Total national debt as of yesterday

The national debt is the total amount the US government owes its creditors

This US Treasury page explains what the national debt is, how it accumulates from annual deficits, and why rising debt can affect interest costs, fiscal flexibility, and long-term economic stability.

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).

The national debt consists of public debt and intragovernmental debt

The national debt consists of money owed to private investors who have purchased Treasury securities and money owed by one sector of the government to another. They’re respectively called public debt and intragovernmental debt.

The US has carried debt since 1791

After the Revolutionary War, the US owed $75M to nations like France. Debt builds when spending exceeds revenue, funding programs, wars, and economic recovery efforts. Most debt is domestic, like Social Security bonds, with foreign nations also holding a share.

Key moments that shaped the national debt include the Civil War, both World Wars, the 2008 recession, and the COVID-19 pandemic

The US national debt has grown alongside wars, recessions, and policy shifts—from $75M after the Revolutionary War to over $34T today. This visual timeline walks through key moments that shaped the debt.

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.

The US national debt is over $31T

The US national debt is at its highest level ever. Learn how the national debt grew to that level and what it means for US economic growth with charts and simple explanations.

How much the federal government pays in interest on the debt

A significant portion of annual funding goes to servicing the federal government's public debt, which stood at $36T in 2025. That amount required roughly $1T in interest payments just for the year.

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.

The current federal budget, deficit, and debt, in charts

The US Treasury regularly publishes updated data on the federal budget, and this site hosts visualizations of that data. See reports on spending, revenues, deficits, and where the national debt stands.

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?"

Roughly 43 million Americans hold a cumulative $1.6T in federal student debt

About 43 million Americans hold a cumulative $1.6T in federal student debt. That's more than the country's combined credit card balance, according to data from in the first quarter of the year 2024.

The national debt is growing at a faster rate than the economy

“The federal government faces an unsustainable fiscal future,” according to this bleak 2025 report on the nation’s budget from the US Government Accountability Office. If unaddressed, the country’s debt could double its gross domestic product, warns the nonpartisan agency. For individuals, this may mean stagnant wages, higher borrowing costs, and more expensive goods.

Some economists argue the national debt is not a critical concern

The US has the largest national debt and one of the highest debt-to-GDP ratios. These vitals have long been considered a sign of poor fiscal health, but economists are beginning to shift their attention to interest rates to evaluate national debt.

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 average US household carries $105,056 in total debt

This article breaks down the average household debt by category, including credit card debt ($6,523), personal loans ($11,274), and more.

The federal debt ceiling 101

The debt ceiling periodically takes center stage as Congress debates whether to increase or suspend this self-imposed limit on its borrowing authority. Learn the basics on this crucial feature of US fiscal policy with this Q&A.

The trillion-dollar coin is a proposed platinum coin with a face value of $1T, which could be used to reduce the national debt

This conceptual strategy was first proposed in 2011 as a potential alternative to raising the US debt ceiling. Although there were several high-profile proponents of the idea, it was eventually rejected in 2013 by Treasury Department and Federal Reserve officials.

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

Does Social Security contribute to the national debt?

Social Security operates through a trust fund built from payroll taxes. When costs outpace revenue, as they have since 2021, the program redeems Treasury bonds to cover the gap. To repay these bonds, the government often borrows more money, indirectly adding to the national debt and impacting fiscal policy.

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

The case against the penny

It takes roughly three cents to produce a single penny, with an annual price tag of nearly $100M. The ubiquitous copper coin is scarcely used, ending up in jars or lost in couches, necessitating even more replacement coins, perpetuating a vicious circle. Studies suggest eliminating the coin would not cost consumers money. See a quick overview of the problem here.

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.

The dollar’s value stems from public trust and demand

In simple terms, a dollar bill’s value relies on two elements: that people believe it will be accepted in exchange for goods and services, and how much demand for the currency there is.

Calculate how much of your tax dollars go to each federal program based on your income, filing status, and number of children

JP Morgan Jr. once angered the nation with his zero-dollar tax bill

In the aftermath of the Great Depression, Congress learned that Morgan and his banking partners had avoided paying any federal income tax in 1931 and 1932. By claiming their losses in the stock market, they seemingly erased what they owed.

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

The price of a mutual fund is based on its net asset value (or NAV)

The NAV is determined by the fund’s overall value minus its debts. A mutual fund’s debt is defined as any of its outstanding (or unsold) shares.

DOGE's claim of saving more than $64B lacks evidence

In the first month of President Donald Trump’s second term, his new Department of Government Efficiency celebrated slashing billions in federal spending and chopping away at the national debt. An article from the Poynter Institute’s fact-checking website digs into the numbers to investigate these claims.

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

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.'

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.

Use this calculator to find the dollar value of your mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care for your children.

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.

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

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

The rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson centered on federalism—the question of how much power the federal government should hold relative to the states.

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.

Lesser-known phobias include turophobia, or the fear of cheese, and nomophobia, the fear of being without your cell phone.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

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

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

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

A pickleball's loud 'pop' sound can reach 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a hammer hitting a nail

Pure water does not conduct electricity because this flow of energy requires the movement of charged particles, and water is a neutral molecule.

Bone marrow (soft tissue found inside certain bones) generates roughly 500 billion new blood cells each day

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.