Site Map  enter code:

Spending Analyses:

Debt, Deficit Analyses:

Numbers — Charts:

 

    Contact    

Spending In 20th Century

Create and customize your own charts of government spending.

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.

back to chart |back to top | down to data series


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.
? Total Spending: Federal: total outlays including grants to state and local. State and local: direct spending on programs
  ? Total Spending: Federal: total outlays including grants to state and local. State and local: direct spending on programs
  ? Total Spending: Federal: total outlays including grants to state and local. State and local: direct spending on programs
  ? Total Spending: Federal: total outlays including grants to state and local. State and local: direct spending on programs
  ? 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

back to chart |back to table | back to top

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

Spending In 20th Century
Fiscal Years 1900 to 2015
YearInflationGDP-US
$ billion nominal
Population-US
million
Total Spending - Gov. Xfer
percent GDP
Total Spending - Federal
percent GDP
Total Spending - State
percent GDP
Total Spending - Local
percent GDP
19002.92MW gdpa76.2120.002.97a0.58i4.04i
19012.95MW gdpa77.6800.002.79a0.56i3.96i
19022.9MW gdpa79.176-0.03a2.31a0.55a3.87a
19034.83MW gdpa80.701-0.03i2.25i0.55i3.84i
19042.57MW gdpa82.255-0.03i2.39i0.60i4.14i
19050.81MW gdpa83.839-0.03i2.24i0.57i3.95i
19063.71MW gdpa85.453-0.03i2.18i0.57i3.91i
19076.49MW gdpa87.099-0.03i2.10i0.56i3.83i
1908-0.18MW gdpa88.776-0.03i2.48i0.68i4.60i
1909-1.49MW gdpa90.486-0.03i2.46i0.69i4.64i
19102.63MW gdpa92.229-0.03i2.49i0.71i4.78i
1911-0.49MW gdpa93.523-0.03i2.54i0.74i4.96i
19124.17MW gdpa94.836-0.03i2.45i0.73i4.87i
19130.75MW gdpa96.167-0.03a2.45a0.75a4.96a
19140.86MW gdpa97.516-0.04i2.73i0.93i5.85i
19153.29MW gdpa98.885-0.05i2.69i1.01i6.06i
191614.48MW gdpa100.273-0.04i2.08i0.91i5.18i
191722.75MW gdpa101.680-0.04i3.83i0.88i4.74i
191818MW gdpa103.107-0.04i17.03i0.80i4.10i
19192.49MW gdpa104.554-0.05i23.84i0.89i4.36i
192013.78MW gdpa106.022-0.06i7.60i0.91i4.24i
1921-14.44MW gdpa107.626-0.11i7.42i1.26i5.59i
1922-5.79MW gdpa109.254-0.16a5.08a1.46a6.16a
19233.15MW gdpa110.908-0.14i4.31i1.33i5.66i
1924-1.28MW gdpa112.586-0.14i4.18i1.39i5.94i
19251.82MW gdpa114.290-0.13i3.96i1.41i6.09i
19260.5MW gdpa116.019-0.12i3.66i1.40i6.08i
1927-2.42MW gdpa117.775-0.13a3.66a1.50a6.59a
19280.76MW gdpa119.557-0.14i3.73i1.58i6.47i
19290.68MW gdpa121.366-0.15i3.64i1.59i6.09i
1930-3.3592.16a123.203-0.19i4.29i1.92i6.91i
1931-9.6277.391a124.071-0.26i5.31i2.45i8.23i
1932-10.1959.522a124.945-0.39a7.17a3.41a10.71a
1933-2.7457.154a125.825-1.06i8.93i3.65i10.56i
19346.0766.8a126.712-1.46a8.89a3.21a8.53a
19352.2374.241a127.605-1.27i10.17i3.09i7.92i
19361.3884.83a128.504-1.07a10.80a2.88a7.14a
19374.5193.003a129.410-0.90i9.47i2.97i6.97i
1938-2.7687.352a130.321-0.87a9.67a3.53a7.91a
1939-1.0693.437a131.240-0.88i9.91i3.55i7.81i
19401.31102.899a132.165-0.86a9.78a3.45a7.47a
19417.95129.309a133.966-0.68i10.95i2.75i5.81i
19429.45165.952a135.792-0.53a21.42a2.15a4.43a
19435.35203.084a137.643-0.48i40.86i1.69i3.58i
19442.57224.447a139.519-0.48a44.79a1.48a3.20a
