Factsheet US government debt

Public debt: $42 trillion – or 'only' $28 trillion?

It is not so easy to answer the question about the amount of US public debt. Or, to be more precise, there are several answers:

• The Fed's financial accounts show total public debt of $41.6 trillion (140% of GDP) at the end of 2024. The federal government accounts for the lion's share of this, or $33.9 trillion, while the states and local governments have liabilities of $7.7 trillion. If the national debt were consolidated, the liabilities of one level of government towards the other would be eliminated, leaving $39.8 trillion.
• The financial markets focus on the debt of the US federal government, and here the outstanding public debt and money market securities – Treasury Notes and Bonds and T-bills (we will summarize these under “Treasuries” from here on) – are the center of attention. At the end of 2024, these amounted to around $28 trillion (94.7% of GDP). The Federal Reserve is included as part of the public, although it is a government institution. At the end of 2024, the Fed still had $4.3 trillion Treasuries in its portfolio.
• In its Monthly Statement of the Public Debt (MSPD), the US Treasury records not only the Treasuries but also the “intragovernmental” debt, which is essentially the debt that the US government has with Social Security. For many years, this program generated surpluses, which it made available to the Treasury and for which it was credited with non-marketable Treasury securities. If Social Security's revenues are no longer sufficient to pay the pensions, these bonds will be returned to the Treasury and Social Security will receive money in return (which the Treasury must then borrow on the financial market by issuing securities). This intra-governmental debt amounts to over $7 trillion.

For full text see attached PDF-Version.