U.S. Federal Debt Held by the Public, % of GDP (since 1790)

## What this measures

The federal government's debt held by the public (Treasury securities owned by anyone other than federal trust funds, including the Federal Reserve) as a percent of the economy's output, one value a year from 1790 to the latest completed fiscal year.

## Why it matters

It is the standard yardstick for how heavy the federal debt is relative to the income that supports it. A higher ratio means larger interest costs per dollar of output and less room to borrow in the next recession or war.

## How to read it

CBO's record starts at 29.6% in 1790. The debt rounds to zero in 1834–1836, rose to 31.4% after the Civil War and 33.4% in 1919, and peaked at 106.1% in fiscal 1946. It fell to 23.2% in 1974, reached 98.5% in 2020, and stood at 99.4% in fiscal 2025, the highest since 1946. CBO's February 2026 projection under current law passes the 1946 record in fiscal 2030 (107.7%) and reaches 175.1% in 2056; the projections are kept apart from this series.

## What it does not say

It excludes debt the government owes its own trust funds (gross federal debt is larger) and the debts of states and cities. GDP before 1929 comes from historians' reconstructions, so early values are rough. Values from 1790 to 1939 compare end-of-calendar-year debt with calendar-year GDP; from 1940 on they use fiscal years, so 1939 and 1940 are not strictly comparable.

## How it's built

1790–1939: CBO, "Historical Data on Federal Debt Held by the Public" (July 2010). 1940–1961: CBO, "The Long-Term Budget Outlook Data: 2026 to 2056" (February 2026), table 2. 1962 on: CBO's historical budget data, read monthly from CBO's data repository (github.com/US-CBO/cbo-data), so each new edition replaces the recent years. Every point is dated September 30 of its year.

## Source

Congressional Budget Office. CBO publications are works of the U.S. Government and in the public domain.