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What is the Deficit?

deficit (surplus) - The amount by which outlays exceed receipts in a given fiscal period. (A surplus would be the amount by which receipts exceed outlays.) —US Senate Glossary

In FY 2024 the federal deficit was $1.83 trillion. But the gross federal debt increased by $2.24 trillion. Here is why.

This year, FY 2025, the federal government in its latest budget has estimated that the deficit will be $1.78 trillion.

Here is the federal deficit by year for the last decade:

Federal Deficits in trillions
2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
$0.49	$0.44	$0.58	$0.66	$0.78	$0.98	$3.13	$2.78	$1.38	$1.69	$1.83

Click for deficits from 1960 to present.

Federal Deficit Analysis

Recent US Federal Deficits by Year

Chart D.01f: Recent US Federal Deficits

The Federal Deficit exploded in the late 2000s from $0.16 trillion in 2007 to $1.41 trillion in 2009 including over $700 billion in bank bailouts under the TARP program.

During the recovery from the Great Recession federal deficits declined down to $0.44 trillion in 2015, and then started increasing. In the COVID crisis of 2020 the federal deficit ballooned to $3.13 trillion. In FY2024 the federal deficit was $1.83 trillion.

Budgeted US Federal Deficits

Chart D.02f: Budgeted US Federal Deficits

The FY25 federal budget estimates budget deficits out to 2029. It forecasts a deficit in 2025 of $1.78 trillion, and $1.5 trillion by 2029.

Make Custom Deficit Chart • Download Deficit Data • Debt Deficit History

Spending Analyses:

Debt, Deficit Analyses:

Numbers — Charts:

But there’s more

The federal debt increases each year by more than the deficit. For FY 2025 the federal budget estimates that the federal debt will increase by about $1.87 trillion. That’s about $0.09 trillion more than the official “deficit.” See Federal Debt.

But there’s more. There is the increase in in the “agency debt” of government-sponsored enterprises like the Federal National Mortgage Association. And there is the implied deficit from unfunded liabilities like Social Security and Medicare. See chart of latest Long-term Budget Outlook from the Congressional Budget Office.

Now you are ready to explore. Click here for the basics on the national debt and deficits. Click here for a look at overall government spending; click here for a look at the federal budget by function. And there is no better place to get up to speed than Spending 101’s online course on Federal Debt.

US Federal Deficits in the 20th Century

Chart D.03f: Federal Deficits since 1900

The two major peaks of the federal deficit in the 20th century occurred during World War I and World War II.

Deficits increased steadily from the 1960s through the early 1990s, and then declined rapidly for the remainder of the 1990s.

Federal deficits increased in the early 2000s, and went over 10 percent of GDP in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008.

In the recovery from the Crash of 2008 deficits slowly reduced to 3 percent of GDP in 2015 and then started increasing again.

In the COVID crisis of 2020 the federal deficit ballooned to over 15 percent of GDP.

US Federal Deficits since the Founding

Chart D.04f: Federal Deficit since Founding

The United States government did not always run a deficit. In the 19th century the federal government typically only ran deficits during wartime or during financial crises. The government ran a deficit of 2 percent of GDP at the end of the war of 1812, and through the decade after the Panic of 1837 and culminating in the US - Mexican War of 1846-48. It ran a deficit of over 7 percent of GDP in the Civil War; and ran a deficit in the depressed 1890s.
In the 20th century the US ran a deficit during World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, and in almost all years since 1960, during peace and war.

CBO Forecast for Federal Deficit

Chart D.05f: CBO Forecast for Federal Deficit

According to the latest forecast from the Congressional Budget Office, the federal deficit will grow from 6.2 percent of GDP in 2025 to 7.3 percent of GDP by 2055.

Top Debt Requests:

Find DEFICIT stats and history.

US BUDGET overview and pie chart.

Find NATIONAL DEBT today.

See FEDERAL BUDGET breakdown and estimated vs. actual.

See BAR CHARTS of debt, debt.

Check STATE debt: CA NY TX FL and compare.

See DEBT ANALYSIS briefing.

See DEBT HISTORY briefing.

Take a COURSE at Spending 101.

Make your own CUSTOM CHART.

Debt Data Sources

Debt data is from official government sources.

Federal debt data since 1962 comes from the president’s budget.
Federal debt for 1940-1961 comes from the president’s budget.
Federal debt for 1914-1939 comes from the US Treasury and St. Louis Fed.
Federal debt before 1914 comes from the US Treasury
All other debt data comes from the US Census Bureau.

Gross Domestic Product data comes from US Bureau of Economic Analysis and measuringworth.com.

Detailed table of debt data sources here.

Federal debt data begins in 1792.

State and local debt data begins in 1820.

State and local debt data for individual states begins in 1957.

Spending 101 Courses

There’s More...

usgovernmentspending.com.

Where you go to get facts about government.

Prepared by Christopher Chantrill.
email: chrischantrill@gmail.com

Click the image on the right to buy usgovernmentspending.com’s ebook.
It costs only $1.99 and it contains all the analyses of spending history
on the website and more.

Gross Federal Debt

Debt Now:	$37,467,893,078,454.54
Debt 2/2020:	$23,409,959,150,243.63