The United States national debt stands at $38.93T — an all-time record. Watch it grow in real time below.
Live U.S. National Debt Counter
Extrapolated in real time from U.S. Treasury Fiscal Data · Updated daily
Growing at approximately $148.31K/second based on the latest Treasury data
Total National Debt
$38.93T
All-time high
Debt Per Citizen
$116.56K
Based on 334M population
Daily Growth
+$12.81B
Per day (latest Treasury data)
Interest Per Second
$35.43K/s
$1.12T annualized
The U.S. national debt represents the total amount the federal government owes to its creditors. It has grown from $5 trillion in 1996 to $38.93T today — an increase of over 600% in under 30 years.
Annual interest payments now exceed $1.12T/year based on current rates, approaching or surpassing the entire U.S. defense budget. Interest is now the fastest-growing component of federal spending.
At the current level, the debt-to-GDP ratio exceeds 120%, approaching levels last seen during World War II (118.9% in 1946). Unlike the post-war period, today's trajectory shows no sign of reversing.