Bars over time
U.S. Federal Budget Balance
Federal surplus or deficit as a share of GDP, %
Plays the chart through its history. Pauses are where the data set a record or moved most.
Negative values are deficits.
The gap between what the federal government collects and spends, scaled to the economy. Deficits widen in recessions and narrow in expansions, but the baseline has drifted lower.
What this chart reads
- US Federal Surplus / Deficit · % GDPas “Surplus or deficit”latest 2025-01-01
Sources
US Federal Surplus / Deficit · % GDP. Source: OMB via FRED, series FYFSGDA188S.
Charts are drawn from Palanor's signal library and recomputed from source data on every view. Transformations (changes, indexing, year-on-year rates) are Palanor's.