U.S. citizens know about the mountain of debt owed by the U.S. government. They know it’s “a problem” — at $38 trillion (at the end of February 2026) just as $28 trillion was five years ago or $20 trillion in September 2017. That debt isn’t simply a trillion-dollar problem. It’s on a trajectory, risking global financial crisis.
Expressing total U.S. federal government debt as a per-person amount makes more sense. Painful as it is, each citizen’s share of that debt burden can be “sized” relative to that individual’s OWN budget.
As of the end of January, a newborn — a brand new U.S. citizen — enters the world with about $112,500 as his or her share of U.S. debt. That’s $450,000 for a family of four. And that’s on top of the mortgage or rent, food, transportation, and other living expenses.
The interest paid on the debt crowds out more and more essential government functions. Our debt is held by countries with political objectives that often strongly differ from our nation’s.
When do we stop bickering and find compromise? Which is more unpleasant — contentious compromise that nobody is going to love or debilitating financial crisis that will be shared by all?
Here’s OUR story.
It Wasn’t Always Like This
The federal government spends money on many goods and services. Like a family’s budget, the ability of the federal government to spend on anything is directly related to its income. Yes, the federal government can tax to raise more income, but ultimately it’s the economy that produces the base for taxation.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) represents our U.S. family income. It is the primary measure of an economy. For that reason, U.S. debt outstanding is often compared to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, our U.S. debt is 124% of our economy, our GDP. (Last measured at the end of the 2025 federal fiscal year on September 30th.)
The U.S. had debt nearly that high as a percentage of national income at the end of World War II. Congress set a 91% tax rate on the highest brackets to pay it down. (That tax rate was dramatically lowered by two Democratic Presidents, ironically in today’s environment. Kennedy proposed it, and Johnson pushed the change through Congress. That’s just my observation. I’m registered Unaffiliated. Always have been. Party-less…)
Here’s how this per-person debt burden has grown. The following table illustrates the trajectory — from 1930 until recently. It is very time consuming to update an inflation-adjusted table. The STORY of this trajectory DOESN’T CHANGE. The U.S. debt outstanding at the end of March 12, 2026, was $38.9 trillion. Over $100 billion more than on the last business day of February.
See it for yourself on the U.S. Treasury Department’s site. Here are the LINKS. [I pay for this informational blog. No ad revenue. I’m on a budget. It’s hard to see the published links, but here they are.]
This first link shows the debt calculations over the period, done in 2025, from the nominal historical amount to inflation-adjusted 2024 dollars.
US Debt per person in 2024$ since 1930
The next link shows the debt per-person and for a four-person household.
US Debt per person and household 2024$
Where We Are Now
Here is the LINK to the U.S. Treasury Department’s site where they publish the debt to the penny, day by day. Transparency!
https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/debt-to-the-penny/debt-to-the-penny
The last two LINKS are to the St. Louis Fed’s chart of the U.S. debt to GDP. The first is as of the beginning of this federal fiscal year from just before 1970.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEGDQ188S
This second link ends in 2023, but shows the debt-to-GDP trajectory since WWII.