Live Data · Updated With Each Monthly Treasury Statement
Interest on the National Debt
Monthly Treasury figures for debt interest and its share of the federal budget.
Data through: · 139 monthly statements since March 2015 · gross interest through September 2026 · average rate through September 2026
Interest on the debt: FY2026
Net Interest, FY2026
$1.05T
+8.4% vs FY2025
Net interest per day
$2.9B
through September 2026
Share of Receipts
19.5%
14.2% of all outlays
Average interest rate
3.531%
September 2026 · rate details
Net interest on the national debt was $1.05 trillion in FY2026, about $2.9 billion a day and more than national defense spending.
How much interest does the US pay on the national debt each year?
Treasury's fiscal-year totals, from October through September. FY2015 uses the full fiscal-year-to-date column, although the monthly record begins in March 2015. FY2014 comes from the prior-year column of the September 2015 statement.
Orange highlights the latest fiscal year. Hover over a bar for its net interest total.
Interest vs defense
Net interest was $1.05 trillion against $965 billion for national defense in FY2026. Interest first passed defense over a trailing twelve months in September 2024. Compare interest vs defense spending.
How much interest does the US pay per day?
The US paid $1.05 trillion in net interest on the national debt in fiscal year 2026, about $2.9 billion a day.
- Net interest per day: $2.88 billion
- Share of revenue: 19.5%
- Share of spending: 14.2%
- Average interest rate: 3.531%
- Budget rank: 3
Where does interest rank in the federal budget?
Budget functions from the Monthly Treasury Statement Table 9, through September 2026.
| Rank | Budget function | Fiscal year to date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Social Security | $1.67T |
| 2 | Medicare | $1.07T |
| 3 | Net Interest | $1.05T |
| 4 | Health | $1.03T |
| 5 | National Defense | $965B |
Interest on the national debt by year
Net interest against defense, receipts and outlays for every fiscal year in Treasury's API record, with gross interest and the average rate on the debt beside them. Each row has a permanent link.
| Fiscal year | Net interest | Change | Defense | % of defense | Receipts | % of receipts | Outlays | % of outlays | Gross interest | Avg rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | $1.05T | +8.4% | $965B | 109% | $5.40T | 19.5% | $7.40T | 14.2% | $1.36Tthrough Sep 2026 | 3.531%Sep 2026 |
| FY2025 | $970B | +10.1% | $917B | 106% | $5.23T | 18.5% | $7.01T | 13.8% | $1.22Tthrough Sep 2025 | 3.363%Sep 2025 |
| FY2024 | $882B | +33.7% | $874B | 101% | $4.92T | 17.9% | $6.75T | 13.1% | $1.13Tthrough Sep 2024 | 3.324%Sep 2024 |
| FY2023 | $659B | +38.7% | $821B | 80% | $4.44T | 14.8% | $6.13T | 10.7% | $883Bthrough Sep 2023 | 2.970%Sep 2023 |
| FY2022 | $475B | +34.9% | $767B | 62% | $4.90T | 9.7% | $6.27T | 7.6% | $719Bthrough Sep 2022 | 2.070%Sep 2022 |
| FY2021 | $352B | +2.2% | $755B | 47% | $4.05T | 8.7% | $6.82T | 5.2% | $562Bthrough Sep 2021 | 1.605%Sep 2021 |
| FY2020 | $345B | −8.2% | $726B | 47% | $3.42T | 10.1% | $6.55T | 5.3% | $523Bthrough Sep 2020 | 1.772%Sep 2020 |
| FY2019 | $376B | +15.7% | $688B | 55% | $3.46T | 10.8% | $4.45T | 8.4% | $575Bthrough Sep 2019 | 2.492%Sep 2019 |
| FY2018 | $325B | +23.6% | $665B | 49% | $3.33T | 9.8% | $4.11T | 7.9% | $523Bthrough Sep 2018 | 2.494%Sep 2018 |
| FY2017 | $263B | +9.2% | $600B | 44% | $3.31T | 7.9% | $3.98T | 6.6% | $459Bthrough Sep 2017 | 2.284%Sep 2017 |
| FY2016 | $241B | +7.8% | $595B | 40% | $3.27T | 7.4% | $3.85T | 6.2% | $433Bthrough Sep 2016 | 2.232%Sep 2016 |
| FY2015 | $223B | −1.8% | $591B | 38% | $3.25T | 6.9% | $3.69T | 6.1% | $402Bthrough Sep 2015 | 2.350%Sep 2015 |
| FY2014* | $228B | — | $605B | 38% | $3.02T | 7.5% | $3.50T | 6.5% | $431Bthrough Sep 2014 | 2.401%Sep 2014 |
Net interest, defense, receipts and outlays are the Monthly Treasury Statement's fiscal-year-to-date figures at the year's last statement; a year in progress shows the months so far, and Change compares it with the same months a year earlier. % of defense = net interest as a share of national defense. Gross interest = Treasury's interest expense on the public debt, all security types, including interest paid to federal trust funds. Avg rate = average interest rate on all interest-bearing debt at the year's last month. * FY2014 is read from the prior-year column of the September 2015 statement, the oldest the API serves.
