Recent and Budgeted* US Federal Spending
Spending in billions
Click chart for briefing on Entitlement Spending.
For numbers and more click here.Spending in Percent GDP
Click chart for briefing on Entitlement Spending.
For numbers and more click here. | |
The two charts show above show recent and budgeted spending for the US federal government. On the left is a chart of spending in current dollars.
On the right is a chart of spending as a percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Note:
* Federal Spending after 2012 is budgeted.
US Federal Spending Since 1900
Click chart for briefing on Federal Spending.
For numbers from 1900-2018 click
here.
Federal spending began the 20th century at less than 3 percent of GDP per year. It jerked above 24 percent as a result of World War I and then declined in the 1920s to 3 to 4 percent by 1929. Federal spending started to increase after the Crash of 1929, and rose above 10 percent in the depths of the Great Depression.
Federal spending exploded during World War II to nearly 48 percent of GDP, and then declined to about 15 percent in the late 1940s.
In the Korean War of the early 1950s federal spending increased to over
20 percent of GDP, and then declined to about 17 to 18 percent by the end of the 1950s.
In the 1960s federal spending began a slow increase to about 22 percent of GDP in the early 1980s, and then declined modestly to about 18 percent by 2000.
In the 2000s federal spending increased modestly to about 20 percent of GDP before exploding to 24 to 25 percent in the Crash of 2008.
US Federal Spending since the Founding
Click chart for briefing on Federal Spending.
For numbers from 1792-2018 click
here.
Federal spending in the first half of the 19th century stayed typically below 2
percent of GDP except in wartime. In the Civil War, federal spending exploded to 13
percent of GDP. After the Civil War spending gradually declined. It dropped below 4 percent of GDP in 1872 and below 3 percent of GDP in 1880. Thereafter, federal spending
hovered between 2.5 percent and 3 percent of GDP until World War I. Federal spending
peaked at 24 percent of GDP and declined below 4 percent in the 1920s. Federal spending
reached 10 percent of GDP in the 1930s before rocketing to 48 percent of GDP at the end of World War II. From the end of World War II to the mid 1980s federal spending gradually
increased from 15 percent to 22 percent and then declined to below 20 percent of GDP
by 2000. Spending drafted back above 20 percent of GDP in the 2000s before increasing to
25 percent of GDP in the Crash of 2008.
