The national debt is the total amount of outstanding borrowing by the federal government accumulated over the nation’s history. America’s Finance Guide
National Debt Tracker
The national debt total from Treasury’s Debt to the Penny data, which runs one business day behind, plus the change over the past year, a per-resident average and each past fiscal year’s last September total.
Total public debt outstanding $40,387,508,795,231.67 Treasury’s Debt to the Penny record dated Oct. 16, 2026 Debt to the Penny
Of that, debt held by the public was $32.53 trillion and intragovernmental holdings were $7.86 trillion. Debt to the Penny
GovFacts divided total public debt outstanding, including intragovernmental holdings, evenly across the Census Bureau’s 2025 population estimate: about $118,166 per resident. Census population estimate
The Census Bureau estimates the U.S. resident population on July 1, 2025, at 341,784,857. Census BureauCensus population estimate
The per-resident figure is an average for illustration, not an amount any resident owes.
About a year earlier, the total was $37.97 trillion in Treasury’s record dated Oct. 16, 2025, so the debt has gone up by $2.42 trillion in nominal dollars since then. Debt to the Penny
| Fiscal year | Total debt |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $18.15 trillion |
| 2016 | $19.57 trillion |
| 2017 | $20.24 trillion |
| 2018 | $21.52 trillion |
| 2019 | $22.72 trillion |
| 2020 | $26.95 trillion |
| 2021 | $28.43 trillion |
| 2022 | $30.93 trillion |
| 2023 | $33.17 trillion |
| 2024 | $35.46 trillion |
| 2025 | $37.64 trillion |
| 2026 | $40.17 trillion |
What the figures mean
- Treasury uses the terms “national debt,” “federal debt” and “public debt” interchangeably. America’s Finance Guide
- Total public debt outstanding is the total of intragovernmental holdings and debt held by the public. Treasury data dictionary
- Debt held by the public is federal debt held by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, Federal Reserve Banks, foreign governments and others outside the federal government, minus Federal Financing Bank securities. Treasury data dictionary
- Intragovernmental holdings are Government Account Series securities held by government trust funds, revolving funds and special funds, plus Federal Financing Bank securities. Treasury data dictionary
About the figures
- Treasury’s Debt to the Penny dataset is updated at the end of each business day with data from the previous business day. Debt to the Penny
- Treasury’s data dictionary defines a record’s date as the date the data were published. Treasury data dictionary
- Treasury’s fiscal year begins Oct. 1 and ends Sept. 30 of the following year. 31 U.S.C. 1102
GovFacts checks Treasury’s data for a new record every hour.
How Deficits Add to the Debt
When federal spending is greater than revenue in a fiscal year, the result is a deficit, and the government borrows to pay for it by selling securities such as Treasury bills, notes and bonds. America’s Finance Guide
The national debt is the accumulation of that borrowing, along with the interest owed to the investors who bought the securities. America’s Finance Guide