Total public debt of the United States, counted on from the Treasury's latest official figure. Over the last 12 months it grew by about $6.6 billion a day.
Total public debt outstandingestimate
$40,407,756,042,229
+$76,768 a second, about $6.6 billion a day
Added since you opened this page+$0
Interest since you opened this page$0
Official figure: $40,387,508,795,231.67 on 16 October 2026 (U.S. Treasury, Debt to the Penny). The clock carries on from there at the average pace of the last 12 months.
Debt per personper US resident
$115,599
Debt per taxpayerper individual tax return (162.8 million)
$248,205
Added todaysince midnight, your time
$6,152,646,326
Interest per secondfiscal 2026 average
$33,896
Debt to GDPagainst 2025 GDP
131.3%
Everything on this card except the official figure is an estimate.
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Debt limit
Congress caps how much the Treasury may borrow. Almost all of the debt counts against that cap.
97.8%of the limit used
Statutory debt limitofficial, 30 September 2026
$41.1 trillion
Debt subject to the limitestimate
$40,215,059,422,154
Room leftestimate
$888,936,238,077
Limit reached at this paceestimate
around 2 March 2027
Treasury can then use extraordinary measures for some months. This is not the date the government runs out of cash.
Source: U.S. Treasury, Monthly Statement of the Public Debt, table 2, 30 September 2026. The estimates move the debt subject to the limit along with the clock.
Who holds the debt
Held by the publicinvestors, banks, the Federal Reserve, foreign governments
$32.53 trillion 80.6%
Intragovernmental holdingsowed to federal trust funds such as Social Security
$7.86 trillion 19.4%
More official figures
Added since 31 December 2025
$1.87 trillion
Deficit, fiscal 2026 to September 2026
$1.99 trillion
Interest on Treasury securities, fiscal 2026 to September 2026
$1.07 trillion
Interest credited to federal trust funds, fiscal 2026 (not in the line above)
$291.9 billion
U.S. Treasury figures. The split is for 16 October 2026.
The last 12 months
$37T$38T$39T$40T$41TJan 2026Apr 2026Jul 2026Now
Total public debt at the close of each business day, 17 October 2025 to 16 October 2026. The steps come from tax dates and quarterly payments.
Live estimates in each country's own currency, highest debt per person first (compared in euros at the ECB rate). The EU figures are general government debt and the UK figure is public sector net debt, so compare with care.
The Treasury publishes the exact total public debt for every business day, one business day later. The clock starts from the latest of those figures and adds the average change per second of the last 12 months: $76,768. When a new figure comes out, an open page moves over to it within ten minutes instead of jumping.
Day to day the real debt does not move in a straight line. It jumps around tax dates and at the start of each quarter, and it can fall for a few days. Over a year the average is a fair guide, so the clock uses it and says so.
Why debt clocks disagree
Clocks differ in what they count, which figure they start from and how fast they run. This one counts total public debt outstanding, the number the Treasury calls the national debt: debt held by the public plus what the government owes its own trust funds. Some clocks show only the debt held by the public, about 81% of the total.
Debt per person divides by our estimate of the US population, based on the UN's World Population Prospects. Debt per taxpayer divides by the 162.8 million individual income tax returns the IRS processed in fiscal 2025; there is no official count of taxpayers.
