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US Federal Debt As Percent Of GDP

Create and customize charts of government debt.

Change: from to
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 2012 dollars, percent of GDP, 2012 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.
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.

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 2009) 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 “fullsize” tab control above the chart display.

Download Data

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Download Data File

 

Click button to download CSV file of dataset in chart.
 

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 As Percent Of GDP
Fiscal Years 1930 to 2010
YearGDP-US
$ billion nominal
Population-US
million
Gross Public Debt -fed
percent GDP
193092.2123.20317.55a
193177.4124.07121.71a
193259.5124.94532.75a
193357.2125.82539.40a
193466.8126.71240.50a
193574.2127.60538.68a
193684.8128.50439.83a
193793129.41039.17a
193887.4130.32142.52a
193993.4131.24043.30a
1940102.9132.16549.27a
1941129.3133.96644.49a
1942166135.79247.71a
1943203.1137.64370.24a
1944224.4139.51990.94a
1945228141.421114.09a
1946227.5143.349119.12a
1947249.6145.303103.02a
1948274.5147.28391.81a
1949272.5149.29192.70a
1950299.8151.32685.67a
1951346.9153.91773.59a
1952367.3156.55270.54a
1953389.2159.23268.34a
1954390.5161.95869.35a
1955425.5164.73164.48a
1956449.4167.55160.68a
1957474170.42057.44a
1958481.2173.33758.12a
1959521.7176.30555.10a
1960542.4179.32353.56a
1961562.2181.58852.05a
1962603.9183.88150.16a
1963637.5186.20448.68a
1964684.5188.55546.17a
1965742.3190.93743.42a
1966813.4193.34840.39a
1967860195.79039.59a
1968940.7198.26339.19a
19691017.6200.76635.94a
19701073.3203.30235.49a
19711164.9205.51535.04a
19721279.1207.75234.08a
19731425.4210.01332.71a
19741545.2212.29931.32a
19751684.9214.60932.16a
19761873.4216.94533.57a
19772081.8219.30733.93a
19782351.6221.69433.02a
19792627.3224.10731.57a
19802857.3226.54631.81a
19813207228.67031.02a
19823343.8230.81534.01a
19833634232.97937.75a
19844037.6235.16438.75a
19854339237.36941.89a
19864579.6239.59546.30a
19874855.2241.84248.32a
19885236.4244.11049.67a
19895641.6246.39950.83a
19905963.1248.71053.77a
19916158.1251.80258.43a
19926520.3254.93361.37a
19936858.6258.10363.44a
19947287.2261.31263.72a
19957639.7264.56164.41a
19968073.1267.85064.18a
19978577.6271.18062.60a
19989062.8274.55260.45a
19999630.7277.96658.20a
200010252.3282.17254.90a
200110581.8285.08254.53a
200210936.4287.80456.68a
200311458.2290.32659.00a
200412213.7293.04660.22a
200513036.6295.75360.64a
200613814.6298.59361.18a
200714451.9301.58061.93a
200814712.8304.37567.87a
200914448.9307.00782.19a
201014992.1309.32680.27e

Legend:
a - actual reported
i - interpolated between actual reported values
e - estimated by usgovernmentspending.com
b - budgeted estimate in US FY11 budget

Data Sources for 1930:
GDP, GO: GDP, GO Sources
Federal: Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the US, Colonial Times to 1970
State and Local: Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the US, Colonial Times to 1970

Data Sources for 2010:
GDP, GO: GDP, GO Sources
Federal: Fed. Budget: Hist. Tables 3.2, 5.1, 7.1
State and Local: State and Local Gov. Finances

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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.

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.

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Next Data Update

> State Quarterly Taxes FY17

> data update schedule.

CBO Long Term Budget Outlook for 2019

On June 25, 2019 the Congressional Budget Office released its annual Long Term Budget Outlook for 2019, which projects federal spending and revenue out into the 2040s.  As before, the CBO study shows that federal health-care programs and interest costs will eat the budget, with federal spending exceeding 28 percent GDP by mid century while federal revenue stays below 20 percent GDP.

UsGovernmentspending.com has updated its chart of the CBO Long Term Budget Outlook here.  You can download the data and also view CBO Long Term Budget Outlooks going back to 1999.

Spend links

us numbersus budgetcustom chartdeficit/gdpspend/gdpdebt/gdpus gdpus real gdpstate gdpbreakdownfederalstatelocal201720182019californiatexas

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usgovernmentspending.com was designed and executed by:

Christopher Chantrill.

Email here.


presented by Christopher Chantrill

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