Government Debt & Fiscal

Federal spending, revenue, deficits, debt, and interest costs. All are actual fiscal measurements — outlays and receipts are both actuals, not a real/reported split.

Pure Actuals — No Survey Counterpart

These metrics have no directly comparable survey-based counterpart measuring the same variable in the same units. Shown individually with signal assessment only.

FRED · quarterlyActual
Federal Government Expenditures
Source →
$7577B+4.5% YoYWarning sign

BEA quarterly measurement of total federal government current expenditures.

Latest data: Oct 1, 2025Fetched: Apr 8, 2026
FRED · quarterlyActual
Federal Government Receipts
Source →
$5794B+11.2% YoYPositive signal

BEA quarterly measurement of total federal government current receipts.

Latest data: Jul 1, 2025Fetched: Apr 8, 2026
FRED · quarterlyActual
Federal Deficit as % of GDP
Source →
-5.8%+0.4pp YoYWarning sign

Federal surplus or deficit as a percentage of GDP. Negative = deficit.

Latest data: Jan 1, 2025Fetched: Apr 8, 2026
FRED · quarterlyActual
Federal Debt as % of GDP
Source →
122.5%+1.1pp YoYWarning sign

Total public debt outstanding relative to GDP. Crossed 100% during COVID.

Latest data: Oct 1, 2025Fetched: Apr 8, 2026
FRED · quarterlyActual
Federal Interest Payments
Source →
$1227B+6.2% YoYWarning sign

BEA quarterly measurement of federal government interest payments on debt.

Latest data: Oct 1, 2025Fetched: Apr 8, 2026
FRED · quarterlyActual
Net Interest as % of GDP
Source →
3.2%+0.1pp YoYWarning sign

Federal net interest outlays as share of GDP. Key fiscal stress metric.

Latest data: Jan 1, 2025Fetched: Apr 8, 2026
Methodology
Reported (Left column) = official surveys, models, and lagged indices. Subject to revision and sampling error. Sources: BLS (CES/CPS surveys), Conference Board, University of Michigan, S&P CoreLogic.
Real (Right column) = actual counted transactions, filings, and real-time measurements. No estimation. Sources: ADP payroll data, Zillow listings, TSA checkpoint counts, AAR carloads, FRED transactional series.
Pairing rule: Only metrics measuring the same variable in the same units are paired side-by-side. Metrics without a true survey counterpart are shown in the “Pure Actuals” section without comparison banners.
YoY calculation: All year-over-year changes compare the latest available value to the value closest to 12 months prior, using identical methodology on both sides.
Last refreshed: 8 Apr 2026, 17:19 UTC — auto-refreshes daily at 06:00 UTC