Spending Analyses:

Numbers — Charts:

Federal Budget:

Contact

Follow @chrischantrill

US Federal Budget Analyst

A comparison of federal outlays for FY 2018 estimated in various federal budgets against the actual outlays in FY 2018.

Estimated vs. Actual Federal Spending
for Fiscal Year 2018 from Federal Budgets

smaller text bigger text

download view

download file

print view

Units: By default, values are displayed in billions of nominal dollars. By using a dropdown control in the table heading you can select millions of dollars, percent of GDP, percent of federal total, percent of overall total, dollars per capita of population, and thousand dollars per capita of population. Fiscal Year: The default year displayed is the current US government fiscal year. But you can select any 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 year to get close, then select the year you want. You can increase or decrease the year using the “yr” text links in the table heading. full screen
	US Federal Government Outlays Budgeted vs. Actual
-5yr -1yr Fiscal Year 2018 in $ billion +1yr +5yr

			Estimates for FY 2018 Federal Outlays in US Budgets
Change View: people old default radical census programs altprog COFOG			Estimate in FY14 Budget	Estimate in FY15 Budget	Estimate in FY16 Budget	Estimate in FY17 Budget	Estimate in FY18 Budget	Estimate in FY19 Budget	Actual 2018
[–]	Pensions: Start chart		1,151.0	1,136.0	1,117.9	1,089.9	1,061.8	1,044.5	1,047.4
	[+]	Sickness and disability	176.6	172.4	165.5	162.9	154.6	153.1	152.9
	[+]	Old age	974.5	963.5	952.4	927.0	907.3	891.3	894.5
[–]	Health Care: Start chart		1,211.5	1,192.4	1,175.0	1,217.4	1,120.5	1,182.4	1,139.9
	[+]	Medical service (Seniors)	614.7	595.0	592.3	607.9	588.4	588.4	588.7
	[+]	Medical service
	[+]	Public health services	5.0	5.1	5.3	5.2	4.2	4.7	4.2
	[+]	R and D Health	34.8	32.7	33.6	36.8	33.0	37.7	35.5
	[+]	Health n.e.c.
	[+]	Vendor Payments (Medical)	557.0	559.6	543.8	567.5	494.9	551.7	511.6
[–]	Education: Start chart		133.5	133.0	138.9	133.2	108.3	111.6	107.9
	[+]	Pre primary thru secondary education	51.2	45.9	46.0	42.8	40.5	41.0	39.5
	[+]	Tertiary education	32.7	40.3	40.9	38.7	26.5	24.0	24.6
	[+]	Education not definable by level	49.6	46.7	51.9	51.8	41.4	46.6	43.8
	[+]	Subsidiary services to education
	[+]	R and D Education
	[+]	Education n.e.c.
[–] Charts: Click on a to display a bar of data in a row or column of this table. Click on to display a time-series chart of data in a row. [+] Drill-down: Click on the [+] to drill down to more detailed numbers. For federal spending line items (but not revenue) you can drill down three levels to view about 4,000 items of spending at the “agency code” level.	Defense: Start chart		815.4	801.6	822.7	835.0	885.9	867.8	859.0
	[+]	Military defense	592.0	578.7	592.0	599.0	652.6	643.3	631.3
	[+]	Civil defense
	[+]	Veterans	171.4	175.0	178.3	179.3	177.9	177.2	178.9
	[+]	Foreign military aid	11.9	10.9	12.8	12.9	14.9	14.7	11.4
	[+]	Foreign economic aid	40.1	37.0	39.6	43.8	40.5	32.7	37.5
	[+]	R and D Defence
	[+]	Defence n.e.c.	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
[–]	Welfare: Start chart		382.9	390.8	402.3	397.3	353.5	354.0	348.3
	[+]	Family and children	285.9	293.8	307.2	304.9	268.1	272.4	267.9
	[+]	Unemployment	48.2	47.1	43.7	41.9	37.5	32.3	30.9
	[+]	Unemployment trust
	[+]	Housing	48.8	49.9	51.3	50.5	47.9	49.3	49.5
	[+]	Social exclusion n.e.c.
	[+]	R and D Social protection
	[+]	Social protection n.e.c.
[–]	Protection: Start chart		38.7	37.5	39.7	40.2	41.5	42.3	38.2
	[+]	Police services	31.2	30.2	32.1	32.6	34.3	35.2	31.3
	[+]	Fire protection services
	[+]	Prisons	7.6	7.3	7.6	7.6	7.2	7.0	6.8
