About 80% 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.

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.

The national debt consists of public debt and intragovernmental debt.

If the US government paid off its debt, it could disrupt the entire bond market, as Treasury bonds are among the most common bonds for investors and the majority of the national debt is in bonds.

See a chart showing how much the US federal government pays in interest on its debt.

Explore a database that shows how the US national debt changes over a 24-hour period.

The US debt ceiling is the threshold Congress sets for federal borrowing.

In 2025, the US national debt per person was $113K.

Total national debt as of yesterday

Debt to the Penny is the total debt of the U.S. government and is reported daily. It is made up of intragovernmental holdings and debt held by the public.

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.

Investors collectively owned $28T in US Treasury securities as of 2025.

Some economists argue that the national debt is not a critical concern.

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.

Some argue that the rising US national debt has become more important in recent months.

In 2025, the US credit rating was downgraded over concerns about the debt-to-GDP ratio.

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.

Treasury bonds, notes, and bills are critical vehicles for the federal government to raise money for public expenses and manage the national debt.

Just 7% of student loan borrowers account for 40% of outstanding student loan debt

Most student loan debt went to support graduate studies. Total student loan debt in the US is more than $1.6T. Downloadable tables show the raw data behind federal student aid.

The US and Denmark are the only two countries known to abide by a predetermined borrowing limit.

Tax policy can have a direct impact on the national debt, with past presidents' changes to tax codes inflating the deficit.

Many local governments also struggle to rein in their spending.

More than half of student loan borrowers owed less than $25K in federally managed student debt as of 2024.

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

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.

Vizualize global debt by country

Global debt reached $226T by the end of 2020—the biggest one-year jump since World War II. This graphic compares the debt-to-GDP ratio of various countries.

The federal government has spent more money annually than it has collected every year since 2022.

The federal deficit is the gap between what the US spends and what it collects.

For everyday Americans, a relatively high national debt can lead to higher interest rates on financial products such as mortgages.

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.

America’s looming debt spiral

The United States has a debt problem. In 1989, the national debt was almost $3T. As of 2023, that number had ballooned to more than $30T. This video explains why the national debt grew so quickly, and what America's options are going forward. It also explores why the problem is trapped in political gridlock. Watch it to find out more.

See the growth of US consumer debt

Americans reached an all-time high debt burden in 2024. Data compiled from The Kaplan Group shows the evolution of auto loans, mortgages, credit card debt, and student loans from 2003 to 2023, and finds that after a brief decline after 2008, the total debt burden grew rapidly.

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 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 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.

No institution wields more power in US finance than the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the US—but opinion polls indicate that most Americans don't know what it does.

Despite being one of the world's richest nations, Switzerland has the highest household debt of any country in the world, totaling 125% of its GDP.

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.

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

Why Americans are drowning in credit card debt

Americans owe more than $1T to credit card companies. And with rising interest rates that prevent cardholders from paying down debt (not to mention the rising cost of living), that number is likely to keep growing. A podcast episode explains how the US got here, and what policymakers and individuals can do about it.

The global economy runs on US dollars, with nearly 90% of international trade in 2019 being processed in US dollars.

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

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.

Why Ray Dalio thinks the US deficit is a political problem

Dalio frequently argues that debt cycles are inevitable and a tradition of every empire. However, he said in 2025 that the US was headed for a debt crisis. Dalio says that while Republicans and Democrats agree on the math of the debt crisis, all politicians make promises to neither increase taxes nor cut government benefits—which Dalio says can't close the deficit.

Individual income taxes are the federal government's primary revenue source, see a tracker that breaks down where the rest of the budget comes from

The US government historically makes nearly half of its total revenue last year from individual income taxes. But the US makes also makes money from a variety of other sources, including Medicare taxes and corporate income taxes. However, the federal government has run a deficit since 2001—reaching a peak of $3.13T in 2020.

See the value of currency in circulation in billions of dollars as of Dec. 31 of each year.

Visualize $102T of global debt, based on data from the International Monetary Fund's October 2024 outlook.

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.

Total student debt has ballooned to $1.7T, up almost 150% since the Great Recession

While the burden falls across roughly 43 million Americans, the debt load itself is not uniform—millennials and those pursuing graduate or professional degrees represent an outsized portion of loans.

Who owns America's wealth?

This visualization breaks down the total net worth of all US households by wealth percentile, listing the number of households in each percentile. As you'll see in the graphic, the total net worth of all US households is close to $160T, and the richer half of the country owns roughly 98% of it. Check out the visual here.

The debt ceiling is a legal cap on how much money the US government can borrow.