The carrying cost
Interest on the U.S. national debt
What the federal government pays to borrow: annual interest expense since FY2016, the average interest rate on every type of Treasury security, and what that cost looks like per day and per person.
Interest expense by fiscal year
Interest expense rose from $433 billion in FY2016 to $1.36 trillion in FY2026 — 3.1 times as much — while the debt itself grew 2.1 times, from $19.6 trillion to $40.2 trillion. The difference is the interest rate: as cheap pandemic-era borrowing matures, it is replaced at today’s higher rates.
| Fiscal year | Interest expense | Per day | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | $1.36T | $3.73B | +11.5% |
| FY2025 | $1.22T | $3.34B | +7.7% |
| FY2024 | $1.13T | $3.10B | +28.4% |
| FY2023 | $883B | $2.42B | +22.8% |
| FY2022 | $719B | $1.97B | +27.8% |
| FY2021 | $562B | $1.54B | +7.6% |
| FY2020 | $523B | $1.43B | −9.0% |
| FY2019 | $575B | $1.57B | +9.9% |
| FY2018 | $523B | $1.43B | +14.1% |
| FY2017 | $459B | $1.26B | +6.0% |
| FY2016 | $433B | $1.19B | — |
Source: U.S. Treasury, Interest Expense on the Public Debt Outstanding. Fiscal-year totals are the September year-to-date figures; all categories of public and intragovernmental interest are included.
Average interest rate on Treasury debt
The weighted average rate fell for two decades, bottoming at 1.556% in January 2022, then climbed as the Federal Reserve raised rates and the Treasury refinanced. Because most debt is in multi-year notes and bonds, the average moves slowly — which means today’s market rates will keep feeding through for years.
Marketable securities
| Treasury Bills | 4.014% |
| Treasury Notes | 3.399% |
| Treasury Bonds | 3.483% |
| Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) | 1.227% |
| Treasury Floating Rate Notes (FRN) | 4.170% |
| Federal Financing Bank | 2.383% |
| All marketable | 3.570% |
Non-marketable securities
| Domestic Series | 7.577% |
| Special Purpose Vehicle | 3.140% |
| State and Local Government Series | 3.490% |
| United States Savings Securities | 3.131% |
| United States Savings Inflation Securities | 4.594% |
| Government Account Series | 3.629% |
| Government Account Series Inflation Securities | 1.393% |
| All non-marketable | 3.630% |
Source: U.S. Treasury, Average Interest Rates on U.S. Treasury Securities, 31 October 2026.
Putting FY2026 interest on a clock
Source: U.S. Treasury, Interest Expense on the Public Debt Outstanding (FY2026) · FY2026 These are divisions of the annual total, not real-time payments.
Gross interest versus net interest
Gross interest expense measures all interest on Treasury debt, including interest credited to federal trust funds such as Social Security. Budget documents from the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget usually emphasize net interest, which removes interest paid to the government’s own accounts and subtracts some interest income. Net interest is the better measure of the cost borne by the rest of the economy; gross interest is the better measure of the Treasury’s total obligation. Both are legitimate — the label matters more than the larger-looking number.
Interest questions
How much interest does the U.S. pay on its debt?
Gross interest expense on Treasury debt was $1.36 trillion in fiscal year 2026, about $3.73 billion per day, according to the Treasury’s Interest Expense on the Public Debt Outstanding.
What interest rate does the government pay on its debt?
The average interest rate on all interest-bearing Treasury debt was 3.580% at the end of October 2026, compared with 1.592% in October 2021.
Why has interest on the debt risen so quickly?
Two forces compound: the debt itself is larger, and maturing securities issued when rates were near record lows (the average rate bottomed at 1.556% in January 2022) are being refinanced at higher market rates.
Is interest on the debt the same as the deficit?
No. Interest is one category of federal spending. The deficit is the overall gap between all federal spending and revenue during a period.
Is this gross or net interest?
This page uses gross interest expense on Treasury debt, including interest credited to federal trust funds. Net interest in the federal budget subtracts interest the government receives and interest paid to its own accounts, so it is lower.