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What are the biggest federal programs?

The three biggest federal programs are health care (including Medicare and Medicaid), pensions (including Social Security), and Defense.

US Federal Budget Analyst

FY12 Federal Budget Spending Estimates
for Fiscal Years 2011 - 2016

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$ billion nom$ trillion nom$ million nom$ bln 2012$2012 per cap$2012/cap/daypercent GDPpercent GOpct series 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. FY 22 Fed BudgetFY 21 Fed BudgetFY 20 Fed BudgetFY 19 Fed BudgetFY 18 Fed BudgetFY 17 Fed BudgetFY 16 Fed BudgetFY 15 Fed BudgetFY 14 Fed BudgetFY 13 Fed BudgetFY 12 Fed BudgetFY 11 Fed BudgetFY 10 Fed BudgetFY 09 Fed BudgetFY 08 Fed BudgetFY 07 Fed BudgetFY 06 Fed BudgetFY 05 Fed BudgetFY 04 Fed BudgetFY 03 Fed BudgetFY 02 Fed BudgetFY 01 Fed BudgetFY 00 Fed BudgetFY 99 Fed BudgetFY 98 Fed BudgetFY 97 Fed BudgetFY 96 Fed BudgetFY 95 Fed BudgetFY 94 Fed BudgetFY 93 Fed BudgetFY 92 Fed BudgetFY 91 Fed BudgetFY 90 Fed BudgetFY 89 Fed BudgetFY 88 Fed BudgetFY 87 Fed BudgetFY 86 Fed Budget US Budget Year: By default, the table displays budgeted and estimated numbers from the most recent US Federal Budget submitted to the Congress by the president. But you can look at numbers from other US Federal Budgets using this dropdown control. No Pie Chart2011 chart2012 chart2013 chart2014 chart2015 chart2016 chart US Budget Year: By default, the table displays budgeted and estimated numbers from the most recent US Federal Budget submitted to the Congress by the president. But you can look at numbers from other US Federal Budgets using this dropdown control. full screen
	US Federal Government FY 12 Budget Estimated Outlays in $ billion nominal
-5yr -1yr   as of Winter 2011   +1yr +5yr

				Estimated Outlays from US Federal FY 12 Budget
Change View: people old functions radical census programs altprog oldprog COFOG Change Data View: The default view of spending data is by function. But you can also view data by program or the UN COFOG classification system.				FY 2011  Outlays	FY 2012  Outlays	FY 2013  Outlays	FY 2014  Outlays	FY 2015  Outlays	FY 2016  Outlays
[+]	Pensions			782.2	819.4	870.8	914.5	953.6	980.5
[+]	Health Care			858.1	818.5	856.1	921.2	1,028.5	1,105.9
[+]	Education			113.7	103.3	85.3	102.6	133.8	121.7
[+]  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			878.5	839.3	818.9	800.0	801.5	813.2
[–]	Welfare:  Start chart			466.2	411.2	397.8	370.3	361.9	365.6
	[+]	Family and children		290.2	269.5	280.4	276.9	279.1	281.4
	[+]	Unemployment		120.6	93.8	70.7	45.7	35.0	35.2
	[+]	Unemployment trust		0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	[+]	Housing		55.4	47.9	46.7	47.6	47.8	49.1
	[+]	Social exclusion n.e.c.		0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	[+]	R and D Social protection		0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	[+]	Social protection n.e.c.		0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
[+]	Protection			36.3	35.7	34.1	32.9	34.0	35.8
[+]	Transportation			93.0	93.0	91.7	91.9	89.5	92.6
[+]	General Government			48.7	50.6	49.0	44.4	43.7	47.1
[+]	Other Spending			96.4	135.1	30.3	-0.4	22.4	50.2
[+]	Interest			230.0	220.4	220.9	229.0	223.2	240.0
[+]	Balance			0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
[+]	Total Spending			3,603.1	3,526.6	3,454.9	3,506.3	3,691.9	3,852.6
[+]	Federal Deficit			1,299.6	1,076.6	679.8	484.8	442.0	584.7
[+]	Gross Public Debt			14,764.2	16,050.9	16,719.4	17,794.5	18,120.1	19,539.5
[+]	Other Borrowing			-64.2	210.1	-11.3	590.3	-116.4	834.8
[+]	Agency/GSE Debt			7,559.2	7,535.4	7,773.7	7,924.0	8,144.5	8,496.1
Outlays: 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. a - actual reported Data Sources for 2011: Federal: Fed. Budget: Hist. Tables 3.2, 5.1, 7.1 Data Sources for 2016: Federal: Fed. Budget: Hist. Tables 3.2, 5.1, 7.1

