US Budget Deficit

Extracted Attributes

• Treasury HQ

  Washington, D.C., USA

• FY 2025 Deficit

  $1.8 trillion (5.9% of GDP)

• CBO Founding Date

  1974-02-24

• Treasury Secretary

  Scott Bessent

• Fiscal Deficit Field

  Economics

• Debt-to-GDP Ratio (2024)

  99.8%

• Fiscal Deficit Limitation

  Long-term debt sustainability and inflation risks

• Projected Debt-to-GDP (2034)

  116%

• Debt Increase Rate (Oct 2025)

  $192,200 per second

• Peak Annual Deficit (FY 2020)

  $3.132 trillion

• Annual Interest Servicing Cost

  $726 billion (as of July 2023)

• Total National Debt (Nov 2025)

  $38 trillion

Timeline

• The US federal deficit reached a record $3.132 trillion for fiscal year 2020 due to pandemic relief spending. (Source: The Balance Money)

  2020-09-30

• Total US federal debt surpassed $30 trillion for the first time in history. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2022-02-01

• Total federal debt reached $33.1 trillion, with interest payments accounting for 14% of federal spending. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2023-12-01

• Total federal debt rose to $34.4 trillion, increasing by $1 trillion in approximately 100 days. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2024-02-01

• The US national debt reached the $37 trillion mark. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2025-08-12

• The national debt hit $38 trillion during a 23-day federal government shutdown. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2025-10-23

• The CBO projects federal debt held by the public will reach 116% of GDP. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2034-01-01

National debt of the United States

The national debt of the United States is the total national debt owed by the federal government of the United States to treasury security holders. The national debt at a given point in time is the face value of the then outstanding treasury securities that have been issued by the Treasury and other federal agencies. The US Department of the Treasury publishes a daily total of the national debt, which as of November 2025 is $38 trillion. Treasury reports: "The Debt to the Penny dataset provides information about the total outstanding public debt and is reported each day. Debt to the Penny is made up of intragovernmental holdings and debt held by the public, including securities issued by the U.S. Treasury. Total public debt outstanding is composed of Treasury Bills, Notes, Bonds, Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), Floating Rate Notes (FRNs), and Federal Financing Bank (FFB) securities, as well as Domestic Series, Foreign Series, State and Local Government Series (SLGS), U.S. Savings Securities, and Government Account Series (GAS) securities." Related terms such as "national deficit" and "national surplus" refer to the federal government budget balance from year to year and not the cumulative amount of debt held. In a deficit year, the national debt increases as the government needs to borrow funds to finance the deficit. In a surplus year, the debt decreases as more money is received than spent, enabling the government to reduce the debt by buying back Treasury securities or by issuing less new debt than old debt it redeems at maturity. Broadly, US government debt increases as a result of government spending and decreases from tax or other funding receipts, both of which fluctuate during a fiscal year. The aggregate, gross amount that Treasury can borrow is limited by the United States debt ceiling. There are two components of gross national debt: "Debt held by the public" – such as Treasury securities held by investors outside the federal government, including those held by individuals, corporations, the Federal Reserve, and foreign, state and local governments. "Debt held by government accounts" or "intragovernmental debt" – is non-marketable Treasury securities held in accounts of programs administered by the federal government, such as the Social Security Trust Fund. Debt held by government accounts represents the cumulative surpluses, including interest earnings, of various government programs that have been invested in Treasury securities. Historically, the U.S. public debt as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) increases during wars and recessions and then subsequently declines. For instance, most recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government spent trillions in virus aid and economic relief. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the budget deficit for fiscal year 2020 would increase to $3.3 trillion or 16% GDP, more than triple that of 2019 and the largest as a percentage of GDP since 1945. In December 2021, debt held by the public was estimated at 96.19% of GDP, and approximately 33% of this public debt was owned by foreigners (government and private). The ratio of debt to GDP may decrease as a result of a government surplus or via growth of GDP and inflation. The CBO estimated in February 2024 that Federal debt held by the public is projected to rise from 99 percent of GDP in 2024 to 116 percent in 2034, and would continue to grow if current laws generally remained unchanged. Over that period, the growth of interest costs and mandatory spending outpaces the growth of revenues and the economy, driving up debt. If those factors persist beyond 2034, pushing federal debt higher still, to 172 percent of GDP in 2054. The United States has the largest external debt in the world. The total amount of U.S. Treasury securities held by foreign entities in December 2021 was $7.7 trillion, up from $7.1 trillion in December 2020. Total US federal government debt breached the $30 trillion mark for the first time in history in February 2022. In December 2023, total federal debt was $33.1 trillion; $26.5 trillion held by the public and $12.1 trillion in intragovernmental debt. The annualized cost of servicing this debt was $726 billion in July 2023, which accounted for 14% of the total federal spending. Additionally, in recent decades, aging demographics and rising healthcare costs have led to concern about the long-term sustainability of the federal government's fiscal policies. In February 2024, the total federal government debt rose to $34.4 trillion, after increasing by approximately $1 trillion during each of two separate 100-day periods since the previous June. In 2024, federal interest payments on the national debt surpassed spending on both Medicare and national defense. On October 23, 2025, the National debt reached $38 trillion, a new high. The milestone was achieved amidst a Federal government shutdown, which by then had been going on for 23 days. The shutdown caused delays in economic activity and the postponement of financial decisions, pushing the number even further up. An increase of $1 trillion, from $37 to $38 trillion, was recorded between Aug. 12 and Oct. 23 of the same year, a time interval of merely 71 days. In addition, more than $382 billion of debt were added in the first 23 days of the government shutdown alone, according to the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), translating to an average rate of increase of $192,200 per second.

