Federal debt: total public debt

The total amount the federal government owes, in the dollars of the day.

What it measures

Gross federal debt outstanding: debt held by the public plus the debt the government owes itself, mainly the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.

How it is measured

From the Treasury’s own accounts — the Monthly Statement of the Public Debt — at the end of each quarter. Not a survey, and not revised.

Reading it over a presidential term

Nominal dollars, no adjustment for inflation, population, or the size of the economy, so the level rises almost mechanically decade after decade and every recent term looks larger than every older one. For comparisons across terms, federal debt as a percent of GDP is the honest version of this question.

What it leaves out

Gross debt double-counts in a sense that matters: trust-fund holdings are one part of the government owing another. It is a stock at a moment in time and says nothing about what the borrowing bought or what it costs to service.

Which direction counts as better?

Borrowing pays for wars, recessions, tax cuts, and investment alike, and the burden depends on interest rates and growth as much as on the amount. Whether more debt is bad — and at what point — is a genuine economic and political argument.

Chart this series · See it by president · Download the data · The source at FRED