Over three-fourths of US debt is held by domestic and foreign investors

Nearly 70% of the US government’s debt is domestic

This includes intragovernmental holdings like the Social Security Trust Fund and investments from US citizens, banks, and mutual funds. About 30% is foreign-held, with countries like Japan and China as major creditors, investing in US Treasury securities due to their perceived safety.

If the US government paid off its debt, it could disrupt the entire bond market

Treasury bonds are some of the most common bonds for investors, and the majority of the national debt is in bonds.

Visual Capitalist shows the top 50 countries by central bank reserves

As of 2024, China, Japan, and the United States held the top three spots in terms of the value of their respective central bank reserves.

Japan has one of the largest debt-to-GDP ratios among developed countries

On the face of it, this appears to be a bad sign. But a closer look at Japan’s investment strategies reveals that its relatively high debt might be more sustainable than meets the eye.

The national debt of the US has been trending upward for over a century

The national debt of the US fluctuates. A federally managed database is updated daily and shows how the debt constantly changes over a 24-hour period. It’s broken down by what the government owes individual investors (debt held by the public) and what’s due to one sector of the government by another (intragovernmental holdings).

Credit cards were the fourth-highest source of US consumer debt as of 2024

US consumer debt nationwide totaled $17.9T as of 2024 Q3. Mortgage debt ranked as number one, with student loan debt coming in at number two.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

The wealthiest Americans own the vast majority of the stock market

Recent data from the Federal Reserve shows that the richest people in America own 93% of all the country's stock—the highest level ever recorded. Meanwhile, the bottom 50% of Americans held just 1% of all stocks.

Visualizing the world's $261T in investable assets

Nearly half of the world's portfolio of stocks and bonds originate in the US. Roughly 1% of all investable assets are in the form of cryptocurrency.

Visualizing $102T of global debt

Which countries have the most debt? And how does it stack up against their gross domestic product? This visualization, based on data from the International Monetary Fund’s October 2024 outlook, has answers.

The US dollar has served as the world's reserve currency for 80 years—but is its dominance coming to an end?

Since the establishment of the Bretton Woods economic system, about 90% of global foreign exchange transactions have involved USD. Although no viable alternative exists yet, the dollar's share of central bank reserves has decreased from 73% to 58% from 2001 to 2024, and President Trump's 2025 tariffs have sped up this trend.

The US dollar is the most widely circulated currency in the world, and is involved in nearly 90% of global transactions

The US national debt has become more important in recent months

In a moment of deep economic uncertainty, the national debt now matters more than ever. Listen to this podcast to find out why and also explore answers to questions like, "Who does the US owe money to and why?"

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

The Federal Reserve is the most powerful financial institution in the US

The Fed controls the money supply, determines interest rates, and regulates the banking system. Established in 1913 after a volatile series of financial panics, the central bank has managed to retain its legitimacy despite broad critiques against its obscure and independent decision process.

The Federal Reserve tracks how much US currency is circulated around the world every year

It's estimated that about half of US currency is circulated outside of the US. In 2023, there were 54.6B US notes circulated, with 18.9B of those being $100 bills. This chart shows how many US notes have circulated since 1997.

The market share of institutional investors in the US housing market is less than 1%

Institutional investors have drawn negative media attention for their purported role in limiting housing supply and driving housing unaffordability. This report separates myth from fact in the nuanced discussion around institutional investors' role in the US housing market.

The world's largest stablecoins by market cap

The largest stablecoin by market cap, Tether (USDT), as well as the second largest, USDC, are both pegged to the US dollar. As of April 2026, Tether had a roughly $184B market cap.

Nearly half of the discretionary funding in the US is allocated to national defense

The US accounts for roughly 35% of global military spending, with defense taking up nearly half of discretionary funds. In this discussion, Michael E. O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution explains why these levels are so high—and how they compare historically.

Student loan debt isn’t evenly distributed across age groups

Millennials and Gen X borrowers account for more than 70% of outstanding federal student debt ($1.1T). The discrepancy is driven by several factors, including a drop in college enrollment by younger Americans and older cohorts having more years to pay off balances.

86% of the world's 12,321 nuclear warheads are held by just two countries

As of early 2026, the US and Russia together control about 86% of the world's more than 12,000 nuclear warheads—over 9,600 in military stockpiles. None of the seven other nuclear nations holds more than 600.

Ray Dalio considers betting against the US debt load in 1982 among his biggest failures

In the early days of his hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, Ray Dalio calculated that the US had accumulated more debt than it was possible to repay. He took short positions in the market that backfired when the Federal Reserve cut interest rates and avoided a global economic collapse. Dalio lost everything and even had to borrow $4K from his dad—but often describes this experience as one of the most pivotal moments in his career.

The largest university endowments in the US

This US News article ranks the 20 universities with the largest endowments in the United States, based on data from the 2022 fiscal year. Harvard tops the list at more than $50B, followed by Yale, Stanford, and Princeton. Check out this snapshot of how these financial resources support academic programs, research, and student aid.

The majority of capital in private equity funds is provided by institutional investors

The individuals who invest this initial capital are called the firm's limited partners. Private equity firm LPs include sovereign wealth funds, university endowments, high-net-worth individuals, and more.

Why countries have credit ratings

Sovereign credit ratings work like national credit scores, measuring a country’s ability and willingness to repay its debt. Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch are the major agencies assigning these ratings, which influence borrowing costs and investor confidence.

Because of their size, sovereign wealth funds create anxiety about foreign undermining of financial systems

Across the board, sovereign wealth funds have an immense amount of capital, and, therefore, influence in global financial markets. Critics argue that this influence could enable a foreign country to harm another country's financial market by either investing adversely in competitive markets or by withholding critical capital.

The US produces far more waste and recycles far less of it than other developed countries

The US represents just 4% of the world’s population, but it produces 12% of global municipal solid waste. In comparison, China and India make up more than 36% of the world’s population and generate 27% of that waste.

Learn how helium is used in the US, the world's largest producer of the noble gas

About 44% of the global supply comes from the US, as much as the next two biggest producers—Qatar and Russia—combined. According to the US Geological Survey, more than half of this helium is used in scientific and engineering equipment (22%), non-welding-related manufacturing and fabrication (17%), and as a lifting agent (17%).

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

The USPS spent $3.97B in 2024, accounting for .058% of the federal budget.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

44% of Americans say they pray at least once a day—discover how your state's religiosity stacks up against the rest of the country.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Meet the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence—most of whom didn't put pen to paper until August 2, 1776—and see their original signatures.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

Animal phobias are likely the most common type of phobias, followed by an extreme fear of heights.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

Researchers believe the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and plans for the future during dream states

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.