US National Debt Tops $40 Trillion for First Time
Umar Farooq
The U.S. national debt has surpassed $40 trillion for the first time, doubling since 2017 and raising alarms about fiscal sustainability. The surge, driven by pandemic spending and ongoing deficits, now amounts to about $117,000 per American. Interest costs have overtaken Medicare as a major budget burden.
The total U.S. national debt has exceeded $40 trillion for the first time in history, fueling worries about a potential fiscal crisis as government spending continues to outpace revenue. According to data released by the Treasury Department on Wednesday (August 12), the debt has doubled since January 2017, when Donald Trump first took office and the figure stood at $19.95 trillion.
Roughly a third of that increase occurred in the two years following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Administrations under both Trump and his successor, Joe Biden, borrowed heavily to respond to the crisis.
Since Trump began his second term in January 2025, the national debt has risen by an additional $3.8 trillion, bringing the total increase across his two presidencies to $11.6 trillion. During Biden's term, the debt grew by $8.4 trillion, driven not only by pandemic recovery spending but also by significant investments in infrastructure, clean energy subsidies, and other Democratic priorities.
Margaret Spellings, CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a centrist think tank, warned: “The federal debt is raising the cost of living, squeezing out other spending and investment, and threatening the economy and long-term prosperity for Americans.”
The $40 trillion debt equates to roughly $117,000 per U.S. citizen and $297,000 per household. According to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, this sum is approximately equal to the combined economies of China, Germany, Japan, the U.K., and India.
The Treasury Department last week reported the fourth-largest monthly budget deficit in history, at $432 billion in July, as the Trump administration refunded tariffs overturned by courts. These refunds pushed customs revenue negative for the third straight month, while spending on Social Security and Medicare continued to climb.
The deficit for the first 10 months of fiscal year 2026 has already surpassed the entire deficit for fiscal year 2025, with two months still remaining in the fiscal calendar. Trump has largely ignored fiscal hawks within the Republican Party, pushing ahead with spending across both terms.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that policy choices by both Trump and Biden have pushed the federal debt trajectory higher than it would have been under the spending laws in effect when each took office. For example, Trump’s landmark One Big Beautiful Bill in his second term will add $4.7 trillion to the debt, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
While Trump pivoted to cost-cutting at the start of his new term, tasking the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with shrinking the federal workforce, most of his cuts have targeted “discretionary” programs—the smallest portion of the federal budget.
The U.S. spends about $7 trillion annually, with 60% going to “mandatory” programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans’ care—costs that typically rise with the cost of living. About $1.1 trillion is used to pay interest on the debt, a cost that grows as debt accumulates and interest rates climb. In fiscal year 2025, debt service costs exceeded the Pentagon budget for the first time.
In the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, interest payments have surpassed Medicare spending, becoming the second-largest item in the federal budget, trailing only Social Security. The U.S. is spending increasingly on retirement and healthcare for the baby boom generation, depleting the trust funds for Social Security and Medicare while payroll and income taxes fall short of covering federal costs.