19452.56228.007a141.421-0.43i46.87i1.82i3.57i
194611.4227.535a143.349-0.39a29.24a2.19a4.00a
194710.85249.616a145.303-0.53i16.59i2.58i4.50i
19485.84274.468a147.283-0.65a12.97a2.88a4.87a
1949-0.17272.475a149.291-0.76i14.75i3.44i5.58i
19501.35299.827a151.326-0.79a14.94a3.62a5.68a
19517.66346.914a153.917-0.69a14.11a3.12i5.35i
19521.8367.341a156.552-0.69a19.48a2.94a5.46a
19531.27389.218a159.232-0.74a20.55a2.95a5.52a
19540.92390.549a161.958-0.76a19.89a3.33a6.04a
19551.81425.478a164.731-0.73a17.26a3.38a6.11a
19563.48449.353a167.551-0.74a16.91a3.37a6.23a
19573.39474.039a170.420-0.82a17.25a3.54a6.49a
19582.26481.229a173.337-1.05a17.88a4.15a7.01a
19591.47521.654a176.305-1.22a17.93a4.30a6.93a
19601.4542.382a179.323-1.29a17.94a4.08a7.16a
19611.09562.209a181.588-1.26a18.65a4.37a7.55a
19621.29603.922a183.881-1.30i17.69a4.22a7.46a
19631.19637.45a186.204-1.36i17.46a4.35a7.37a
19641.61684.46a188.555-1.46i17.32a4.33a7.45a
19651.95742.289a190.937-1.49i15.93a4.24a7.44a
19662.99813.414a193.348-1.62i16.54a4.20a7.46a
19672.98859.959a195.790-1.79i18.31a4.62a7.71a
19684.47940.651a198.263-1.83i18.94a4.71a7.65a
19695.061017.62a200.766-1.88i18.05a4.86a8.07a
19705.291073.3a203.302-2.04i18.23a5.23a8.56a
19715.241164.85a205.515-2.24i18.04a5.68a8.98a
19724.551279.11a207.752-2.44i18.03a5.67a9.10a
19735.791425.38a210.013-2.75i17.24a5.47a8.93a
19748.951545.24a212.299-2.71i17.43a5.58a9.03a
19759.241684.9a214.609-2.79i19.72a6.18a9.56a
19765.81873.41a216.945-2.97i19.85a6.62a9.61a
19776.52081.83a219.307-3.00i19.66a6.19a9.34a
19787.422351.6a221.694-2.96i19.51a5.81a8.88a
19798.562627.33a224.107-2.86i19.18a5.66a8.82a
19809.012857.31a226.546-2.91i20.68a6.07a9.07a
19819.73207.04a228.670-2.82i21.15a6.18a8.94a
19826.073343.79a230.815-2.61i22.30a6.32a9.31a
19834.13634.04a232.979-2.48i22.24a6.41a9.14a
19843.874037.61a235.164-2.40i21.10a6.01a8.81a
19853.294338.98a237.369-2.45i21.81a6.20a8.91a
19862.084579.63a239.595-2.47i21.63a6.38a9.24a
19872.564855.22a241.842-2.37i20.68a6.48a9.48a
19883.675236.44a244.110-2.25i20.33a6.36a9.38a
19894.065641.58a246.399-2.25i20.27a6.38a9.36a
19903.815963.14a248.710-2.39i21.01a6.66a9.65a
19913.386158.13a251.802-2.60i21.50a7.18a10.03a
19922.366520.33a254.933-2.73a21.19a7.65a9.93a
19932.436858.56a258.103-2.82a20.55a7.72a9.93a
19942.227287.24a261.312-2.89a20.06a7.55a9.75a
19952.157639.75a264.561-2.94a19.84a7.81a9.84a
19961.98073.12a267.850-2.82a19.33a7.53a9.74a
19971.88577.55a271.180-2.73a18.67a7.33a9.65a
19981.179062.82a274.552-2.72a18.23a7.18a9.65a
19991.489631.17a277.966-2.78a17.67a7.20a9.64a
20002.3610251a282.172-2.79a17.45a7.38a9.62a
20012.2710581.9a285.082-3.01a17.60a7.89a9.97i
20021.5810929.1a287.804-3.23a18.40a8.40a10.33a
20032.0311456.4a290.326-3.39a18.85a8.53a10.34i
20042.7912217.2a293.046-3.34a18.77a8.32a10.20a
20053.2413039.2a295.753-3.28a18.96a8.18a9.95a
20063.1713815.6a298.593-3.14a19.22a8.12a9.94a
20072.7614474.2a301.580-3.07a18.85a8.14a10.26a
20081.9314769.9a304.375-3.12a20.19a8.53a10.66a
20090.614478.1a307.007-3.72a24.30a9.27a11.38a
20101.2515049a309.327-4.04a22.97a9.69a10.98a
20112.115599.7a311.583-3.89a23.10a9.67a10.55a
20121.916254a313.878-3.35a21.70a9.25a10.16a
20131.7416880.7a316.060-3.24a20.47a9.04a9.85a
20141.7917608.1a318.386-3.28a19.91a8.94a9.73a
20150.9618295a320.739-3.41a20.18a8.96a9.64a

