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US Federal Debt Since The Founding

Create and customize your own charts of government debt.

Change: from to
Google Chart or JpGraph or chart.js
or Add data series

Use the controls below to CUSTOMIZE chart or CHANGE the data series

Hover mouse over dropdown controls for help. Remember, you can display a maximum of five data series at once.

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Spending Units: By default, government spending is displayed in billions of dollars. But using a dropdown control in the table heading you can select billions of 2017 dollars, percent of GDP, 2017 dollars per capita, percent of federal spending, or percent of total spending.
Chart Title: You can create a title for your chart. Use the text field to enter a title and click the button to the right of the text field.
US or State: By default, the chart shows overall United States government spending. But you can select spending for individual states by selecting the state dropdown control in the table heading.
State, Local: By default, you can chart state spending or local spending by clicking a radio button in the selection table. But you can chart state-and-local combined by selecting state n local in the state/local dropdown control in the table heading.
View: There are many ways to view the spending data. The default view is functional. There is a census view that conforms with the spending categories used by the US Census Bureau in its Statistical Abstract. There is a COFOG view that categorizes spending using the UN methodology.
Linear/Log: By default, the data series are displayed as linear charts. But you can also select a log chart. Linear charts show constant amount changes as a straight line; Log charts show constant rates of change as a straight line.
Line/Bar: By default, the data series are displayed as line charts. But you can also select a bar chart.
Data Stack: By default, the data series are “stacked” when displayed on the chart. But you can change the setting to “un stack” the data series.
Chart Size: By default, the chart is displayed at medium size. But you can use the dropdown control to change the size.
Color: By default charts are displayed with color data lines and fill. You can change this to grayscale if you want. Or display a chart using Google API or chart.js API.
US Budget Year: By default, the chart displays budgeted and estimated federal spending in the current US Budget submitted to the Congress by the president. But you can look at previous budgeted numbers using this dropdown control.
Mandatory: By default the chart shows all spending without regard to mandatory or discretionary. Select Mandatory if you want to chart only federal Mandatory spending, Discretionary if you want to chart only federal Discretionary spending, Both if you want both federal Mandatory and Discretionary spending broken out using the dropdown control in the table heading.

Data Range

Start Year: You can select any start year you want using the dropdown control in the table heading. At the top and bottom of the dropdown only years ending in “0” are shown. Select a start year to get close, then select the start year you want.
End Year: You can select any end year you want using the dropdown control in the table heading. At the top and bottom of the dropdown only years ending in “0” are shown. Select an end year to get close, then select the end year you want.
Category (max 7)Sub-categoryFed Gov. 
Xfer 
State Local Total   
 
Data Series: Select a spending series you want to chart from a dropdown on the left. If you select on the bottom dropdown you will add a data series (up to a maximum of five). The right-hand dropdown allows you to replace a data series with a more narrowly focused series. Click the “X” link to remove a data series from the chart.
? Gross Public Debt:
  ? Select data series to add to chart
 All Categories

If you’d like to create your own custom chart of spending data you should use the table above to make your selections.

  • Select the year range: Select the start year and the end year you want by selecting the years you want in the two year dropdown boxes.
  • Select spending items: Just select the spending item you want from the dropdown control. Then click a radio button to select the level of government: federal, state, or local. If you select from the < select > you will add another data series to your chart. Up to 5 data series are allowed at once. Click the “X” link to remove a data series from the chart.
  • Select units: You can select the display in billions of nominal (i.e. inflated) dollars, billions of real (i.e. year 2017) dollars, or as percent of GDP.
  • Choose chart features: You can select the size of the chart, switch from bar chart to line chart, select color or black and white, stacked or not. You can also blow up the chart to fill the screen with the “full screen” tab control above the chart display.

Download Data

Download Tab-delimited Data

Copy and Paste: To copy and paste data into spreadsheet for analysis, just copy the tab-delimited text in the textbox below (click cursor in text box, then press ctrl-A then press ctrl-C) and paste it into your spreadsheet.

View Data Series

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Below is a formatted version of the data displayed in the chart.

