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The National Debt, Visualized

How big is this thing anyway?

Numbers update in real time

Published Aug. 3, 2019 at 5:39 a.m. ET

Now that President Trump has signed the two-year spending bill and the borrowing limit has been suspended, the question remains: Just how big is the debt owed by the federal government?

The U.S. was born already in debt and has been in debt for most of its history. Yet, the national debt is rising at levels never seen before during peace time.

Note: All figures are estimates.

Methodology:The total federal debt number is an estimate based on the U.S. Treasury's latest projection and the 2019 deficit estimate from Office of Management and Budget. It takes the total debt figure from when it was last reported and adds the deficit estimate divided down to the second.

Sources:Treasury Department via TreasuryDirect (total debt, debt ownership); U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Commerce Department (GDP 1947-2017); MeasuringWorth.com (GDP 1790-1946); Office of Management and Budget (deficit); Congressional Budget Office (GDP 2018, budget); Boeing (airplane costs); The White House (border wall); International Monetary Fund (French GDP); National Center for Education Statistics via College Tuition Compare (Ivy League tuition); Smithsonian (Hope Diamond); U.S. Census Bureau (population)

Credits:Danny Dougherty and Lakshmi Ketineni contributed to this piece.

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