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What is the federal spending on Education?

In FY 2026 federal spending on education was “guesstimated” to be $125 billion.

Federal Education Spending Analysis

This page shows the current trends in federal education spending. There are also charts on education spending history. See here for a general history of education spending.

Recent Federal Education Spending

Recent Federal Education Spending

Chart S.81f: Recent Federal Education Spending

In the 2010s federal education spending amounted to about $150 billion. But in the COVID crisis federal education spending bumped up.

In 2022 federal education spending blipped to $692 billion as President Biden inserted a student loan forgiveness program into the budget, and then sank to $14 billion in 2023 when the courts disallowed the program.

In 2026 federal education spending was $125 billion.

Recent Fed. Education Spending<br>as Pct GDP

Chart S.82f: Recent Fed. Education Spending
as Pct GDP

Viewed from a GDP perspective, federal education spending was pretty steady at 0.6 to 0.7 percent of GDP during the 2010s. Federal education spending doubled in 2020 due to the COVID crisis.

In 2022 federal education spending blipped to 2.7 percent of GDP as President Biden inserted a student loan forgiveness program into the budget, and then sank to 0.1 percent GDP in 2023 when the courts disallowed the program.

In 2026 federal education spending was 0.4 percent GDP.

See also Education Spending History.

Numbers — Charts:

History:

Analyses:

Federal Education Spending by Level Since 1900

Federal Education spending to about 1 percent GDP in 1960 but has generally declined in the years since. Except for COVID

Education Spending since 1900 by Level

Chart S.83f: Education Spending since 1900 by Level

There was almost no federal spending on education until the 1930s, when the Feds spent about 0.3 percent of GDP on education. After World War II the feds spent up to 1 percent GDP in the late 1940s on the GI Bill, and then about 0.3 percent GDP through the 1950s.

In the late 1960s federal spending on education sharply increased to almost one percent GDP. This included Head Start (under pre-primary education) and student loans (under higher education). Under education spending not definable by level spending of about 0.5 percent GDP monies were spent on training, social services, and research.

By 1990 Head Start type programs were 0.17 percent GDP, student loans etc. were 0.19 percent GDP and miscellaneous spending was down to 0.32 percent GDP, with about half in social services. By the mid 2010s spending on pre-college was 0.2 percent GDP, colllege student loans were 0.2 percent GDP and other education spending was 0.23 percent GDP.

Then came COVID.

Suggested Video: Spending 101

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Check STATE spending: CA NY TX FL and compare.

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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.

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Gross Federal Debt

Debt Now:  $40,388,317,675,071.91
Debt 2/2020:$23,409,959,150,243.63

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Data Sources for 2022_2031:

Sources for 2022:

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 2031:

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

US Budget Deficit, Receipts, Outlays for FY 2026

On October 15, 2026, the US Treasury reported in its Monthly Treasury Statement (and xlsx) for September that the federal deficit for FY 2025 ending September 30, 2026, was $1,99 billion. Here are the numbers, including total receipts, total outlays, and deficit compared with the numbers projected in the FY 2026 federal budget published in February 2025:

Federal Finances
FY 2026 Outcomes
Budget
billions		Outcome
billions
Receipts $5,873    $5,403
Outlays$7,419$7,396
Deficit$1,547$1,993

The Monthly Treasury Statement includes "Table 4: Receipts of the United States Government, September 2026 and Other Periods." This table of receipts by source is used for usgovernmentspending.com to post details of federal receipt actuals for FY 2025. usdgovernmentspending.com obtains the data for outlays and receipts from apis at fiscaldata.treasury.gov.


This MTS report on FY 2026 actuals is a problem for usgovernmentspending.com because this site uses Historical Table 3.2--Outlays by Function and Subfunction from the Budget of the United States as its basic source for federal subfunction outlays. But the Monthly Treasury Statement only includes "Table 9. Summary of Receipts by Source, and Outlays by Function of the U.S. Government, September 2025 and Other Periods". Subfunction amounts don't get reported until the FY28 budget in February 2027. Until then usgovernmentspending.com estimates actual outlays by "subfunction" for FY 2026 by factoring subfunction budgeted amounts for FY26 by the ratio between relevant actual and budgeted "function" amounts where actual outlays by subfunction cannot be gleaned from the Monthly Treasury Statement.

Final detailed FY 2026 actuals will not appear on usgovernmentspending.com until the FY 2028 federal budget is published in February 2027 with the actual outlays for FY 2026* in Historical Table 3.2--Outlays by Function and Subfunction.
State and Local Finances for 2024
On August 7, 2026 we updated the state and local spending and revenue for FY 2024 using the new Census Bureau ...

State and Local Finances for 2024 -- First Look
On July 2, 2026 we updated the state and local spending and revenue for FY 2024 using the new Census Bureau S ...

> blog

Budget News

President’s FY 2025 Budget Release Scheduled for March 11
Although the FY 2024 appropriations process is not yet resolved

Biden to Release Budget March 9
will press McCarthy On Default Risk - Bloomberg

Biden to Release 2023 Budget Request on March 28
how the administration expects to spend money for priorities including aid to Ukraine and the continuing effort to fight the coronavirus pandemic, as well as legislative proposals such as increased funding for community policing programs, cancer research, and mental health education.

> archive

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