	[+]	R and D Public order and safety
	[+]	Public order and safety n.e.c.
[–]	Transportation: Start chart		111.8	105.4	107.2	108.1	91.8	94.4	92.8
	[+]	Transport	111.8	105.4	107.2	108.1	91.8	94.4	92.8
	[+]	Transit
[–]	General Government: Start chart		60.4	53.0	49.5	52.8	52.4	55.2	48.0
	[+]	Executive and legislative organs, financ	21.2	19.2	19.3	19.4	18.6	17.7	15.8
	[+]	Law courts	21.4	20.7	21.5	23.0	23.5	27.3	22.3
	[+]	General services	17.9	13.2	8.7	10.4	10.3	10.2	9.9
[–]	Other Spending: Start chart		82.4	119.8	145.9	93.7	63.9	110.6	102.5
	[+]	Basic research	18.7	18.0	18.6	18.3	18.8	18.7	19.1
	[+]	General economic, commercial and labour	-2.9	-7.0	-8.4	-9.2	-11.7	-11.8	-15.9
	[+]	Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunti	24.9	32.1	32.9	33.5	33.5	35.3	29.5
	[+]	Fuel and energy	-0.4	-4.4	-4.1	1.7	-1.9	-0.1	-2.4
	[+]	Mining, manufacturing and construction
	[+]	Communication	-2.3	-3.0	-2.0	-2.5	-1.8	2.6	-1.4
	[+]	Other industries
	[+]	R and D Economic affairs
	[+]	Economic affairs n.e.c.	14.8	9.9	17.5	15.5	10.7	12.3	9.3
	[+]	Waste management
	[+]	Waste water management
	[+]	Pollution abatement	8.3	8.2	9.5	7.9	6.6	8.0	8.0
	[+]	Protection of biodiversity and landscape	13.1	14.2	14.8	15.5	11.8	11.5	13.4
	[+]	R and D Environmental protection
	[+]	Environmental protection n.e.c.
	[+]	Housing development	-32.7	-42.3	-32.4	-33.7	-30.8	-3.2	-7.4
	[+]	Community development	16.4	18.1	20.7	18.9	23.1	54.3	42.2
	[+]	Water supply	7.2	6.6	8.1	7.6	8.1	8.5	5.9
	[+]	Street lighting
	[+]	R and D Housing and community amenities
	[+]	Housing and community amenities n.e.c.
	[+]	Recreational and sporting services	4.9	5.1	5.7	4.9	4.1	4.1	4.0
	[+]	Cultural services
	[+]	Broadcasting and publishing services
	[+]	Religious and other community services
	[+]	R and D Recreation, culture and religion
	[+]	Recreation, culture and religion n.e.c.
	[+]	R and D General public services
	[+]	General public services n.e.c.	12.5	64.4	64.9	15.3	-6.7	-29.6	-1.8
	[+]	Transfers of a general character between
[–]	Interest: Start chart		461.5	473.7	424.2	384.6	314.9	310.3	325.0
	[+]	Public debt transactions	461.5	473.7	424.2	384.6	314.9	310.3	325.0
[–]	Balance: Start chart		0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	-696.5
[–]	Total Spending: Start chart		4,449.2	4,443.1	4,423.3	4,352.2	4,094.5	4,173.0	4,109.0
	[+]	Total	4,449.2	4,443.1	4,423.3	4,352.2	4,094.5	4,173.0	4,109.0
[–]	Federal Deficit: Start chart		475.3	413.3	478.9	453.6	440.2	832.6	779.1
	[+]	Total Spending	4,449.2	4,443.1	4,423.3	4,352.2	4,094.5	4,173.0	4,109.0
	[+]	Total Revenue	-3,974.0	-4,029.9	-3,944.4	-3,898.6	-3,654.3	-3,340.4	-3,329.9
[–]	Gross Public Debt: Start chart		21,696.2	20,961.0	20,870.3	20,884.3	21,093.3	21,478.2	21,462.3
	[+]	Debt held by public (except monetized)	14,308.8	13,298.2	12,863.2	12,861.6	12,889.6	13,324.3	13,436.4
	[+]	Debt held by government	5,742.1	5,590.6	5,555.4	5,560.8	5,740.2	5,688.5	5,712.7
	[+]	Monetized debt	1,645.3	2,072.3	2,451.7	2,462.0	2,463.5	2,465.4	2,313.2
[–]	Other Borrowing: Start chart		0.0	0.0	296.4	281.3	298.7	439.9	477.6
	[+]	Borrowings from Govt. Accounts	0.0	0.0	165.3	174.5	209.7	148.3	172.5
	[+]	Other Liability Increase	0.0	0.0	131.1	106.8	89.0	291.7	305.1
[+]	Agency GSE Debt		0.0	0.0	0.0	8,875.9	8,875.9	9,260.6	9,089.6
[+]	Grants		0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	696.5
[+]	Gross Domestic Product
Spending: Pie Chart: Select a pie chart you wish to display. You can create a pie chart for federal, state and local, and overall spending/revenue. budgeted estimated guesstimated⁴ actual Data Sources for 2018: GDP, GO: GDP, GO Sources Federal: Fed. Budget: Hist. Tables 3.2, 5.1, 7.1							Switch to revenue

