Interest on the National Debt · Monthly Treasury Statement

Interest on the Debt as a Share of Federal Revenue

Monthly Treasury data with the full history and fiscal-year comparisons.

Data through: · 139 months since March 2015

Latest month: September 2026

Share of Receipts, FY2026

19.5%

$1.05T of $5.40T

Share of Outlays

14.2%

of $7.40T in total outlays

Trailing Twelve Months

19.5%

of receipts, through Sep 2026

FY2016, for scale

7.4%

$241B of $3.27T

In fiscal year 2026, 19.5% of federal receipts went to net interest: $1.05 trillion of the $5.40 trillion collected, against 18.5% in fiscal year 2025 and 7.4% in fiscal year 2016. Net interest was 14.2% of all outlays.

Share of receipts and of outlays, trailing twelve months

Trailing-twelve-month net interest over trailing-twelve-month receipts and outlays, so the April and September tax months do not swing the line.

● share of receipts · ● share of outlays

By fiscal year

Net interest as a share of receipts and outlays by fiscal year. US dollars and percentages, October through September fiscal-year totals; incomplete years show fiscal year to date.
Fiscal yearNet interestReceipts% of receiptsOutlays% of outlaysDeficit
FY2026$1.05T$5.40T19.5%$7.40T14.2%$1.99T
FY2025$970B$5.23T18.5%$7.01T13.8%$1.78T
FY2024$882B$4.92T17.9%$6.75T13.1%$1.83T
FY2023$659B$4.44T14.8%$6.13T10.7%$1.70T
FY2022$475B$4.90T9.7%$6.27T7.6%$1.38T
FY2021$352B$4.05T8.7%$6.82T5.2%$2.77T
FY2020$345B$3.42T10.1%$6.55T5.3%$3.13T
FY2019$376B$3.46T10.8%$4.45T8.4%$984B
FY2018$325B$3.33T9.8%$4.11T7.9%$779B
FY2017$263B$3.31T7.9%$3.98T6.6%$666B
FY2016$241B$3.27T7.4%$3.85T6.2%$587B
FY2015$223B$3.25T6.9%$3.69T6.1%$439B
FY2014$228B$3.02T7.5%$3.50T6.5%$483B

Fiscal-year totals from the statements' own year-to-date columns. % of receipts = net interest as a share of total receipts; % of outlays = as a share of total net outlays. Deficit = outlays less receipts.

How much revenue goes to interest over twelve months?

Net interest as a share of receipts, the 24 most recent months
ThroughNet interest, 12MReceipts, 12M% of receiptsOutlays, 12M% of outlaysReceipts, month
$1.05T$5.40T19.5%$7.40T14.2%$558B
$1.05T$5.39T19.6%$7.16T14.7%$360B
$1.06T$5.37T19.7%$7.32T14.5%$334B
$1.05T$5.38T19.5%$7.18T14.6%$496B
$1.03T$5.41T19.0%$7.07T14.6%$336B
$1.01T$5.44T18.5%$7.12T14.1%$837B
$1.00T$5.46T18.3%$7.09T14.1%$385B
$999B$5.44T18.4%$7.07T14.1%$313B
$995B$5.42T18.3%$7.06T14.1%$560B
$999B$5.38T18.6%$7.04T14.2%$484B
$990B$5.35T18.5%$6.96T14.2%$336B
$981B$5.31T18.5%$7.11T13.8%$404B
$971B$5.23T18.5%$7.01T13.8%$544B
$972B$5.22T18.6%$7.13T13.6%$344B
$960B$5.18T18.5%$7.13T13.5%$338B
$948B$5.17T18.3%$7.07T13.4%$526B
$945B$5.11T18.5%$7.10T13.3%$371B
$946B$5.06T18.7%$7.09T13.4%$850B
$942B$4.99T18.9%$7.06T13.3%$368B
$928B$4.96T18.7%$7.10T13.1%$296B
$921B$4.93T18.7%$7.07T13.0%$513B
$908B$4.89T18.5%$6.92T13.1%$454B
$894B$4.87T18.4%$6.94T12.9%$302B
$886B$4.84T18.3%$6.86T12.9%$327B

Shares are trailing twelve months over trailing twelve months, because receipts arrive in April, June, September and January far more than in other months and a single month's share means little. Receipts, month = that month's total receipts, for reference.