US Federal Debt Since The Founding
Fiscal Years 1792 to 2016
YearInflationGDP-US
$ billion nominal
Population-US
million
Gross Public Debt -
percent GDP
17922.15MW gdpa4.17333.58a
17933.36MW gdpa4.30031.39a
179412.43MW gdpa4.43224.43a
179515.33MW gdpa4.56720.71a
17965.43MW gdpa4.70719.80a
1797-3.73MW gdpa4.85019.77a
1798-3.4MW gdpa4.99818.95a
17990.05MW gdpa5.15117.54a
18003.02MW gdpa5.30817.07a
18012.12MW gdpa5.47615.97a
1802-15.45MW gdpa5.64817.70a
18036.42MW gdpa5.82615.63a
18045.24MW gdpa6.01016.07a
18050.09MW gdpa6.19914.52a
18065.33MW gdpa6.39512.13a
1807-4.74MW gdpa6.59611.63a
18089.53MW gdpa6.8049.98a
1809-1.38MW gdpa7.0198.22a
1810-2.66MW gdpa7.2407.45a
18114.14MW gdpa7.4506.19a
1812-1.54MW gdpa7.6665.69a
181317.58MW gdpa7.8895.71a
18147.04MW gdpa8.1187.48a
1815-15.02MW gdpa8.35410.68a
1816-11.44MW gdpa8.59615.38a
1817-8.48MW gdpa8.84615.89a
1818-7.75MW gdpa9.10213.89a
1819-3.28MW gdpa9.36713.00a
1820-6.31MW gdpa9.63812.68a
1821-1.87MW gdpa9.92112.13a
18225.89MW gdpa10.21211.46a
1823-9.28MW gdpa10.51111.85a
1824-6.66MW gdpa10.81911.85a
18254.52MW gdpa11.13610.07a
18261.82MW gdpa11.4629.25a
18272.6MW gdpa11.7988.00a
1828-3.4MW gdpa12.1447.44a
1829-0.15MW gdpa12.5006.21a
18300.66MW gdpa12.8664.71a
1831-5.19MW gdpa13.2353.67a
18320.48MW gdpa13.6142.13a
1833-0.47MW gdpa14.0050.60a
18343.55MW gdpa14.4060.39a
18354.68MW gdpa14.8190.00a
18367.36MW gdpa15.2440.00a
18374.13MW gdpa15.6820.02a
1838-1.33MW gdpa16.1310.20a
18391.41MW gdpa16.5940.62a
1840-5.5MW gdpa17.0700.22a
18412.74MW gdpa17.6010.31a
1842-5.28MW gdpa18.1490.83a
1843-8.05MW gdpa18.7142.05a
18442.94MW gdpa19.2961.35a
18452.88MW gdpa19.8970.84a
18462.93MW gdpa20.5160.74a
18479.93MW gdpa21.1541.57a
1848-2.65MW gdpa21.8131.88a
1849-1.72MW gdpa22.4922.53a
18502.09MW gdpa23.1922.39a
1851-2.53MW gdpa23.9092.44a
18521MW gdpa24.6482.11a
1853-0.2MW gdpa25.4091.77a
18548.67MW gdpa26.1951.11a
18552.91MW gdpa27.0040.88a
1856-2.19MW gdpa27.8390.78a
18572.77MW gdpa28.6990.68a
1858-6.14MW gdpa29.5861.08a
18590.88MW gdpa30.5011.31a
1860-1.87MW gdpa31.4431.47a
18614.06MW gdpa32.0911.94a
186213.42MW gdpa32.7538.91a
186324.05MW gdpa33.42814.46a
186422.88MW gdpa34.11718.91a
18651.61MW gdpa34.82026.77a
1866-4.37MW gdpa35.53730.48a
1867-8.99MW gdpa36.27031.64a
1868-6.26MW gdpa37.01731.61a
1869-6.46MW gdpa37.78032.32a
1870-4.36MW gdpa38.55831.40a
1871-6.63MW gdpa39.58830.36a
18720.03MW gdpa40.64626.82a
1873-2.17MW gdpa41.73225.01a
1874-4.92MW gdpa42.84726.00a
1875-3.61MW gdpa43.99126.79a
1876-2.33MW gdpa45.16625.71a
1877-2.41MW gdpa46.37325.35a
1878-4.88MW gdpa47.61226.37a
18790.03MW gdpa48.88324.59a
18802.44MW gdpa50.18920.02a
1881-0.28MW gdpa51.34217.38a
1882-0.26MW gdpa52.52115.32a
1883-1.93MW gdpa53.72614.91a
1884-2.68MW gdpa54.96015.12a
1885-1.95MW gdpa56.22215.63a
1886-3.06MW gdpa57.51314.15a
18870.67MW gdpa58.83312.22a
1888-0.26MW gdpa60.18411.81a
1889-2.96MW gdpa61.56611.29a
1890-0.89MW gdpa62.9809.95a
18911.02MW gdpa64.1929.70a
18921.05MW gdpa65.4289.39a
18930.06MW gdpa66.6889.70a
1894-3.52MW gdpa67.97211.18a
1895-1.11MW gdpa69.28110.40a
18960.95MW gdpa70.61511.07a
1897-0.05MW gdpa71.97410.91a
18981.04MW gdpa73.3609.63a
18990.99MW gdpa74.7739.90a
19002.92MW gdpa76.21210.08a
19012.95MW gdpa77.6809.35a
19022.9MW gdpa79.1768.72a
19034.83MW gdpa80.7018.27a
19042.57MW gdpa82.2558.59a
19050.81MW gdpa83.8397.70a
19063.71MW gdpa85.4537.35a
19076.49MW gdpa87.0997.09a
1908-0.18MW gdpa88.7768.53a
1909-1.49MW gdpa90.4868.11a
19102.63MW gdpa92.2297.86a
1911-0.49MW gdpa93.5237.98a
19124.17MW gdpa94.8367.60a
19130.75MW gdpa96.1677.38a
19140.86MW gdpa97.5167.91a
19153.29MW gdpa98.8857.83a
191614.48MW gdpa100.2737.20a
191722.75MW gdpa101.6809.49a
191818MW gdpa103.10719.06a
19192.49MW gdpa104.55434.63a
192013.78MW gdpa106.02229.08a
1921-14.44MW gdpa107.62632.26a
1922-5.79MW gdpa109.25430.97a