Spending Definitions

Pensions: Pensions, disability.

Health Care: Health care.

Education: K-12, college, training.

Defense: Military, foreign policy, veterans, foreign aid.

Welfare: Cash welfare, food stamps, unemployment benefits, workers compensation, housing, excluding health care.

Protection: Police, fire, law courts, prisons.

Transportation: Road, rail, airports.

General Government: Legislative, executive, finance.

Other Spending: Research, economic development, agriculture, energy, environment.

Interest: Interest on government debt.

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

Notes

Starting with the 1986 budget, the Office of Management and Budget provides six years of estimated outlays for each function and subfunction extending from the fiscal year in which the federal budget is published to five years into the future. For instance, the 1986 budget historical tables included estimates for FY85, FY86, FY87, FY88, FY89, and FY90. Starting with FY90, OMB will have made six estimates of outlays for each year before the actual outlays for a fiscal year is reported.

But. For the “default” and “programs” views, we have extracted data from the Public Budget Database to expand Social Security and Medicare beyond the single line item each gets in Table 3.2. The Public Budget Database starts publishing six years of estimated outlays with the FY10 budget, so this page will only provide a full six years of estimates starting with estimated vs. actual data for 2014.

The table shows overall budgeted federal expenditures for major functions for the specified fiscal year, as estimated in the historical tables in several presidential budgets. You can compare these estimates with the actual expenditures for the fiscal year as reported in the budget historical tables after the specified fiscal year is over.

You can change the year or drill down to view more detailed spending information.

Data Sources: Federal spending from Budget of the United States Government.

For a discussion of the sources of the government spending data used here read How We Got the Data for usgovernmentspending.com.

Budget Updates: The president’s budget is typically published each year in February.

Download Estimated vs. Actual Budget Data for 2018

Tab-delimited Table

Here is the budget table with columns tab-delimited. You can cut and paste directly into a spreadsheet:

You can copy all the text in the textbox by clicking your cursor in the box. Then press Ctrl-A and Ctrl-C and paste the text into your spreadsheet.

