Net interest was 13.8% of federal outlays and 3.2% of GDP in FY2025

Source. OMB Historical Tables, FY2027 edition (April 2026), Table 3.1, share of outlays; CBO, The Long-Term Budget Outlook Data: 2026 to 2056 (February 25, 2026), Table 2, share of GDP 1940–2056, saved by hand from cbo.gov.

Method and data

Method. Net interest is function 900: interest paid less interest received by trust funds and others. The share of outlays is OMB’s (Table 3.1), charted for 1940–2025; OMB’s estimates for 2026–2031 are in the table and CSV. The share of GDP is CBO’s own series from one file, its historical values (which CBO draws from CBO and OMB data) for 1940–2025 and its extended-baseline projection for 2026–2056, so no seam joins two sources. OMB’s shares of GDP (net interest over Table 10.1 GDP) are in the CSV. Per resident divides by BEA’s annual population. National defense (function 050) and the other large functions are in the CSV, $m current.

Fiscal year	Basis	Net interest (% of outlays, OMB)	Net interest (% of GDP, CBO)	Net interest ($m)	Per resident ($)
1940	Actual	9.5	0.915	899	7
1941	Actual	6.9	0.812	943	7
1942	Actual	3	0.712	1,052	8
1943	Actual	1.9	0.828	1,529	11
1944	Actual	2.4	1.038	2,219	16
1945	Actual	3.4	1.375	3,112	22
1946	Actual	7.4	1.803	4,111	29
1947	Actual	12.2	1.76	4,204	29
1948	Actual	14.6	1.658	4,341	30
1949	Actual	11.6	1.636	4,523	30
1950	Actual	11.3	1.727	4,812	32
1951	Actual	10.2	1.426	4,665	30
1952	Actual	6.9	1.316	4,701	30
1953	Actual	6.8	1.35	5,156	32
1954	Actual	6.8	1.243	4,811	30
1955	Actual	7.1	1.194	4,850	29
1956	Actual	7.2	1.159	5,079	30
1957	Actual	7	1.155	5,354	31
1958	Actual	6.8	1.184	5,604	32
1959	Actual	6.3	1.142	5,762	33
1960	Actual	7.5	1.3	6,947	38
1961	Actual	6.9	1.229	6,716	37
1962	Actual	6.4	1.176	6,889	37
1963	Actual	7	1.252	7,740	41
1964	Actual	6.9	1.239	8,199	43
1965	Actual	7.3	1.211	8,591	44
1966	Actual	7	1.203	9,386	48
1967	Actual	6.5	1.227	10,268	52
1968	Actual	6.2	1.236	11,090	55
1969	Actual	6.9	1.295	12,699	63
1970	Actual	7.3	1.374	14,380	70
1971	Actual	7.1	1.329	14,841	71
1972	Actual	6.7	1.273	15,478	74
1973	Actual	7.1	1.283	17,349	82
1974	Actual	8	1.446	21,449	100
1975	Actual	7	1.446	23,244	108
1976	Actual	7.2	1.496	26,727	123
1977	Actual	7.3	1.477	29,901	136
1978	Actual	7.7	1.56	35,458	159
1979	Actual	8.5	1.662	42,633	189
1980	Actual	8.9	1.882	52,533	231
1981	Actual	10.1	2.195	68,766	299
1982	Actual	11.4	2.566	85,032	366
1983	Actual	11.1	2.54	89,808	383
1984	Actual	13	2.813	111,102	470
1985	Actual	13.7	3.036	129,478	543
1986	Actual	13.7	3.005	136,017	565
1987	Actual	13.8	2.907	138,611	571
1988	Actual	14.3	2.954	151,803	619
1989	Actual	14.8	3.042	168,981	683
1990	Actual	14.7	3.125	184,347	737
1991	Actual	14.7	3.191	194,448	767
1992	Actual	14.4	3.107	199,344	776
1993	Actual	14.1	2.933	198,713	763
1994	Actual	13.9	2.828	202,932	770
1995	Actual	15.3	3.07	232,134	871
1996	Actual	15.4	3.032	241,053	894
1997	Actual	15.2	2.887	243,984	894
1998	Actual	14.6	2.7	241,118	873
1999	Actual	13.5	2.424	229,755	823
2000	Actual	12.5	2.204	222,949	789
2001	Actual	11.1	1.959	206,167	723
2002	Actual	8.5	1.579	170,949	594
2003	Actual	7.1	1.357	153,073	527
2004	Actual	7	1.332	160,245	546
2005	Actual	7.4	1.433	183,986	622
2006	Actual	8.5	1.662	226,603	758
2007	Actual	8.7	1.657	237,109	786
2008	Actual	8.5	1.708	252,757	830
2009	Actual	5.3	1.292	186,902	608
2010	Actual	5.7	1.318	196,194	633
2011	Actual	6.4	1.487	229,962	736
2012	Actual	6.2	1.368	220,408	700
2013	Actual	6.4	1.324	220,885	697
2014	Actual	6.5	1.314	228,956	716
2015	Actual	6	1.229	223,181	693
2016	Actual	6.2	1.288	240,033	739
2017	Actual	6.6	1.355	262,551	803
2018	Actual	7.9	1.59	324,975	988
2019	Actual	8.4	1.762	375,158	1,135
2020	Actual	5.3	1.619	345,470	1,041
2021	Actual	5.2	1.529	352,338	1,060
2022	Actual	7.6	1.861	475,887	1,423
2023	Actual	10.7	2.403	658,267	1,953
2024	Actual	13.1	3.04	879,879	2,587
2025	Actual	13.8	3.195	970,065	2,837
2026	OMB estimate; CBO projection	13.5	3.257	1,016,650	2,966
2027	OMB estimate; CBO projection	13.2	3.325	1,065,368
2028	OMB estimate; CBO projection	13.8	3.513	1,166,961
2029	OMB estimate; CBO projection	14.3	3.678	1,234,644
2030	OMB estimate; CBO projection	14.5	3.829	1,304,508
2031	OMB estimate; CBO projection	14.7	3.989	1,363,769
2032	CBO projection		4.147
2033	CBO projection		4.269
2034	CBO projection		4.389
2035	CBO projection		4.486
2036	CBO projection		4.591
2037	CBO projection		4.687
2038	CBO projection		4.788
2039	CBO projection		4.887
2040	CBO projection		4.989
2041	CBO projection		5.097
2042	CBO projection		5.217
2043	CBO projection		5.334
2044	CBO projection		5.443
2045	CBO projection		5.554
2046	CBO projection		5.676
2047	CBO projection		5.792
2048	CBO projection		5.907
2049	CBO projection		6.022
2050	CBO projection		6.143
2051	CBO projection		6.269
2052	CBO projection		6.4
2053	CBO projection		6.529
2054	CBO projection		6.658
2055	CBO projection		6.79
2056	CBO projection		6.93

Download 10-net-interest-1940-2056.csv

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Higgins Strategy. “Net interest was 13.8% of federal outlays and 3.2% of GDP in FY2025” Exhibit 4, The Debt, the Waste and the Tax (Study X). October 12, 2026. https://higginsstrategy.com/charts/10-net-interest-1940-2056/