19233.15MW gdpa110.90825.92a
1924-1.28MW gdpa112.58624.21a
19251.82MW gdpa114.29022.43a
19260.5MW gdpa116.01920.07a
1927-2.42MW gdpa117.77519.19a
19280.76MW gdpa119.55717.91a
19290.73MW gdpa121.36616.19a
1930-3.3592.2a123.20317.55a
1931-9.6577.4a124.07121.71a
1932-10.2259.5a124.94532.75a
1933-2.6357.2a125.82539.40a
19345.9766.8a126.71240.50a
19352.1874.2a127.60538.68a
19361.3984.8a128.50439.83a
19374.5593a129.41039.17a
1938-2.7187.4a130.32142.52a
1939-1.1693.4a131.24043.30a
19401.36102.9a132.16549.27a
19417.95129.3a133.96644.49a
19429.5166a135.79247.71a
19435.32203.1a137.64370.24a
19442.53224.4a139.51990.94a
19452.58228a141.421114.09a
194611.39227.5a143.349119.12a
194710.86249.6a145.303103.02a
19485.86274.5a147.28391.81a
1949-0.17272.5a149.29192.70a
19501.33299.8a151.32685.67a
19517.66346.9a153.91773.59a
19521.8367.3a156.55270.54a
19531.52391.2a159.23267.99a
19540.72391a161.95869.26a
19552.01430.2a164.73163.78a
19563.93451.2a167.55160.44a
19573.2479.5a170.42056.78a
19582.04485.8a173.33757.57a
19591.34525a176.30554.76a
19601.44545.6a179.32353.25a
19611.04567.7a181.58851.55a
19621.27609a183.88149.74a
19630.99644.4a186.20448.16a
19641.87692a188.55545.67a
19651.93749.3a190.93743.02a
19663.34819.6a193.34840.08a
19672.83865.2a195.79039.35a
19684.56950.8a198.26338.78a
19695.381030a200.76635.51a
19705.021086.1a203.30235.07a
19715.431177.7a205.51534.66a
19724.211290.6a207.75233.78a
19736.331433.8a210.01332.52a
19749.431560a212.29931.02a
19758.81709.8a214.60931.70a
19765.381886.6a216.94533.34a
19776.522118.5a219.30733.34a
19787.812395.1a221.69432.42a
19798.992667.6a224.10731.09a
19808.712856.5a226.54631.82a
19819.823260.6a228.67030.51a
19825.83366.3a230.81533.79a
19833.863689.2a232.97937.18a
19843.814084.3a235.16438.31a
19853.144386.8a237.36941.43a
19861.924607.7a239.59546.02a
19872.754884.6a241.84248.03a
19883.965282.8a244.11049.24a
19893.95695.4a246.39950.35a
19903.896015.1a248.71053.30a
19913.286205.9a251.80257.98a
19922.156566.6a254.93360.94a
19932.526882.1a258.10363.22a
19942.197331.1a261.31263.34a
19952.137683.1a264.56164.04a
19961.788131.4a267.85063.72a
19971.868662.8a271.18061.98a
19981.199121.1a274.55260.06a
19991.419686.6a277.96657.87a
20002.5510318.2a282.17254.55a
20012.2210598a285.08254.44a
20021.510984a287.80456.43a
20032.0711566.7a290.32658.44a
20042.8912305.3a293.04659.77a
20053.3613142.6a295.75360.15a
20063.2113870.2a298.59360.93a
20072.6314564.1a301.58061.46a
20082.0314899a304.37567.03a
20090.1114448.9a307.00782.19a
20101.4515141.6a309.32789.35a
20112.415647.7a311.58394.35a
20121.7216319.5a313.87898.35a
20131.6516953.8a316.06098.62a
20141.9617804.2a318.38699.95a
20150.9118401.6a320.73998.47a
20160.8618892.6a323.072103.42a

Legend:
a - actual reported
i - interpolated between actual reported values

Data Sources for 1792:
GDP: Samuel H. Williamson, "What Was the U.S. GDP Then?" MeasuringWorth, 2015.
Federal: Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the US, Colonial Times to 1970
State and Local: not available

Data Sources for 2016:
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

back to chart |back to table | back to top

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Spending Data Sources

Spending data is from official government sources.

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.

Gross Federal Debt

Debt Now:  $34,552,930,923,742.92
Debt 2/2020:$23,409,959,150,243.63

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Data Sources for 1792_2016:

Sources for 1792:

GDP: Samuel H. Williamson, "What Was the U.S. GDP Then?" MeasuringWorth, 2015.
Federal: Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the US, Colonial Times to 1970
State and Local: not available

Sources for 2016:

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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