US Federal Government Outlays Budgeted vs. Actual Fiscal Year 2018 Amounts in $ billion Estimates for FY 2018 Federal Outlays in US Budgets Estimate in FY14 Budget Estimate in FY15 Budget Estimate in FY16 Budget Estimate in FY17 Budget Estimate in FY18 Budget Estimate in FY19 Budget Actual 2018 Pensions 1,151.0 b 1,136.0 b 1,117.9 b 1,089.9 b 1,061.8 b 1,044.5 b 1,047.4 a -Sickness and disability 176.6 b 172.4 b 165.5 b 162.9 b 154.6 b 153.1 b 152.9 a -Old age 974.5 b 963.5 b 952.4 b 927.0 b 907.3 b 891.3 b 894.5 a Health Care 1,211.5 b 1,192.4 b 1,175.0 b 1,217.4 b 1,120.5 b 1,182.4 b 1,139.9 a -Medical service (Seniors) 614.7 b 595.0 b 592.3 b 607.9 b 588.4 b 588.4 b 588.7 a -Medical service n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Public health services 5.0 b 5.1 b 5.3 b 5.2 b 4.2 b 4.7 b 4.2 a -R and D Health 34.8 b 32.7 b 33.6 b 36.8 b 33.0 b 37.7 b 35.5 a -Health n.e.c. n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Vendor Payments (Medical) 557.0 b 559.6 b 543.8 b 567.5 b 494.9 b 551.7 b 511.6 a Education 133.5 b 133.0 b 138.9 b 133.2 b 108.3 b 111.6 b 107.9 a -Pre primary thru secondary education 51.2 b 45.9 b 46.0 b 42.8 b 40.5 b 41.0 b 39.5 a -Tertiary education 32.7 b 40.3 b 40.9 b 38.7 b 26.5 b 24.0 b 24.6 a -Education not definable by level 49.6 b 46.7 b 51.9 b 51.8 b 41.4 b 46.6 b 43.8 a -Subsidiary services to education n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -R and D Education n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Education n.e.c. n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Defense 815.4 b 801.6 b 822.7 b 835.0 b 885.9 b 867.8 b 859.0 a -Military defense 592.0 b 578.7 b 592.0 b 599.0 b 652.6 b 643.3 b 631.3 a -Civil defense n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Veterans 171.4 b 175.0 b 178.3 b 179.3 b 177.9 b 177.2 b 178.9 a -Foreign military aid 11.9 b 10.9 b 12.8 b 12.9 b 14.9 b 14.7 b 11.4 a -Foreign economic aid 40.1 b 37.0 b 39.6 b 43.8 b 40.5 b 32.7 b 37.5 a -R and D Defence n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Defence n.e.c. 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Welfare 382.9 b 390.8 b 402.3 b 397.3 b 353.5 b 354.0 b 348.3 a -Family and children 285.9 b 293.8 b 307.2 b 304.9 b 268.1 b 272.4 b 267.9 a -Unemployment 48.2 b 47.1 b 43.7 b 41.9 b 37.5 b 32.3 b 30.9 a -Unemployment trust n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Housing 48.8 b 49.9 b 51.3 b 50.5 b 47.9 b 49.3 b 49.5 a -Social exclusion n.e.c. n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -R and D Social protection n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Social protection n.e.c. n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Protection 38.7 b 37.5 b 39.7 b 40.2 b 41.5 b 42.3 b 38.2 a -Police services 31.2 b 30.2 b 32.1 b 32.6 b 34.3 b 35.2 b 31.3 a -Fire protection services n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Prisons 7.6 b 7.3 b 7.6 b 7.6 b 7.2 b 7.0 b 6.8 a -R and D Public order and safety n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Public order and safety n.e.c. n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Transportation 111.8 b 105.4 b 107.2 b 108.1 b 91.8 b 94.4 b 92.8 a -Transport 111.8 b 105.4 b 107.2 b 108.1 b 91.8 b 94.4 b 92.8 a -Transit n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a General Government 60.4 b 53.0 b 49.5 b 52.8 b 52.4 b 55.2 b 48.0 a -Executive and legislative organs, financ 21.2 b 19.2 b 19.3 b 19.4 b 18.6 b 17.7 b 15.8 a -Law courts 21.4 b 20.7 b 21.5 b 23.0 b 23.5 b 27.3 b 22.3 a -General services 17.9 b 13.2 b 8.7 b 10.4 b 10.3 b 10.2 b 9.9 a Other Spending 82.4 b 119.8 b 145.9 b 93.7 b 63.9 b 110.6 b 102.5 a -Basic research 18.7 b 18.0 b 18.6 b 18.3 b 18.8 b 18.7 b 19.1 a -General economic, commercial and labour -2.9 b -7.0 b -8.4 b -9.2 b -11.7 b -11.8 b -15.9 a -Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunti 24.9 b 32.1 b 32.9 b 33.5 b 33.5 b 35.3 b 29.5 a -Fuel and energy -0.4 b -4.4 b -4.1 b 