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Total US Government Spending

Headline federal, state, local, and total US government spending.

  Amounts in $ trillionFY 2022FY 2023 
Federal Spending6.275.79
Intergov. Transfers-1.22-1.03
State Spending2.162.19
Local Spending2.312.4
TOTAL Spending9.529.35
Spending: actual budgeted guesstimated

Total US government spending includes federal, state, and local government spending net of intergovernmental transfers.

Intergovernmental Transfers are federal spending transferred to state and local govenments. State and local spending is guesstimated. Latest state data: FY 2021; latest local data: FY 2020.

Total Spending Pie Chart for FY 2022

We have total spending data (federal+state+local) going back to 1820. Individual state and local spending data going back to 1957.

  Spending FunctionsFY 2022 
Pensions inc. SoSec$1.69 trillion
Health care$2.17 trillion
Education$1.81 trillion
Defense$1.11 trillion
Welfare$0.65 trillion
Protection$0.34 trillion
Transportation$0.39 trillion
Gen. Government$0.21 trillion
Other Spending$0.53 trillion
Interest$0.51 trillion
TOTAL Spending$9.52 trillion
Spending: guesstimated

Federal Deficits

The Deficit is the amount by which the federal government’s total budget outlays exceeds its total receipts for a fiscal year.

Last year, FY 2022, the deficit was $1,375 billion.

This year, FY 2023, the deficit is budgeted at $1,154 billion.

Federal Debt

The Gross Federal Debt is the gross amount of debt outstanding issued by the US Treasury.

Last year, FY 2022, the gross federal debt ended at $30.93 trillion.

This year, FY 2023, the gross federal debt is budgeted at $32.59 trillion.

Welfare Spending

Welfare Spending in the United States includes health care for the poor; income security including EITC, SSI, TANF; food assistance; housing assistance; unemployment compensation.

Welfare Spending is budgeted in FY 2023 at $1,304 billion, including Medicaid at $756 billion, and other welfare spending at $549 billion.

Defense Spending

Defense Spending in the United States is budgeted in FY 2023 at $1,168.4 billion, including Pentagon spending $808.6 billion, veterans spending at $296.4 billion and foreign aid spending at $63.4 billion.

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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:  $31,454,636,989,653.27
Debt 2/2020:$23,409,959,150,243.63

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Data Sources for 2020_2027:

Sources for 2020:

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 2027:

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

 On January 6, 2023 the US Census Bureau released data on state finances for FY 2021 here and here, including spending and revenue for each individual state and for all states combined.

On January 7, 2023 we updated state and local spending and revenue data for FY2021 through FY2027 as follows:

  1. We replaced "guesstimatedstate spending and revenue data for FY2021 using the new FY2021 data from the Census Bureau.
  2. We replaced "guesstimatedlocal spending and revenue data for FY 2021 with estimates for each spending and revenue category using the trends in state finances between FY 2020 and FY 2021.
  3. We replaced "guesstimatedstate revenue data for FY 2022 with data from the Census Bureau's quarterly state tax summary here.
  4. We replaced "guesstimatedlocal revenue data for FY 2022 with estimates for each category using trends for each category of state revenue between FY 2020 and FY 2021.
  5. We replaced "guesstimated" state and local spending and revenue for FY 2022 thru FY2027 with new guesstimates based on the latest Census Bureau data for FY 2021 state finances and FY 2022 quarterly tax data.

But there is a problem.

Up through 2018 the Census Bureau reports state government pensions with item codes: X11, X12, X14. And it reported employee retirement income and contributions with item codes: X01, X02, X05, X08. 

No more. 

Instead the Census Bureau reports the following item codes: X01, X30, X40, X52, X70.

But we can't find the current "code lists" that are used in the Census Bureau's State Government Finances report. The Code List page only has the old code list. As of this hour.

But, using advanced juggle-ology, it seems that: 

Code X40 replaces X11, X12, and X14 to yield pension payments. This almost balances with overall Total Spending for the US and sample states.

Codes X01, X30, X52, X70 replace X01, X02, X05, X08 to yield pension contributions and income. This almost balances overall Total Revenue for the US and sample states.

So the state finances data on usgovernmentspending.com published for 2020 contains juggled data. 

Here is the comparison of our "guesstimate" vs. "actual:"

State Finances for FY2021
Estimate vs. Actual

$ billionGuesstimateActual
Spending$2,228$2,265
Revenue$2.060$2,101


We expect the Census Bureau to release local spending and revenue data for FY 2021 not earlier than Summer 2023.

Medicaid Update for FY 2021
 On January 6, 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published its annual report on  ...

US, State Population Update for 2022
On December 29, 2022 the US Census Bureau released its US national and state population estimates for July 1, 2022.  On December 30, 2022 usgovernmentspending.com updated its US and state popu ...

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