Rates & debt · National debt
The US national debt since 1790
What the federal government owes, from the Treasury's own books: every business day since 1993 and the end of every fiscal year since 1790.
$40,556,120,784,983.65
A year earlier (Nov 5, 2025): $38.09T.
Treasury securities held by investors, banks, funds, the Federal Reserve and foreign governments
Treasury securities held by federal trust funds such as Social Security: debt the government owes itself
Total debt divided by 341.8 million US residents (World Bank, 2025)
Held by the public: 98%. The IMF's broader general government debt: 124% (2025).
81% of the debt is owed to lenders outside the government; 19% is owed by the government to its own trust funds. The debt limit covers both; economists mostly compare the first with GDP.
Gross debt and debt held by the public →The debt at the end of every fiscal year since 1790
From $71.1M in 1790, the debts of the Revolutionary War, down to $33.7K in 1835, when Andrew Jackson's government paid off almost all of it, and up through every war and crisis since. Log scale: each step up the axis is ten times more. In today's dollars from 1871, the first year of the price index used.
| Fiscal year end | Debt | Per person | % of GDP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 30, 2026 | $40.2T | — | — |
| Sep 30, 2020 | $26.9T | $81,264 | 126% |
| Sep 30, 2010 | $13.6T | $43,835 | 90% |
| Sep 30, 2000 | $5.67T | $20,110 | 55% |
| Sep 28, 1990 | $3.23T | $12,953 | 54% |
| Sep 30, 1980 | $908B | $3,995 | 32% |
| Jun 30, 1970 | $371B | $1,809 | 35% |
| Jun 30, 1960 | $286B | $1,585 | 53% |
| Jun 30, 1950 | $257B | — | — |
| Jun 28, 1946 | $269B | — | — |
| Jun 29, 1940 | $43B | — | — |
| Jun 30, 1930 | $16.2B | — | — |
| Jul 1, 1920 | $26B | — | — |
| Jul 1, 1919 | $27.4B | — | — |
| Jul 1, 1910 | $2.65B | — | — |
| Jul 1, 1900 | $2.14B | — | — |
| Jul 1, 1890 | $1.55B | — | — |
| Jul 1, 1880 | $2.12B | — | — |
| Jul 1, 1870 | $2.48B | — | — |
| Jul 1, 1866 | $2.77B | — | — |
| Jul 1, 1860 | $64.8M | — | — |
| Jul 1, 1850 | $63.5M | — | — |
| Jan 1, 1840 | $3.57M | — | — |
| Jan 1, 1835 | $33.7K | — | — |
| Jan 1, 1830 | $48.6M | — | — |
| Jan 1, 1820 | $91M | — | — |
| Jan 1, 1810 | $53.2M | — | — |
| Jan 1, 1800 | $83M | — | — |
| Jan 1, 1790 | $71.1M | — | — |
Per person and % of GDP from 1960 (World Bank population and GDP of the calendar year). 1835: the only time the federal debt was almost paid off.
Every business day since 1993
The total since April 1, 1993, split into debt held by the public and intragovernmental holdings since September 30, 1997 (at fiscal year ends at first, month ends from late 2001, every day since March 2005). Flat stretches are the debt limit binding; the jumps follow its suspension or increase.
Debt per person
The debt at each fiscal year end divided by the US population of that year, from 1960; on the latest day $118,660 per resident (November 5, 2026; population of 2025).
Debt as a share of the economy
In fiscal year 2025 the federal debt was 122% of US GDP, and the part held by the public 98%. The IMF's general government gross debt (124%) is a different measure: all levels of government, federal, state and local, on international definitions; its values from 2026 are IMF forecasts (October 2026 World Economic Outlook).
Gross debt and debt held by the public
On November 5, 2026 the government owed $40.56T in all (the gross debt): $32.77T to the public, that is to investors at home and abroad, banks, pension and money market funds and the Federal Reserve, and $7.79T to its own trust funds, such as Social Security and federal pensions, which must invest their surpluses in special Treasury securities.
Intragovernmental debt is money one part of the government owes another: it matters to the trust funds, but nothing is borrowed from markets. That is why economists compare debt held by the public with GDP, while the debt limit set by Congress applies to almost all of the gross debt.
Part of the debt held by the public is at the Federal Reserve, which buys and sells Treasury securities as part of monetary policy; it counts as debt held by the public all the same.
How the numbers are made
- Debt: total public debt outstanding as published by the Treasury: Debt to the Penny for every business day since April 1993, Historical Debt Outstanding for the end of every fiscal year since 1790; current dollars.
- Fiscal years: one record per fiscal year, on the date the Treasury gives: January 1 until 1843, July 1 from 1843 to 1920, June 30 from 1921 to 1976 and September 30 since 1977, when the fiscal year became October to September. 1843 has two records (January 1 and July 1) because of the switch to July–June years.
- In today's dollars (the switch at the top): each value multiplied by US consumer prices (CPI-U, from Shiller's data) of Oct 2026 and divided by those of its own month; from 1871, the first year of that index. Days after Oct 2026 count as today's dollars.
- Per person: the debt at the fiscal year end divided by the World Bank's mid-year population estimate for that calendar year (from 1960); today's figure divides the latest debt by the latest population estimate.
- Share of GDP: our own ratio of the debt at the fiscal year end to US GDP of the calendar year in current dollars (World Bank); official ratios use fiscal-year GDP and differ a little. The IMF line is the general government gross debt of the World Economic Outlook, a different, broader measure.
- Updates: every night from the sources. The Treasury publishes yields and the debt for each business day; the Fed publishes the rate of the previous business day.
- Not investment advice. Rates, spreads and debt figures do not tell what will happen next.
Source: U.S. Treasury, Fiscal Data: Debt to the Penny (debt every business day) and Historical Debt Outstanding (debt at fiscal year ends)
Source: Robert J. Shiller (inflation: US CPI)
Source: NBER (recession dates)
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (population and GDP, CC BY 4.0)
Source: International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook (October 2026) (general government debt)