1.7 b -1.9 b -0.1 b -2.4 a -Mining, manufacturing and construction n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Communication -2.3 b -3.0 b -2.0 b -2.5 b -1.8 b 2.6 b -1.4 a -Other industries n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -R and D Economic affairs n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Economic affairs n.e.c. 14.8 b 9.9 b 17.5 b 15.5 b 10.7 b 12.3 b 9.3 a -Waste management n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Waste water management n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Pollution abatement 8.3 b 8.2 b 9.5 b 7.9 b 6.6 b 8.0 b 8.0 a -Protection of biodiversity and landscape 13.1 b 14.2 b 14.8 b 15.5 b 11.8 b 11.5 b 13.4 a -R and D Environmental protection n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Environmental protection n.e.c. n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Housing development -32.7 b -42.3 b -32.4 b -33.7 b -30.8 b -3.2 b -7.4 a -Community development 16.4 b 18.1 b 20.7 b 18.9 b 23.1 b 54.3 b 42.2 a -Water supply 7.2 b 6.6 b 8.1 b 7.6 b 8.1 b 8.5 b 5.9 a -Street lighting n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -R and D Housing and community amenities n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Housing and community amenities n.e.c. n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Recreational and sporting services 4.9 b 5.1 b 5.7 b 4.9 b 4.1 b 4.1 b 4.0 a -Cultural services n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Broadcasting and publishing services n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Religious and other community services n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -R and D Recreation, culture and religion n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -Recreation, culture and religion n.e.c. n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -R and D General public services n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a -General public services n.e.c. 12.5 b 64.4 b 64.9 b 15.3 b -6.7 b -29.6 b -1.8 a -Transfers of a general character between n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Interest 461.5 b 473.7 b 424.2 b 384.6 b 314.9 b 310.3 b 325.0 a -Public debt transactions 461.5 b 473.7 b 424.2 b 384.6 b 314.9 b 310.3 b 325.0 a Balance 0.0 b 0.0 b 0.0 b 0.0 b 0.0 b 0.0 b -696.5 a Total Spending 4,449.2 b 4,443.1 b 4,423.3 b 4,352.2 b 4,094.5 b 4,173.0 b 4,109.0 a -Total 4,449.2 b 4,443.1 b 4,423.3 b 4,352.2 b 4,094.5 b 4,173.0 b 4,109.0 a Federal Deficit 475.3 b 413.3 b 478.9 b 453.6 b 440.2 b 832.6 b 779.1 a -Total Spending 4,449.2 b 4,443.1 b 4,423.3 b 4,352.2 b 4,094.5 b 4,173.0 b 4,109.0 a -Total Revenue -3,974.0 b -4,029.9 b -3,944.4 b -3,898.6 b -3,654.3 b -3,340.4 b -3,329.9 a Gross Public Debt 21,696.2 e 20,961.0 e 20,870.3 e 20,884.3 e 21,093.3 e 21,478.2 e 21,462.3 a -Debt held by public (except monetized) 14,308.8 e 13,298.2 e 12,863.2 e 12,861.6 e 12,889.6 e 13,324.3 e 13,436.4 a -Debt held by government 5,742.1 b 5,590.6 b 5,555.4 b 5,560.8 b 5,740.2 b 5,688.5 b 5,712.7 a -Monetized debt 1,645.3 e 2,072.3 e 2,451.7 e 2,462.0 e 2,463.5 e 2,465.4 e 2,313.2 a Other Borrowing 0.0 0.0 296.4 b 281.3 b 298.7 b 439.9 b 477.6 a -Borrowings from Govt. Accounts 0.0 0.0 165.3 b 174.5 b 209.7 b 148.3 b 172.5 a -Other Liability Increase 0.0 0.0 131.1 b 106.8 b 89.0 b 291.7 b 305.1 a Agency GSE Debt 0.0 0.0 0.0 g 8,875.9 g 8,875.9 g 9,260.6 g 9,089.6 a Grants 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 696.5 a Gross Domestic Product 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Legend: b - estimated by US budget e - estimated by usgovernmentspending.com g - 'guesstimated' projection by usgovernmentspending.com a - actual reported Data Sources for 2018: Federal: <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/budget/2018/BUDGET-2018-TAB Fed. Budget: Hist. Tables 3.2, 5.1, 7.1 source: usgovernmentspending.com

Federal
Budget

Budget
Estimat.

Budget
Actual

Budget Est.
vs. Actual