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

Data Sources for 1900:
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: Hist. Stats of US, Colonial Times to 1970 and 1789 - 1945

Data Sources for 2015:
GDP, GO: GDP, GO Sources
Federal: Fed. Budget: Hist. Tables 3.2, 5.1, 7.1
State and Local: State and Local Gov. Finances

back to chart |back to table | back to top

Suggested Video: All About Debt

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.

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:  $38,380,536,147,996.03
Debt 2/2020:$23,409,959,150,243.63

Site Search

Win Cash for Bugs

File a valid bug report and get a $5 Amazon Gift Certificate.

Get the Books


Price: $0.99
Or download
for free.

From
usgovernment
spending.com
Price: $1.99

Life after liberalism Price: $0.99
Or download
for free.

US Government Spending 2020: only 99¢.

US Government Spending 2012: free.

Blog

Federal Budget for FY27 Released

On April 4, 2026, we updated usgovernmentspending.com with the numbers from the Public Budget Database in the Budget of the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2027

Here is how headline budget estimates for the upcoming FY 2027 fiscal year have changed since the release of the FY 2025 budget in Winter 2024. There were no budgetary estimates in the budget documents for the FY 2026 budget.

Federal Budget Changes for 2027
$ billionEstimate for 2027
in FY2025 Budget
Estimate for 2027
in FY2027 Budget
Change
Federal Outlays$7,696.6$8,092.9 +$569.1
Federal Receipts$6,186.2$5,921.0+$279.1
Federal Deficit$1,510.3$2,171.9+$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 2031 come from the Outlays table in the Public Budget Database and were updated on usgovernmentspending.com on April 4, 2026.

Account level budget authority estimates through FY 2031 come from the Budget Authority table in the Public Budget Database and were updated on usgovernmentspending.com on April 4, 2026. 

US GDP for 2025 Released
On March 15, 2026 usgovernmentspending.com updated its GDP series with the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis ...

US, State Population Update for 2025
On January 21, 2026 the US Census Bureau released its US national and state population estimates for July 1, 2025.  On February 7, 2026 usgovernmentspending.com updated its US and state popula ...

> blog

Spend Links

us numbersus budgetcustom chartdeficit/gdpspend/gdpdebt/gdpus gdpus real gdpstate gdpbreakdownfederalstatelocal202420252026californiatexas

Masthead

usgovernmentspending.com was designed and executed by:

Christopher Chantrill.

Email here.


presented by Christopher Chantrill

Data Sources  •   •  Contact

closed