Web Search Results

• Deficit Tracker - Bipartisan Policy Center

  Tracking Data from Previous Years FY2025 FY2024 FY2023 FY2022 FY2021 FY2020 FY2019 Fiscal Year 2025 in Review The federal government ran a deficit of $1.8 trillion in fiscal year 2025, $41 billion (-2%) less than in fiscal year 2024. Revenues increased by $317 billion (6%). Increases in collections of individual income taxes and customs duties due to highertariffson imported goods were partially offset by a decline in corporate tax receipts due to changes enacted inH.R. 1. [...] Tracking the Federal Deficit: July 2025 The federal government’scumulative deficitfor fiscal year 2025 was $1.6 trillion at the end of July—2% higher than the same time last year after adjusting for timing effects. Revenues increased by 6% and outlays increased by 5% from last fiscal year. [...] Tracking the Federal Deficit: August 2025 The federal government’scumulative deficitfor fiscal year 2025 was $2.0 trillion at the end of August—1% higher than the same time last year after adjusting for timing effects. Revenues increased by 7%, and outlays increased by 5% from fiscal year 2024.

• National debt of the United States - Wikipedia

  In their September 2018 monthly report published on October 5 and based on data from the Treasury Department's "Daily Treasury Statements" (DTS), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) wrote that the federal budget deficit was c.$782 billion for the fiscal year 2018—which runs from October 2017 through September 2018. This is $116 billion more than in FY2017.: 1 The Treasury statements as summarized by in the CBO report that corporate taxes for 2017 and 2018 declined by $92 billion representing [...] The budget deficit in fiscal 2018 (which runs from October 1, 2017, to September 30, 2018, the first fiscal year of President Trump's administration) is forecast to be $804 billion, an increase of $139 billion (21%) from the $665 billion in 2017 and up $242 billion (39%) over the previous baseline "Baseline (budgeting)") forecast (June 2017) of $580 billion for 2018. The June 2017 forecast was essentially the budget trajectory inherited from President Obama; it was prepared prior to the Tax [...] For the 2018–2027 period, CBO projects the sum of the annual deficits (i.e., debt increase) to be $11.7 trillion, an increase of $1.6 trillion (16%) over the previous baseline (June 2017) forecast of $10.1 trillion. The $1.6 trillion debt increase includes three main elements: 1. $1.7 trillion less in revenues due to the tax cuts; 2. $1.0 trillion more in spending; and 3. Partially offsetting incremental revenue of $1.1 trillion due to higher economic growth than previously forecast.

• 12-Month Deficit Totals $1.7 Trillion, Debt Approaches 100% of GDP

  The federal budget deficit totaled$1.74 trillion between November 2024 and October 2025 according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)"). The rolling deficit is $38 billion lower than the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 deficit of $1.78 trillion. CBO also estimated that deficits for FY 2025 totaled 5.9% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)and debt reached 99.8% of GDP. [...] Revenue collection increased by $317 billion (6%) from FY 2024 to FY 2025, reaching $5.2 trillion. Of the increase, $230 billion came from individual income taxes, $39 billion from payroll taxes, and $118 billion from tariffs. Corporate tax revenue fell by $78 billion. [...] Veterans Affairs ($40 billion, 12%), Department of Defense ($37 billion, 4%), the Department of Homeland Security ($26 billion, 29%), and spending on certain refundable tax credits ($26 billion, 13%).

• U.S. Budget Deficit by Year - The Balance Money

  Budget Deficit Trends in the U.S. Deficit vs. the Increase in the Debt Budget Deficit by Year Since 1929 Why the Budget Deficit Matters Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) The U.S. budget deficit is how much more the federal government spends annually than it receives in revenue during that same period. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the budget deficit will rise from $1.6 trillion, or 5.6% of GDP, in fiscal year 2024 to $2.6 trillion, or 6.1% of GDP, in 2034.1 [...] Meanwhile, the budget deficit in 2020 was about $3.1 trillion, the largest in U.S. history.2 The national debt was at $33.2 trillion when fiscal year 2023 ended on September 30, 2023.3 Budget deficits add to the national debt; if that debt grows faster than gross domestic product (GDP), the debt-to-GDP ratio may get too large. Since a county's debt-to-GDP ratio is often used to measure economic growth, a ballooning ratio could indicate a potentially destabilized economy. ### Key Takeaways [...] | 2011 | $1,300 | $1,229 | 8.3% | | 2012 | $1,077 | $1,276 | 6.6% | | 2013 | $680 | $672 | 4.0% | | 2014 | $485 | $1,086 | 2.8% | | 2015 | $442 | $327 | 2.4% | | 2016 | $585 | $1,423 | 3.1% | | 2017 | $665 | $671 | 3.4% | | 2018 | $779 | $1,271 | 3.8% | | 2019 | $984 | $1,203 | 4.6% | | 2020 | $3,132 | $4,226 | 14.7% | | 2021 | $2,772 | $1,484 | 11.8% | | 2022 | $1,376 | $1,402 | 5.3% | | 2023 | $1,684 | $2,238 | 6.2% |

• Deficits, Debt, and Interest | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

  For any given year, the federal budget deficit is the amount of money the federal government spends (also known as outlays) minus the amount of money it collects from taxes (also known as revenue). If the government collects more revenue than it spends in a given year, the result is a surplus rather than a deficit. The Treasury and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report that the budget deficit in fiscal year 2025 was $1.8 trillion, or 5.9 percent of the economy as measured by gross [...] Deficits (or surpluses), debt, and interest are three central budget concepts. For any given year, the federal budget deficit is the amount of money the federal government spends minus the amount of revenue it takes in. The deficit drives the amount of money the government must borrow in any single year, while the debt is the cumulative amount of money the government has borrowed throughout our nation’s history — the net amount of all government deficits and surpluses. The interest paid on this