Show 115 earlier months, back to March 2015+
Earlier months: net interest as a share of trailing-twelve-month receipts
MonthValue
Sep 202417.9%
Aug 202418.0%
Jul 202417.8%
Jun 202417.7%
May 202417.7%
Apr 202417.2%
Mar 202417.2%
Feb 202417.0%
Jan 202416.4%
Dec 202316.2%
Nov 202315.8%
Oct 202315.3%
Sep 202314.8%
Aug 202314.2%
Jul 202314.0%
Jun 202313.8%
May 202313.0%
Apr 202312.7%
Mar 202311.7%
Feb 202311.2%
Jan 202311.0%
Dec 202210.6%
Nov 202210.3%
Oct 20229.9%
Sep 20229.7%
Aug 20229.6%
Jul 20229.2%
Jun 20228.9%
May 20228.8%
Apr 20228.3%
Mar 20228.8%
Feb 20228.7%
Jan 20228.6%
Dec 20218.5%
Nov 20218.4%
Oct 20218.5%
Sep 20218.7%
Aug 20219.0%
Jul 20219.0%
Jun 20218.1%
May 20218.1%
Apr 20218.4%
Mar 20218.9%
Feb 20219.2%
Jan 20219.5%
Dec 20209.7%
Nov 202010.0%
Oct 202010.1%
Sep 202010.1%
Aug 202010.0%
Jul 202010.0%
Jun 202011.1%
May 202011.5%
Apr 202011.7%
Mar 202010.8%
Feb 202010.8%
Jan 202010.7%
Dec 201910.7%
Nov 201910.8%
Oct 201910.9%
Sep 201910.8%
Aug 201910.8%
Jul 201910.7%
Jun 201910.8%
May 201910.7%
Apr 201910.5%
Mar 201910.5%
Feb 201910.4%
Jan 201910.4%
Dec 201810.2%
Nov 20189.9%
Oct 20189.8%
Sep 20189.8%
Aug 20189.6%
Jul 20189.4%
Jun 20189.1%
May 20188.8%
Apr 20188.6%
Mar 20188.5%
Feb 20188.4%
Jan 20188.3%
Dec 20178.2%
Nov 20178.2%
Oct 20178.0%
Sep 20177.9%
Aug 20177.8%
Jul 20177.8%
Jun 20177.9%
May 20178.0%
Apr 20178.1%
Mar 20178.0%
Feb 20177.8%
Jan 20177.7%
Dec 20167.7%
Nov 20167.6%
Oct 20167.4%
Sep 20167.4%
Aug 20167.5%
Jul 20167.5%
Jun 20167.5%
May 20167.3%
Apr 20167.3%
Mar 20167.3%
Feb 20167.1%
Jan 2016—
Dec 2015—
Nov 2015—
Oct 2015—
Sep 2015—
Aug 2015—
Jul 2015—
Jun 2015—
May 2015—
Apr 2015—
Mar 2015—

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 Debt as a Share of Federal Revenue (https://www.tftc.io/federal-interest-expense/vs-revenue), 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/vs-revenue"><img src="https://www.tftc.io/federal-interest-expense/vs-revenue/email-card" width="600" alt="Interest on the Debt as a Share of Federal Revenue, chart from TFTC" /></a>
<p>Data: <a href="https://www.tftc.io/federal-interest-expense/vs-revenue">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>
Preview: Interest on the Debt as a Share of Federal Revenue, chart from TFTC

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

What percent of the federal budget goes to interest?
In fiscal year 2026, 19.5% of federal receipts went to net interest: $1.05 trillion of the $5.40 trillion collected, against 18.5% in fiscal year 2025 and 7.4% in fiscal year 2016. Net interest was 14.2% of all outlays. Data through September 2026.
What percentage of federal revenue goes to interest on the debt?
In fiscal year 2026, 19.5% of federal receipts went to net interest: $1.05 trillion of the $5.40 trillion collected, against 18.5% in fiscal year 2025 and 7.4% in fiscal year 2016. Net interest was 14.2% of all outlays. Data through September 2026.
What is the highest share of revenue interest has taken?
19.7% over the twelve months through July 2026, the highest trailing-twelve-month reading in the record on this page, which starts in March 2015.
Why compare interest with receipts instead of GDP?
Receipts are what the government has to pay interest with, and both numbers come from the same monthly statement, so the share updates every month without an estimate. Interest as a share of GDP is the measure CBO projects, and it needs a quarterly GDP figure that arrives later and is revised.

Data: US Department of the Treasury, via Fiscal Data: Monthly Treasury Statement, Table 9. Source figures are public domain; fiscal-year totals are the statements' own year-to-date columns, trailing-twelve-month totals and shares are TFTC's arithmetic. Net versus gross interest is explained on the overview page. Full record as open JSON, the newest month and fiscal year as latest.json (CC BY 4.0). Sources and arithmetic: methodology and changelog. Not investment advice.