Interest on the national debt by month
The last thirteen statements. The net interest page carries every month since March 2015.
| Month | Net interest | vs year ago | Fiscal YTD | Trailing 12M | Defense | Receipts | % of receipts (12M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $34.8B | −5.7% | $1.05T | $1.05T | $89.0B | $558B | 19.5% | |
| $85.6B | −7.6% | $1.02T | $1.05T | $72.5B | $360B | 19.6% | |
| $104B | +13.2% | $931B | $1.06T | $90.6B | $334B | 19.7% | |
| $104B | +23.9% | $827B | $1.05T | $82.2B | $496B | 19.5% | |
| $107B | +24.3% | $723B | $1.03T | $73.1B | $336B | 19.0% | |
| $96.6B | +8.0% | $616B | $1.01T | $76.8B | $837B | 18.5% | |
| $94.3B | +1.6% | $519B | $1.00T | $69.2B | $385B | 18.3% | |
| $78.6B | +6.0% | $425B | $999B | $70.6B | $313B | 18.4% | |
| $75.9B | −6.0% | $346B | $995B | $74.3B | $560B | 18.3% | |
| $91.5B | +11.9% | $270B | $999B | $102B | $484B | 18.6% | |
| $87.9B | +10.7% | $179B | $990B | $65.5B | $336B | 18.5% | |
| $90.9B | +13.2% | $90.9B | $981B | $99.9B | $404B | 18.5% | |
| $36.9B | −3.6% | $970B | $971B | $76.0B | $544B | 18.5% |
Net interest = budget function 900, net outlays for the month. vs year ago = against the same month a year earlier. Fiscal YTD = the statement's own fiscal-year-to-date column (October to the month shown). Trailing 12M = the month and the eleven before it, summed. Defense = national defense net outlays for the month. % of receipts (12M) = trailing-twelve-month net interest as a share of trailing-twelve-month receipts.
How do net interest, public-issue expense and gross interest differ?
| Measure | Amount | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Budget net interest | $1.05T | FY2026 through September 2026 |
| Gross expense on public issues | $1.07T | FY2026 through September 2026 |
| Gross interest expense | $1.36T | FY2026 through September 2026 |
- Net interest: $1.05 trillion
- Budget function 900 in the Monthly Treasury Statement: budget interest excluding interest credited to federal trust funds and other government accounts, and netting other budget interest receipts. It is the figure the budget, the Congressional Budget Office and the “interest now exceeds defense” headlines use, and it is the figure on every comparison on this page, because national defense, receipts and outlays are net budget figures from the same statement.
- Gross interest expense: $1.36 trillion, FY2026 through September 2026
- Treasury's interest expense on the public debt outstanding, every security type on an accrual basis, including the $292 billion paid to federal trust funds on the Government Account Series they hold. It is always the larger number, and the pages that break it down by security type never set it against defense or receipts. The split is on the gross interest by security page.
- Which one a headline means
- A figure near $1.05T for FY2026 is net interest. A figure near $1.36T is gross interest expense. The comparisons with defense and receipts use budget net interest.
Why we track this
Interest is paid under a permanent appropriation, so no annual vote sets it. The cost depends on the debt outstanding and the rates Treasury pays. Net interest has cost more than national defense every complete fiscal year since FY2024. These figures inform the fiscal dominance conversations with Luke Gromen and Lyn Alden on the podcast: once interest grows faster than receipts, the deficit funds itself, and the Treasury's need to borrow starts to weigh on what the Fed can do about inflation.
The rate side of that arithmetic is on the T-bill rates tracker and the Treasury auction tracker, where auctions set borrowing costs that affect the interest bill in later months and years.
Further reading from TFTC
- US deficit hits $1.97T with one month left; interest expense sets a $1.4T recordSeptember 2026
- Inflation fell. Oil is already trying to take it back.The Commoner, July 2026
- Budget deficit hits $1.9 trillion as interest payments pass $1 trillion for the first timeSeptember 2024
- Interest payments eclipse defense spending in the federal budgetMay 2024
- America's debt death spiral gives us $1 trillion reasons to act nowApril 2024
- National debt interest surpasses military spendingDecember 2023
Free to use
Cite or embed this data
Treasury figures are public domain. TFTC's compilation, calculations and chart are licensed under CC BY 4.0. Credit TFTC with a link to this page when reusing those contributions.
Credit line
Data: TFTC Interest on the National Debt (https://www.tftc.io/federal-interest-expense), from US Treasury Fiscal Data. Treasury figures are public domain; TFTC's compilation, calculations and chart are CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Embed the chart (updates monthly)
<a href="https://www.tftc.io/federal-interest-expense"><img src="https://www.tftc.io/federal-interest-expense/annual-email-card" width="600" alt="Net interest on the national debt by fiscal year, from TFTC" /></a> <p>Data: <a href="https://www.tftc.io/federal-interest-expense">TFTC</a>, from US Treasury Fiscal Data. Treasury figures are public domain; TFTC's compilation, calculations and chart are <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a>.</p>
Need the raw series? The full monthly record is open JSON at /federal-interest-expense/data.json and the latest month of each feed, the current and last complete fiscal years, the gross interest split, the average rate, the defense crossover and records are at /federal-interest-expense/latest.json. Sources, formulas and changes are on the methodology page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do CBO and Treasury report different interest growth for 2026?
How much interest does the US pay per day?
What are the biggest federal budget expenses?
Who gets the interest on the national debt?
Why do headlines use different interest totals?
How much interest does the US government pay on the national debt?
Is the US spending more on interest than on defense?
When did interest on the debt pass defense spending?
What is the difference between net interest and gross interest expense?
What is the average interest rate on the national debt?
When is this data updated?
Where does this data come from?
Data: US Department of the Treasury, via Fiscal Data: Monthly Treasury Statement (Table 9: net interest, national defense, receipts, outlays), interest expense on the public debt and average interest rates. Source figures are public domain. Trailing-twelve-month totals, shares and the crossover are TFTC's arithmetic. Full record available as open JSON (CC BY 4.0, cite TFTC), the newest month and fiscal year as latest.json. The CBO net interest primer explains the budget definition. The October 8, 2026 CBO budget review used preliminary estimates rather than the final September MTS. How the data is built: methodology and changelog. Not investment advice.
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