The Federal LedgerUS fiscal years 2015 to 2026
Interest now takes more of each federal tax dollar than the military does. How much more?
Out of every $1.00 the US Treasury collected in fiscal year 2026 (October 2025 to September 2026), how many cents went just to pay interest on the national debt? Make your guess, then see the books.
Your guess: cents of each tax dollar spent on net interest
10¢
Slide from 0 to 50 cents. For scale: defense took about 18 cents.
One tax dollar, as the Treasury spent it
Each square is one cent of revenue. Spending beyond 100 squares (hatched) was financed by borrowing. Tap a line to highlight it.
2026
Cents per tax dollar, year by year
Eighty-seven years of the interest share
Net interest as a percent of federal revenue, fiscal years 1940 to 2026. Hover or tap the chart to read any year.
The numbers behind it
Show the table (USD billions, fiscal year)
Sources
- Fiscal years 2015 to 2026: U.S. Treasury, Fiscal Data, Monthly Treasury Statement Table 9 (receipts and outlays by function), fiscal year to date at 30 September of each year; latest record dated 30 Sep 2026. fiscaldata.treasury.gov. Fetched 23 Oct 2026 through the open API. The FY2026 figures are the first full-year release and can be revised.
- Fiscal years 1940 to 2014: FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis), series FYOINT (Federal Outlays: Interest) and FYFR (Federal Receipts), both from the Office of Management and Budget. Fetched 23 Oct 2026. For 2015 to 2025 the FRED and Treasury figures agree within 0.3 percent (for example FY2025 interest: $970.1 billion at FRED, $970.4 billion at Treasury).
- "Net interest" is interest paid on Treasury debt minus interest the government receives. "Health" is the Treasury Health function, shown separately from Medicare. "Everything else" is all remaining functions net of undistributed offsetting receipts. Shares are spending divided by total receipts, so they add up to more than 100 when the government runs a deficit.
An explainer of public budget data, not financial advice.