Spending Definitions

Notes

The table shows overall budgeted federal outlays for major functions for the next five years, as estimated in the historical tables in the current presidential budget.

You can change the budget to be analyzed or drill down to view more detailed spending information.

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 estimated outlays starting with the FY10 budget.

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 Federal Budget Data for 2011-2016

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 Spending Fiscal Year 2011 - 2016 Estimated Outlays in $ billion nom Year FY 2011 Outlays FY 2012 Outlays FY 2013 Outlays FY 2014 Outlays FY 2015 Outlays FY 2016 Outlays Pensions 782.2 a 819.4 a 870.8 a 914.5 a 953.6 a 980.5 a Health Care 858.1 a 818.5 a 856.1 a 921.2 a 1,028.5 a 1,105.9 a Education 113.7 a 103.3 a 85.3 a 102.6 a 133.8 a 121.7 a Defense 878.5 a 839.3 a 818.9 a 800.0 a 801.5 a 813.2 a Welfare 466.2 a 411.2 a 397.8 a 370.3 a 361.9 a 365.6 a -Family and children 290.2 a 269.5 a 280.4 a 276.9 a 279.1 a 281.4 a -Unemployment 120.6 a 93.8 a 70.7 a 45.7 a 35.0 a 35.2 a -Unemployment trust 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 -Housing 55.4 a 47.9 a 46.7 a 47.6 a 47.8 a 49.1 a -Social exclusion n.e.c. 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 -R and D Social protection 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 -Social protection n.e.c. 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Protection 36.3 a 35.7 a 34.1 a 32.9 a 34.0 a 35.8 a Transportation 93.0 a 93.0 a 91.7 a 91.9 a 89.5 a 92.6 a General Government 48.7 a 50.6 a 49.0 a 44.4 a 43.7 a 47.1 a Other Spending 96.4 a 135.1 a 30.3 a -0.4 a 22.4 a 50.2 a Interest 230.0 a 220.4 a 220.9 a 229.0 a 223.2 a 240.0 a Balance 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Total Spending 3,603.1 a 3,526.6 a 3,454.9 a 3,506.3 a 3,691.9 a 3,852.6 a Federal Deficit 1,299.6 a 1,076.6 a 679.8 a 484.8 a 442.0 a 584.7 a Gross Public Debt 14,764.2 a 16,050.9 a 16,719.4 a 17,794.5 a 18,120.1 a 19,539.5 a Other Borrowing -64.2 a 210.1 a -11.3 a 590.3 a -116.4 a 834.8 a Agency/GSE Debt 7,559.2 a 7,535.4 a 7,773.7 a 7,924.0 a 8,144.5 a 8,496.1 a Legend: a - actual reported Data Sources for 2011: Federal: <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/budget/2012/BUDGET-2012-TAB Fed. Budget: Hist. Tables 3.2, 5.1, 7.1 Data Sources for 2016: Federal: <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/budget/2012/BUDGET-2012-TAB Fed. Budget: Hist. Tables 3.2, 5.1, 7.1 source: usgovernmentspending.com

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Spending Data Sources

Spending data is from official government sources.

• Federal spending data since 1962 comes from the president’s budget.
  
• All other spending data comes from the US Census Bureau.

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

US Government Spending 2017: only 99¢.

US Government Spending 2012: free.

Data Sources for 2011_2016:

Sources for 2011:

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 2016:

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.

Federal Budget for FY22 Released

Budget News

Full FY22 budget coming May 27
But I'll be on a plane.

President Biden’s Preliminary FY 2022 Federal Budget Released
Full budget "in May"

US 2022 budget plan delayed
Due date now May 3, 2021

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