government spending going back to 1792.

• Federal spending goes back to 1792
• State and local spending for all states combined goes back to 1890.
• State and local spending for individual states goes back to 1957.

Spending data is primarily organized by major spending function, such as Pensions, Health Care, etc. You can look at data for a single year or a range of years.

Look at Spending Data for Single Year

Federal, State, and Local Spending TOTALS for current year or for 17921800181018201830184018501860187018801890190019101920193019401950196019701980199020002010201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026202720282029

Total Spending Functional BREAKDOWN for current year or for 17921800181018201830184018501860187018801890190019101920193019401950196019701980199020002010201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026202720282029

Federal, State, and Local Spending DETAILS for current year or for 17921800181018201830184018501860187018801890190019101920193019401950196019701980199020002010201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026202720282029

Spending DETAILS for individual cities, counties, etc. for latest year.

Look at Spending Data Series over a range of years

You can look at individual data series or combine up to 5 data series together.

Total Spending for the last ten years.

Total PensionsHealth CareEducationDefenseWelfareProtectionTransportationInterestTotal SpendingFederal DeficitGovernment Debt Spending for the last ten years.

Once you have set up a single data series, you can add additional data series, change the range of years, change the units, etc.

General Overview of Data on This Site

The idea of usgovernmentspending.com is to provide a resource for people wanting to research US government finances. We have generated curated data series of the major functions of government spending so that you can inspect and download the numbers on spending at all levels of government.

For the federal government we have data going back to 1792, shortly after the founding. The data going back to 1962 come from the President’s annual federal budget. Data from 1961 going back to 1792 comes from data series published by the US Census Bureau.

For individual states we have state and local government spending going back to 1957. For states and local governments in aggregate we have full data going back to 1900, and limited data going back to 1820.

If you are interested in data for a specific year we have a Spending Details page that shows the major spending functions for a specific year, federal, state, and local, and that allows you do drill down a couple of levels to view (and download) the data in more detail.

If you are interested in data for a range of years we have a Custom Chart page that lets you generate data on spending for a range of years. It allows you to generate charts, look at data, and download the data to your computer in tab format that you can copy and paste into a spreadsheet, or as a .csv file that you can import directly into a spreadsheet program.

The best thing to do is to experiment with the Spending Details page or the Custom Chart page and see what they can do for you. Also you can look around the site at the Spending Analysis and Spending History pages. These pages and their charts were created using the features that are also available to you.

Suggested Video: Spending 101

Top Spending Requests:

Find DEFICIT stats and history.

Get WELFARE stats and history.

US BUDGET overview and pie chart.

Find NATIONAL DEBT today.

DOWNLOAD spending data or debt data.

See FEDERAL BUDGET breakdown and estimated vs. actual.

MILITARY SPENDING details, budget and history.

ENTITLEMENT SPENDING history.

See BAR CHARTS of spending, debt.

Check STATE spending: CA NY TX FL and compare.

See SPENDING ANALYSIS briefing.

See SPENDING HISTORY briefing.

Take a COURSE at Spending 101.

Make your own CUSTOM CHART.

Spending Data Sources

Spending data is from official government sources.

• Federal spending data since 1962 comes from the president’s budget.
  
• All other spending data comes from the US Census Bureau.

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

Detailed table of spending data sources here.
Medicare breakdown here; Medicaid breakdown here.

Federal spending data begins in 1792.

State and local spending data begins in 1820.

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