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What is the Total US Government Spending?

In FY 2018, total US government spending, federal, state, and local, was “guesstimated” to be $7.14 trillion, with federal $4.11 trillion; state $1.82 trillion; local $1.9 trillion.

National Spending Analysis  

 

This page shows the current trends in US national spending. Also see charts on US spending history. See also: Social Security Spending and Medicare Spending
 

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Recent US Total Government Spending

Chart S.01t: Recent Total Government Spending

Chart S.02t: Recent Total Spending as Pct GDP

 

Total US Government Spending, federal, state and local, was increasing briskly, year on year, in the mid 2000s from $4.4 trillion in 2005 to $6 trillion in the depths of the Great Recession in 2009. For several years after the end of the recession total government spending leveled out at $6 trillion. But in 2015 spending started to increase again. Estimated spending for 2018 was $7.14 trillion.

Viewed from a GDP perspective, total government spending was steady at about 33 percent GDP in the mid 2000s and then jumped, in the Great Recession, to 41 percent GDP. But in the subsequent economic recovery total government spending has steadily declined as a percent of GDP down to about 354 percent GDP in 2015. Estimated spending for 2018 was 34.8 percent GDP.

Note: The blue bars of “negative” spending are “intergovernmental transfers.” They are monies counted in the federal budget but actually transferred to state and local governments and counted again for spending on programs like Medicaid.

  Deficits and Debts

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US Total Government Spending Since 1900

Chart S.03t: Total Spending as Percent GDP

Government spending at the start of the 20th century was less than 7 percent of GDP. It vaulted to almost 30 percent of GDP by the end of World War I, and then settled down to 10 percent of GDP in the 1920s. In the 1930s spending doubled to 20 percent of GDP. Defense spending in World War II drove overall government spending over 50 percent of GDP before declining to 22 percent of GDP in the late 1940s. The 1950s began a steady spending increase to about 36 percent of GDP by 1982. In the 1990s and 2000s government spending stayed about constant at 33-35 percent of GDP, but in the aftermath of the Crash of 2008 spending jogged up to 40 percent of GDP before declining to about 35 percent GDP.

Federal, State, Local Spending in 20th Century

Chart S.04t: Federal State and Local Spending
in 20th Century


At the start of the 20th century, government spending was principally local government spending. Out of a total of 7 percent of GDP, a full 4 percent was spent at the local level. Federal spending spiked in World War I, but in the 1920s, local government still represented about half of all government spending. In the 1930s this changed, and federal spending surged to about half of all government spending. After the spike of World War II the federal share increased again and state government spending also began to increase as a percent of GDP, so that by the mid 2010s federal spending checked in at over 20 percent of GDP, state spending amounted to about 9 percent of GDP and local spending was declining towards 9.5 percent of GDP.

Suggested Video: Spending 101

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US BUDGET overview and pie chart.

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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.

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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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Data Sources for 2014_2024:

Sources for 2014:

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

Sources for 2024:

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.

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.

Budget News

Historical Tables | The White House
Historical Tables for FY20 budget "will be published March 18, 2019"

Trump to Begin Releasing Fiscal 2020 Budget Plan on March 11
the proposal will be unveiled in two parts. The president’s budget message, top priorities, and summary tables will come March 11.

Trump’s 2020 budget delayed by shutdown
OMB working on revised schedule...

> archive

Blog

Medicare Part C Updated from 2019 Trustees Report
Usgovernmentspending.com has updated its estimate of Medicare Part C, the Medicare Advantage pro...

Medicare/Social Security 2019 Trustee Reports Released
On April 22, 2019, the Center for Medicare Services released its annual Medicare Trustees Report, ...

Gross State Product for 2018
The US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its Gross State Product (GSP) data for 2018 on M...

> blog

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